The low cost of living in Japan

[Steve Bildermann]

The low cost of living in Japan: one expat argues that it's easy to cut daily living expenses in Tokyo and Osaka

A useless piece of fluff writing that I wanted to publish so as to eventually embarrass the writer with when it comes up on google.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NTN/is_43/ai_108881945

[omae mona]

The low cost of living in Japan: one expat argues that it's easy to cut daily living expenses in Tokyo and Osaka

A useless piece of fluff writing that I wanted to publish so as to eventually embarrass the writer with when it comes up on google.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0NTN/is_43/ai_108881945

Indeed. I take serious offense to the suggestion that I can get along just fine without my daily musk melon, two SUVs, foreign magazines, and my frequent taxi rides to and from Narita. My ass is far too large to fit into those Narita Express seats anyway. I suppose next he's going to suggest that I don't really need to be eating a kilogram of beef each day.

OK, seriously, though, the headline is misleading, I think. The article's really about a cost-of-living index that doesn't take into account close-to-equivalent, but more affordable, local alternatives. While the author has a point, I'm certainly not going to complain. The more expensive people think Japan is, the more posh the benefits packages are for expats working at foreign firms in Japan. And damn it, I am going to get myself back on one of those packages!!

[Charles]

This sort of article reminds me of a seminar I attended, my boss insisted I take the day off to attend because the seminar guaranteed to teach you a way to increase revenues 10% with no effort and no cost.

I sat there for 3 hours before he revealed the secret: raise your prices 10%.

[Samurai_Jerk]

He does have a point, although he could have done a much better job of presenting it. I remember years ago when I was in college seeing some news story about how expensive it was to live in Japan. They had all these expats complaining. I remember specifically that two of the things mentioned were the cost of roast beef and cranberry juice. I don't think I ever even saw roast beef for sale in Japan anywhere other than Subway or New York Deli. Things in Tokyo are definitely expensive, but not as bad as it's all made out to be. I talked to former student recently who just got his MBA in the UK. He was shocked by how low the standard of living was there. He thought it was more expensive and cramped than Japan.

[dimwit]

Things in Tokyo are definitely expensive, but not as bad as it's all made out to be. I talked to former student recently who just got his MBA in the UK. He was shocked by how low the standard of living was there. He thought it was more expensive and cramped than Japan.

All of Japan is expensive, but, from a Canadian point of view, the low income tax rates mean that relative to Canada I am probably doing as well as or better than I would be doing back there.

[Socratesabroad]

Something to note here is the low cost of living for an expat, but that definitely doesn't apply to the typical salaryman.

The base salary is enough to live comfortably in a small apartment - provided you don't do anything or go anywhere. Which is the reason that most of my colleagues were putting in incredible amounts of overtime to pad their incomes.

I'd be curious to know just how close (or far) Mr. McCracken's pay at Japan, Inc. is from a typical office worker's...

[Taro Toporific]

Tokyo loses top place to Oslo in EIU cost of living ranking
Kyodo via crisscross Wednesday, February 1, 2006 at 03:00 EST
LONDON ---Tokyo moved out of the top spot in the Economist Intelligence Unit's latest cost of living ranking for the first time in 14 years, the EIU said Tuesday.
Oslo took the top post .... Reykjavik came third, while Osaka and Kobe dropped to fourth place to tie with Paris. ...more...