Living costs as student

3 comments

1. This is a copy of your post for archive/search purposes.

   —

   **Living costs as student**

   Was going to post in r/JapanLiving, but wasn’t sure if I’d be allowed to due to not being a resident yet. Also in r/japan

   Explanation aside, I’ll be attending Waseda University starting next academic cycle for a year through an exchange program. My uni will be sponsoring the flight and initial accomdations(before dorms open) as well as the cost of tuition.

   I was wondering, are there any “must haves” for living long term in Japan? I’m aware of things like Pasmo/Suica for public transit, and won’t need to worry about accomdations.

   I would also greatly appreciate it if somebody could give approximate monthly living costs – as the poor college student I am, I’m trying to get a rough budget for my entire stay.

   I’m not sure if this will be a factor, but my Japanese is somewhere between N3 and N2 level.

   Thank you in advance.

   *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/movingtojapan) if you have any questions or concerns.*

2. I have been living in Japan for almost 5 years now, I think your monthly spending will be something like that
   Food : 20,000-30,000 yen
   Telephone : 3,000 – 4,000 yen
   Accommodation: Lucky you!
   Transport : 5000 (depending where you go, and distance between uni and dorm)
   Fun : 10,000 (you are young and I think you want to enjoy Shibuya night life lol)

   The main expense is accomodation but since you got it covered you are kind of blessed.
   There is still a possibility for you to work some part time jobs but it may affect your studies!

   All the best !

3. Waseda student here – I know you said accommodation isn’t an issue, but if you didn’t get into WISH, you’re better off finding your own accommodation. You can save some money, or get a much better deal for the same amount, by looking places up yourself. Official partners like WID are like prison cells and the students treat it as such. (If you did get into WISH, congrats, the rooms are still shitty but you get cheap rent and nice roommates!)

   Otherwise, here’s my personal budget, stealing u/infj-jp’s list:

   Food: 12000/month (but it’ll probably be a bit more for you since I got free meals 3 nights/week) If you’re going to live near Waseda, there’s a gyomu super (discount supermarket) in between Waseda and Kagurazaka (the next station) which will save you money.

   Phone: 980/month, but the first two months were 2500/month

   Transport: Get a student pass (通学定期券), which will allow you to ride the train as many times as you want. If there’s somewhere you know you’ll be frequenting (Takadanobaba for sure, and maybe Shibuya or Shinjuku?), choose a route that includes that station to save transport fees.

   Fun: 3000-3500/night with the all-you-can-eat/drink menu. It can exceed 4000 yen if you go to a darts bar or somewhere fancy but Waseda students are cheap so it rarely does. The total amount depends on your friend group or zemi.

   Health: I’m assuming you’ll have insurance, but Waseda has a program that will pay for any medical expenses so you won’t have to pay any more than 1000 yen (e.g. if your bill is 3000 yen, Waseda will pay you back 2000).

   If you can get a paid internship it’ll pay for most your stay – the lower end starts at about 1200/hour but pay as much as 3000/hour for non-STEM students.