Hello,
I’m currently in conversations with my company’s Tokyo office – which I understand is mainly a working from home situation. I estimate that our combined salaries would be between ¥15-17M. This is much lower than our combined income in the states, but I am aware that Japanese salaries are lower. As background, my husband grew up in Japan. I have also lived in Japan and we both speak Japanese as our main home language. We have a 14 month old son. We qualify for a Japanese descent visa and have already been speaking to a lawyer in Japan. We’re no stranger to living in Japan, we just have never lived there as adults – particularly as parents.
My interest in considering this move is mainly revolved around childcare. We pay USD 2000 a month for childcare in a medium cost of living city. I want to have another child, but we simply cannot afford to pay USD 4000 in childcare expenses. We’re comfortable putting him in a Japanese only Hoikuen.
My main questions are the following:
1) What area can I focus searching for housing (Kanto region)? Knowing that I will mainly work from home, I want about a 1 hour commute to Tokyo station. I’m making the assumption that I may have to go into the office once a month. We would be interested in renting a house. How far out do I need to go to search for a house?
2) Is there a guide on how much general expenses are? (ex. utilities, food, insurance, taxes)
3) Are there any unexpected expenses I should be aware of?
Just trying to start planning if this is financially feasible.
Thank you!
1 comment
Haha, I also came from the US paying $2k USD a month for daycare— it’s amazing how much cheaper childcare is here. My understanding is that it can be difficult finding space in hoikuen, but it’s a point system so with two parents working, and potentially another kid, you’ll have a good number of points.
As to housing, standalone houses can be found everywhere (even in the heart of Tokyo), it’s just whether or not you can afford it. For example, we live in Yokohama and considered renting a 4LDK detached house for about 300,000 yen per month. No yard, but about a 5 min walk to a train station, centrally located. And we saw another 4LDK house with a tiny yard by Shin-Yokohama for around 270,000 yen per month. Go on Suumo and look around to get a sense of pricing. We actually ended up going with a mansion that were quite happy with. Our mansion even has a little terrace big enough for our kid to run around. Lots of families in the building so we’ve made friends.