TLDR; I have the opportunity to move to a big city near Tokyo to continue working for my western company with a local contract. My annual salary offer is around 4.4 million Yen and I think it is too low, even though money is only a minor reason for my descision.
My current situation: I work in IT and my current salary is way above average & median (around 60% more) because my company is pretty big and paying well. In general, I can live a comfortable life and do not have to worry a lot about money. Additionally, I have a pretty good degree and a high skillset in my field but only 1.5 years of professional working experience. I don't speak Japanese. Furthermore, I really want to work and live in Asian countries (mostly Japan, Korea, or Taiwan) in the upcoming years and now have the opportunity to change the office. After a lot of back and forth, I got offered a contract for the Japanese office of my company.
Problem: While the contract terms are pretty good and western-like, the offer is way too low in my opinion. I am worrying that they exploit my wish to work in Japan and I have to watch my expenses much more closely. Also, I will likely not have saved anything in the end of the year. On the other hand, I will probably get no chance anymore to continue working for my company or any other company in an Asian office. Also, I'm thinking about just trying it for a year or so and then cut the line in case my life will be too bad. I do not have anything to lose actually (except saving money for a while). At the end, I had likely a nice experience in Japan and it's not that bad for my resume in case I will quit working there. 😀
Unfortunately, I do not find trustworthy number in the internet that tell me how my salary is in comparsion to other Japanese people, and that indicate if my salary is too low or actually fine and if I can live a comfortable life. After a lot of thinking and internet research, I come to the conclusion that a salary of around 6-8 million would be fair, since my skills are highly needed. But I'm not that sure…
What are your thoughts about this? Should I ask for more money or refuse the offer? Again, money is not that important for me. But living a comfortable life is.
by Intelligent_Knee_248