I tried looking around for similar posts but couldn't quite find what I'm looking for, nothing on the web seems to fit my situation either.
Essentially: I'll be moving to Kyoto for 1 year on September next year. I'll be in a Japanese Language School and have the share house cost as well as tuition covered by student loans. So while I have accommodation covered, food and similar is not included.
I'll be staying for 11-12 months and I'm wondering what my expenses will most likely look like?
I don't plan on eating out every day, I'll have access to a kitchen and as such will try to make my own food whenever I can. I don't plan on going to any bars or attend any expensive places. Average student in Kyoto, travel expenses, food and some fun activity every other weekend or so.
I'm thinking of saving up around 8-9k USD (80000-90000 SEK) for the whole year. Which I hope will be able to cover these expenses, as well as a couple trips with the shinkansen to some other cities maybe once a month or every 2 months.
Could this be possible to live off of? I'm worried because food in Sweden isn't exactly cheap, so I always find myself plowing through my funds just to keep my stomach filled nowadays, leaving little to nothing to spend on other things I want to buy.
by Dx8pi
2 comments
Since you said tuition and accommodation is covered, 9k USD is definitely fine for a year.
Which school are you going to? To get a more accurate estimate I’d like to ask if you have utilities/internet included in the price of the share house? I was recently researching the same costs for Fukuoka, Kyoto, Nagoya, and Tokyo. My estimate for Kyoto total living cost is around 200,000 yen per month (to be safe) based on various sites. Instead of subtracting out housing, car, utilities, etc. it would be easier to just add up costs for groceries, restaurants, rail, etc. For those I would estimate 50,000 yen a month (again somewhat safe). Make sure you add in the mandatory cost of national health insurance. I wish I was going too!
Edit: Long story short, based on my limited research, it seems you could live for 1 year in Kyoto on 8-9k USD to cover groceries, restaurants, some weekend activities, a few longer trips, and mandatory insurance. This assumes you have already covered tuition and fees, housing, utilities, internet, and assumes you will not have a personal vehicle.