200,000Yen per month is enough to be able to live in japan?

16 comments

1. You’d be pretty miserable living on that, that’s sub-entry-level wages on a non-service-sector job.

2. Livable, but you have to live really frugal in here.

   I was able to pull this one off with my wife and daughter.

   But there were days i was only eating like 2 times.(dispatch days)

3. Student? Yes. Employed? Absolutely not, that’s exploitative level of salary (assuming you’re not part-time)

4. Barely but yes. There’s cheap rentals everywhere. If you’re single and don’t care about savings or want to use some of yours it will be ok

5. So many people here are used to high standards lol.

   As a student I lived here on a baito with 140.000yen per month. Yes you don’t go where you want all the time, and you live outside of Tokyo but it’s doable. Now depends on your status etc, cause yeah outside of a baito or low tier job this is very low income, but the question is “doable” and my answer is yes.

6. Is it take home salary ? Yes can live , try to go for a low rent house in Chiba or in tokyo… Yes it’s enough

7. Before taxes?

   It’s maybe not impossible, but you’d need to be very smart with your budgeting. Just don’t expect a lot of luxuries. I’d say it’s not terrible if you’re a student.

8. You could live, but you’d be hard pressed to do anything with your downtime that isn’t free.

   I’m on 280k in a reasonably cheap city and it’s pretty easy for me to run out of spending money if I’m not careful. That said, if I stick to a strict budget and hold off my natural urge to spend 15k every time I walk past a pub, I can make it through the month not in poverty and having at least staved off the boredom.

   You’re going to be looking at perhaps 40k for food and essentials, 20k for utilities (water, gas, electric, phone, internet), an emergency fund of at least around 20k (need to be covered if you/your stuff breaks), then whatever your rent is. Probably 50-80k for Tokyo depending on your standards an what’s available. There’s also local tax and stuff to think about.

   You could save some cash by foregoing any sort of emergency fund or savings. Probably a little to be skimmed off the food and essentials budget if you don’t mind eating very basic meals and using the cheapest products.

   Being in Tokyo you’ll have an easy time taking advantage of things like free wifi, public events, cheap transport, etc. that aren’t available outside of major cities. This will be your biggest source of saving and staying sane.

9. People here will say no, anything below 100 billion yen a day is poverty. The truth is yes it is possible, HOWEVER it depends greatly on your situation and expenses.

10. 200k net (meaning you already paid pension, insurance and resident tax) is doable if you are single and can keep your monthly costs bellow 100k. Another important point is if you already have everything you need, like clothing, phone, furniture, house appliances etc and no debt.

    If your visa allow you to do part time work, you can do that as well.

    Anything other than that I think it’s near poverty and it’s going to be tough.

11. You’re not gonna be rich (no yearly iPhone for example).

    In kyoto , with a net income of 170.000 I paid my rent, buy games, go out with friends fairly regularly, had no debt whatsoever.

    So I would definitely say it’s way more than just “doable”

12. I used to live with 148k net per month as a student in a 16m2 apartment. I was careful with my spending and was even able to save a little. Heck I mostly spent my time in my campus where the food was cheap and the electricity free. 200k for an active person looks fine to me, provided that you don’t live in a nice place, or at least, that your house is located outside the big cities.

13. Depends where you live. In Tokyo/Yokohama it will be quite difficult. I used to live in Nagoya. Living costs where really cheap over there. And it is definitely possible to live a cheap but good life with 200K net.

    Now I live in Kanagawa…different situation.

14. Live? Sure. You won’t die.

    Have a good life? I sure wouldn’t.

15. Depends on where in the country.
    200.000 in Tokyo. It’s doable but you won’t be able to do anything.
    Like, just going away with the Shinkansen to say Osaka is gonna fuck up your whole budget.
    Or going out… or even to the movies is gonna leave a pretty big hole in your wallet.
    If you wanna do it, sure but 200.000 is really low

16. It depends *where in Japan.* Cost of living in the prefecture varies.

    This also depends on where that is before or after taxes.