Is Japan expensive?

[Jack]

What I find most annoying is when peole hearing that I am going to Japan always tell me that Japan is expensive.

First of all, you know that I have been to Japan many, many times. Don't you think I would know if Japan is expensive or not?

Second, spoken like a true Canadian with no money.

Third, Japan (Tokyo) is cheaper than London, Paris or New York. Yes, I repeat, it is cheaper than...

Fourth, at least in Japan the best quality of everything is available while in your wretched, lousy, unsophisticated country of Canada everything has to be 99 cents or less. The good stuff is not even available.

I've so fuck'n had it when ignorant people who have never set foot here start telling me how Japan is expensive. It is not people.

There has been this annual survey of the most expensive cities in the and Moscow, Tokyo and London round out the top 3 spots. How does London get to be cheaper than Tokyo is beyond me. Anyone know how they conduct thosae surveys? Seems to me London is a lot more expensive than Tokyo is.

Okay, now I feel better.

[CrankyBastard]

Anywhere can be expensive, it all depends on how poor you are.

[American Oyaji]

Anywhere can be expensive, it all depends on how poor you are.

It also depends on how and where you spend your money.

If one spends and eats like the Japanese do, then Japan isn't really that expensive.

But if one spends and eats like a TOURIST then heck yeah you're going to burn a hole in your wallet.

[Gilligan]

[Jack]

[MeinJapanLongTime]

Compare the price of fresh fruit and vegetables. Where do you pay $5 for one apple? In Japan!

Granted, you can find some things cheaper. Like, the price of a Big Mac Set has pretty much stayed between 600 and 650 yen for almost 20 years! Of course, that's considerable more than you'll pay in most places the equivalent set (i.e drinks and fries are bigger in the US than Japan in a standard set).

[uchimizu]

I wrote a story a few months ago on few examples where Japan turned out to be much cheaper than Europe (especially France).

You may want to have a look and tell me what you think about it:

http://uchimizu-en.blogspot.com/2008/05/japan-country-where-life-is-cheaper.html

[FG Lurker]

Japan is cheaper for some things and more expensive for others. As someone pointed out, fresh fruit in particular is not cheap here. Cigarettes however sure are! Not sure what that says about Japan...

Owning a car here costs more -- shaken, road tax, high insurance, parking, gas, road tolls, etc.

Wine is expensive as hell here compared most places.

Hard liquor though is quite reasonable at least compared to Canada.

The great thing about Japan though (from a monetary perspective) is that if you are business minded it is a place you can make a truckload of money. The high population concentrations around the major cities creates amazing business opportunities for those who can find them.

[Jack]

Compare the price of fresh fruit and vegetables. Where do you pay $5 for one apple? In Japan!

Granted, you can find some things cheaper. Like, the price of a Big Mac Set has pretty much stayed between 600 and 650 yen for almost 20 years! Of course, that's considerable more than you'll pay in most places the equivalent set (i.e drinks and fries are bigger in the US than Japan in a standard set).

I buy ringo, mikan, momo all the time in Japan and I don't pay $5. Read my post and I do say that the top quality of everything is available in Japan. The $5 apple or $10 peach are available but those are specialty shit sold alongside $0.50 apple and peaches. That's the thing with foreigners. They see one thing and they just stick with that for eternity. Some punk goes to Mitsukoshi's basement and sees melons in fancy boxes with a perfectly round shape at 10,000 yen and bingo, for him all melons in Japan are a hundred bucks.

[Buraku]

There are a number of ways of measuring how much bang you get for your buck, if its measured by using let's say the BigMac index Japan probably does much better than London, there are all these formula from people like Carli and Fisher but they only tell you so much.
The US government also produces CPI figures each year, changes in percent are measures of inflation but unfortunately the numbers have been tweaked with too much so the final results just turn out to be complete bullshit.
If its measured by way of Purchasing power parity I imagine the Japanese are fucked here, because thanks in part to government interference on the currency what you can now buy with say 900 yen keeps getting devalued each month. Asian exporters like Japan over the past 10 years has purposely degraded their own currency so that the American people could enjoy more consumption than the average Japanese. One year in Japan you might have been able to buy a quick meal, a manga comic and post something with parcel service with your 900 yen...today with the currency getting devalued and inflation hitting you might be lucky to do just one of the above. The US got really hit hard these past 2 years with the Purchasing power parity index as the Dollar value started to plummet against the price of gasoline.
Quality not quantity should be taken into consideration. I would also take issue with what some people call a home in Japan, some tiny little cramped room in Tokyo is often called luxury. In many parts of the West they could call them over-priced dog kennels. I can tell you one thing which is probably the most expensive in the world, those big expensive Japanese toll roads and toll bridges which usually go from nowhere to nowhere and are continuing to suck money from Japanese tax payers each year.

[prolly]

it's about as expensive as new york city, where i live. but then when friends come to visit me they complain how expensive nyc is while i've become oblivious and instead remark on how cheap things like food are everywhere else (when it's actually at 'normal' cost.)

i'm lucky in that every trip so far to japan someone else is paying my way - the flipside is that they're scheduling every moment of my time there, too, so it's not as great a deal as would seem.

[prolly]

What I find most annoying is when peole hearing that I am going to Japan always tell me that Japan is expensive.

just to play devil's advocate then please explain why japanese tend to always vacation outside of their own country for economic reasons.

[FG Lurker]

I buy ringo, mikan, momo all the time in Japan and I don't pay $5.

The problem is that the cheaper food (fruit included) comes from China. I know that a lot of restaurants here are using Chinese ingredients but I still refuse to buy Chinese fruit/veggies/frozen food myself.

If you want decent quality fruit (or veggies) that weren't grown in an industrial waste cesspit then prices are higher. The cheapest Japanese-grown items are at least 2x the price of the Chinese ones.

[Iraira]

If you want decent quality fruit (or veggies) that weren't grown in an industrial waste cesspit then prices are higher. The cheapest Japanese-grown items are at least 2x the price of the Chinese ones.

The Chinese should market the cesspool foods better, then maybe no one would care.

"Now, with extra Strontium-90, for a brighter glow."
"Feelin' Tritiated!"
"When Viagra won't do the job, there's Dioxin!"

[Jack]

just to play devil's advocate then please explain why japanese tend to always vacation outside of their own country for economic reasons.

Where do you get that conclusion from? You just invented that.
Japanese travel abroad for all sorts of reasons and "economic reason" is not on the list.

Here's my point, for the average joe tourist, Japan is cheaper than London, New York or Paris.

[Buraku]

The Chinese should market the cesspool foods better, then maybe no one would care.

"Now, with extra Strontium-90, for a brighter glow."
"Feelin' Tritiated!"
"When Viagra won't do the job, there's Dioxin!"

I've a feeling food prices are going to skyrocket just like Oil did, purchasing power parity across the world will be hit.

Here's my point, for the average joe tourist, Japan is cheaper than London, New York or Paris.

That's "FOREIGN TOURIST" not the average Japan worker who still puts up with the same taxes and hasn't seen Japanese wages increase for the past 10 years

its good for your average-joe tourist if

1The tourist can read nihongo and shop at the right places

2Good if the J-Gov continues the policy of devaluing the Yen against the Dollar so Westerners can enjoy higher consumption


Tourists in Asia generally go to places like Thailand, Vietnam because they get more bang for their buck
and the locals can actually speak foreign languages!

Japan ain't tourist friendly. Unfortunately for Japan when it comes to languages, it ranks lowest among all Asian nations except North Korea

[American Oyaji]

Japan ain't tourist friendly. Unfortunately for Japan when it comes to languages, it ranks lowest among all Asian nations except North Korea

My opinion may not be informed, but I must agree. It seems like the only foreign language Japan recognizes is Engrish.

[ketchupkatsu]

[quote="Gilligan"]I absolutely agree that thinking like a tourist will make Japan ridiculously expensive. But no matter what you do you're still paying ￥]

I currently commute between Hawaii and Tokyo, and the prices aren't that much different.

And a 10 kilo bag of California grown Koshihikari rice cost about $20 to $25USD in Hawaii.

Don't know if this makes Hawaii ridiculously expensive or Tokyo prices reasonable.

[Mulboyne]

...if its measured by using let's say the BigMac index Japan probably does much better than London...If its measured by way of Purchasing power parity I imagine the Japanese are fucked...

That doesn't make sense. The Big Mac Index itself is a measure of Purchasing Power Parity.

[havill]

What I find most annoying is when peole hearing that I am going to Japan always tell me that Japan is expensive.

First of all, you know that I have been to Japan many, many times. Don't you think I would know if Japan is expensive or not?

Second, spoken like a true Canadian with no money.

Third, Japan (Tokyo) is cheaper than London, Paris or New York. Yes, I repeat, it is cheaper than...

Fourth, at least in Japan the best quality of everything is available while in your wretched, lousy, unsophisticated country of Canada everything has to be 99 cents or less. The good stuff is not even available.

I've so fuck'n had it when ignorant people who have never set foot here start telling me how Japan is expensive. It is not people.

There has been this annual survey of the most expensive cities in the and Moscow, Tokyo and London round out the top 3 spots. How does London get to be cheaper than Tokyo is beyond me. Anyone know how they conduct thosae surveys? Seems to me London is a lot more expensive than Tokyo is.

Okay, now I feel better.

Those surveys for most expensive city are created for the benefit of people on the ex-pat relocation packages. They usually compare the cost of 200 items, and those items are often "westernized".

So yes, if you're an American and want to continue to live exactly like you did in the States (meat over fish, fruits instead of vegatables, western sized apartments, western furniture), yes, Tokyo looks pretty expensive.

// I travel to London often too for business, and yes, London is incredibly expensive -- and I'm used to Japan's cost of living.

[Buraku]

That doesn't make sense. The Big Mac Index itself is a measure of Purchasing Power Parity.

As I understand the BigMac Index is not highly accurate,
its was introduced as something of a joke at first in some economic mag and is a very Americanized way of dealing with PPP. In each foreign region and there are a range of goods and services it neglects. In countries like Bangladesh eating in some American fast food joint might be considered "up-town" while the prices of taxis, rice etc is dirt cheap.
I doubt very much the writers of the BigMacIndex actually compared the prices of commuting across the Golden Gate Bridge and the expensive toll Bridges of Japan which cost the Japanese tax payers a dollar or 105 Y for every kilometer.

[AssKissinger]

I will say this though, no place will fuck up your budget faster than London.

[bolt_krank]

Well I'm in Sydney now - hell more expensive than Japan.
That being said - 10 years ago when I was living in Japan, it was the opposite. Cheaper to be in Sydney. Exchange rates and inflation have almost doubled the cost of everything in Sydney - whereas in Japan, they haven't really changed much at all - many things dropping slightly in price (besides gasoline).

[halfnip]

I will say this though, no place will fuck up your budget faster than London.

Are you sure, brah? At least there ain't shit to do in London but drink warm beer and eat "pies", so you should save a lot in the "entertaiment" department. It's a lot different then those crazy nights out in Macau or on Orchard street in Sing.

This is, of course, what I hear and not basically based on personal experience.

[halfnip]

Well I'm in Sydney now - hell more expensive than Japan.
That being said - 10 years ago when I was living in Japan, it was the opposite. Cheaper to be in Sydney. Exchange rates and inflation have almost doubled the cost of everything in Sydney - whereas in Japan, they haven't really changed much at all - many things dropping slightly in price (besides gasoline).

Shit man.. A pack of socks will cost you about 50 bills in Sydney these days... It's fucking ridiculous..

[AssKissinger]

At least there ain't shit to do in London but drink warm beer and eat "pies", so you should save a lot in the "entertaiment" department.

Sheeeet

London's influx of great live bands ...

dude one week equals ten years in Tokyo when it comes to music

[Mulboyne]

As I understand the BigMac Index is not highly accurate

I wouldn't rely on it but it's still a measure of PPP which is why it makes no sense to say the Big Mac index makes Japan look cheap but PPP makes it look expensive.

[DrP]

I think a more accurate measure is the SBI (starbucks index) - in which case you'll find that Japan ranks pretty even across the globe - except for volumetric adjustments - that pretty much seal its fate as high on the 'expensive' list. I also prefer to refer to the FSS index which never fails; (Food SEX Sleep) -- look at this compared to several countries and you'll get a better grasp of the overall tourist economics concern trend in action.

[FG Lurker]

[quote="DrP"]the FSS index which never fails]
Except for Greiji where it means Food SEX Sheep.

[Adhesive]

I agree, I think for the most part it's a push. There are a few things that strike me as absurdly expensive (rice for 2x the price I pay at home, for example) but there are also things that are a lot cheaper and of higher quality. Coming from San Francisco, I sometimes feel like Japan is a bargain in many ways.

But to be honest, I haven't heard the "isn't every thing in Japan crazy expensive?" comment in a very long time...I think people are too busy complaining about the soaring prices at home.