4 ms·

Please keep in mind that your costs of living are also different. In the EU you don't pay as much for the same services as in the US, especially healthcare. I

by tscs37 10y ago

Please keep in mind that your costs of living are also different. In the EU you don't pay as much for the same services as in the US, especially healthcare. I'm not sure about Japan but it could be the same thing there.

TulliusCicero 10y ago
Tokyo's definitely cheaper than the bay area or NYC, but it's still not exactly cheap. The median monthly rent is low, but you have to figure that the median apartment is tiny by American standards.
- ZeroGravitas 10y ago
  So many comments about big houses, I'm wondering if buying a big house in the suburbs that you have to commute hours to work from and therefore rarely enjoy is (to quote Homer Simpson) both the solution and the cause of all America's problems.
  - spiralx 10y ago
    It's certainly a problem that American suburbs lack the local services that typically exist in European cities, which is currently exacerbating the issue of suburban poverty: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/suburbs-and-the-new-american-poverty/384259/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/suburbs...
- astrange 10y ago
  I see this comment a lot in threads about quality of life - people say American life is better than the 60s because houses are bigger. Why do you want that? I'll accept "having more than one child" but not "having a bigger TV".
  - TulliusCicero 10y ago
    You'll have to ask someone else, I don't want a huge house and have strongly pro-density political leanings.
andy_ppp 10y ago
Cost of living, for the same sized apartment, in Tokyo is more that San Francisco by my calculations.
- tscs37 10y ago
  Hmm, yeah, thought so, but I wasn't sure.
- jpatokal 10y ago
  Emphasis on the "same sized apartment" there: American-sized apartments are quite rare in Tokyo and priced to match. In Tokyo, unlike SF, there are tons of tiny but perfectly livable "one-room mansion" apartments at non-insane rents ($500-1000/mo, depending on how small and how far away from the city).

by tscs37 10y ago

TulliusCicero 10y ago

Tokyo's definitely cheaper than the bay area or NYC, but it's still not exactly cheap. The median monthly rent is low, but you have to figure that the median apartment is tiny by American standards.

ZeroGravitas 10y ago
So many comments about big houses, I'm wondering if buying a big house in the suburbs that you have to commute hours to work from and therefore rarely enjoy is (to quote Homer Simpson) both the solution and the cause of all America's problems.
- spiralx 10y ago
  It's certainly a problem that American suburbs lack the local services that typically exist in European cities, which is currently exacerbating the issue of suburban poverty: https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/suburbs-and-the-new-american-poverty/384259/ https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/01/suburbs...
astrange 10y ago
I see this comment a lot in threads about quality of life - people say American life is better than the 60s because houses are bigger. Why do you want that? I'll accept "having more than one child" but not "having a bigger TV".
- TulliusCicero 10y ago
  You'll have to ask someone else, I don't want a huge house and have strongly pro-density political leanings.

andy_ppp 10y ago

Cost of living, for the same sized apartment, in Tokyo is more that San Francisco by my calculations.

tscs37 10y ago
Hmm, yeah, thought so, but I wasn't sure.
jpatokal 10y ago
Emphasis on the "same sized apartment" there: American-sized apartments are quite rare in Tokyo and priced to match. In Tokyo, unlike SF, there are tons of tiny but perfectly livable "one-room mansion" apartments at non-insane rents ($500-1000/mo, depending on how small and how far away from the city).