130000 yen per month in Tokyo

[LiquidKid]

Hi there, I'm new to this forum and this is my first thread so please be gentle.

I'm going to Tokyo next month as I'll be doing an internship and was wondering if you can have fun with 130000 yen approx per month (I deduced the lodging and utilities fees) for food, restaurant, parties, ... and from time to time travel to Hokkaido for example.

I've been to Japan last summer, but it was in Gifu-ken, and in a host family which means I don't know much about costs issues.

deha mata,,,

[fatslug]

that should be plenty

[Taro Toporific]

... 130000 yen approx per month (I deduced the lodging and utilities fees) ...

If your internship is giving you slave quarters (company dorm) and 130,000 yen per month those are low wages (but typical for a Japanese high-school graduate's first blue-collar job in non-famous company).
A short-term. 3-to-9 month internship paying 130,000yen/m is ok for someone under 22 years old working in the Japanese job of their wet-dreams. On the other hand, for a person with skills and an advanced education, 130,000yen/m is gaijin slavery.

BOTTOM LINE:
Short-term internship--Go for it! What do have to lose but your sanity?

[LiquidKid]

Thanks for the replies,

I don't really know what you mean by qualifications, if it's education or "real" qualifications (like cisco, ...), but what should be decent wages for starting gaijins, 500,000 ?
I haven't yet really worked anywhere and have only been doing internships, so I wouldn't say I've got experience but I come from a good school in IT with a minor in finance so I think it should help. Oh yeah, I'm 26.

Actually the company is paying me 200,000yen/month for six months and it's a pretty good one, I mean they've got money, and it isn't a job where you'll have to send fax's, do cofee, ...
Anyway, I would have accepted it even if they wouldn't pay me and use me as a slave ... I think. And if you can still have fun with 130,000en, it's ok for me (I'm not talking about gaming, or mangas, ...).



PS : There is a governmental organisation in my country which sends students all over the world to do long term internships (up to 2 years) with fixed wages, and for Japan it's around 300,000yen/m, but it's only for french international firms, so it doesn't apply in my case.

[yanpa]

10 years ago I managed perfectly well on a monthly scholarship of about the same amount (though I had to pay rent and other costs of about 50,000 of that, but also had a side job, so I had maybe 100,000 for everything else). Normally that might not be very useful information, but as far as I can see prices in Tokyo haven't changed much at all since then (though it looks like the weak yen and the oil price is beginning to filter through).

[Catoneinutica]

There's an American guy living here in the Chiba ("an industrial suburb east of Tokyo," as all the travel books describe it) who gets by well enough on 130,000 per month. It's quite doable, I guess.

[Greji]

There's an American guy living here in the Chiba ("an industrial suburb east of Tokyo," as all the travel books describe it) who gets by well enough on 130,000 per month. It's quite doable, I guess.

He must not run any of my type of bar tabs!

[FG Lurker]

There's an American guy living here in the Chiba ("an industrial suburb east of Tokyo," as all the travel books describe it) who gets by well enough on 130,000 per month. It's quite doable, I guess.

Man, that must be a very minimalistic existence. Is he a student or something?

[halfnip]

He must not run any of my type of bar tabs!

I hear you boothie. One wild night out at 7th Heaven and I'd be standing on the streets begging for a drink the rest of the month...

[Ptyx]

I'd guess it depends of the field you're working in but in my personal experience 200 000/months is pretty standard for an entry level job in Japan.
130 000/month is enough to have fun in Tokyo. It really depends on what you consider fun though.
Going every week to Ageha or the fuzoku is going to cost you, getting plastered in a hole in the wall in shimokita or koenji is really cheap. Avoid gaijin places, avoid places that ask for a fee just to sit down(i.e bars in general). Avoid roppongi.
Hang out with japanese and get drunk the way they do. You start early, around 19h00 and you drink at izakayas not at bars, by 23h00 you should be hammered and you can still catch a train home. Don't ever take a cab.

Going on a trip is going to make a serious dent on that though. Traveling is very expensive in Japan, if you're planning on going to hokkaido many times a year it's going to be tough.

[Catoneinutica]

Man, that must be a very minimalistic existence. Is he a student or something?

He's a teacher pushing 40. 230,000 yen minus about 100,000 for child support back to an American mother = puts the "F" in "FG".

[IkemenTommy]

I hear you boothie. One wild night out at 7th Heaven and I'd be standing on the streets begging for a drink the rest of the month...

Did that a while back with the company and spent over 150,000 in one and a half hours for 4 people. I guess there was a costly lap dance in there for the client but that was the most boring (tittie) bar experience I ever had in Japan. Lots of money spent, but no ass.

I would much rather recommend the 500 yen beers at the new bar there across the street at Midtown.. if I only can ever remember the place's name. There are good ratio of girls there if you go at the right time and you'll run into a fair number of gaijins but I believe the latest Nova incident have significantly reduced the FG population.

[IkemenTommy]

I'd guess it depends of the field you're working in but in my personal experience 200 000/months is pretty standard for an entry level job in Japan.
130 000/month is enough to have fun in Tokyo. It really depends on what you consider fun though.
Going every week to Ageha or the fuzoku is going to cost you, getting plastered in a hole in the wall in shimokita or koenji is really cheap. Avoid gaijin places, avoid places that ask for a fee just to sit down(i.e bars in general). Avoid roppongi.
Hang out with japanese and get drunk the way they do. You start early, around 19h00 and you drink at izakayas not at bars, by 23h00 you should be hammered and you can still catch a train home. Don't ever take a cab.

Going on a trip is going to make a serious dent on that though. Traveling is very expensive in Japan, if you're planning on going to hokkaido many times a year it's going to be tough.

There is a shitload of threads on nomihodai stories on here. I recommend going there with a gang of friends and drain all the cheap shochus.

[Boris]

Thanks for the replies,

I don't really know what you mean by qualifications, if it's education or "real" qualifications (like cisco, ...), but what should be decent wages for starting gaijins, 500,000 ?
I haven't yet really worked anywhere and have only been doing internships, so I wouldn't say I've got experience but I come from a good school in IT with a minor in finance so I think it should help. Oh yeah, I'm 26.

Actually the company is paying me 200,000yen/month for six months and it's a pretty good one, I mean they've got money, and it isn't a job where you'll have to send fax's, do cofee, ...
Anyway, I would have accepted it even if they wouldn't pay me and use me as a slave ... I think. And if you can still have fun with 130,000en, it's ok for me (I'm not talking about gaming, or mangas, ...).



PS : There is a governmental organisation in my country which sends students all over the world to do long term internships (up to 2 years) with fixed wages, and for Japan it's around 300,000yen/m, but it's only for french international firms, so it doesn't apply in my case.

I assume you're french and you're talking about the "VIE" program in your PS (I'm French too).

I have an experience of a 3 months internship (as an engineer so it was qualified job) where I had dorm/breakfast-lunch-dinner during the week/commuting expenses paid and nothing else. I basically lived with 600€/month from my parents (75000-80000yen at the time I think).
It was tight but I bought a guitar, went out every week, got drunk in izakayas with colleagues or in Roppongi/Shibuya in the weekend, travelled a week to Kyoto/Hiroshima and the touristic spots nearby those areas (I had the railpass).
But that was the student way of life, if you have your degrees since quite some time you might be accustomed to more comfort than ramen, kare or cup noodles all weekends.

[GomiGirl]

I would much rather recommend the 500 yen beers at the new bar there across the street at Midtown.. if I only can ever remember the place's name.

I think you mean A971