4 ms·

> Is that enough to have an acceptable lifestyle? I’m always baffled by this kind of comments. The world isn’t made of SV engineers making 300K$/year, living i

> Is that enough to have an acceptable lifestyle? I’m always baffled by this kind of comments. The world isn’t made of SV engineers making 300K$/year, living in appartment with 5K appartment and buying 40$ sandwiches. Sure, most places and jobs are paying less, but cost of living is also lower. In Japan for instance eating out is cheap compared to Europe. Healthcare is accessible too. Cooking can help saving money too. Heck, I’m living (alone) fine with $16K/year (yes, per year) in one of the biggest Japanese city and I still can go to parties, buy video games, travel abroad while saving some money.

acchow 6y ago
SF is not the most expensive place in the world (by far not) so gp was asking if Japan is high COL or not. Seems a fair question to me.
- tasogare 6y ago
  He asked that in the "aren’t you all living in the streets of Japan with so few money?" in a humble-bragging tone that is quite common here when speaking of wages in an international context. And my reply is clear: yes it’s more than doable if living alone. I won’t speak for people who have families, it may be harder, but none of my foreign friends working here ever complained about their salaries.
  - benrbray 6y ago
    fwiw I didn't interpret it that way
  - pmiller2 6y ago
    Incorrect. He, who is me, asked in the sense of "I have no idea how the hell much $70k equivalent buys in Japan."
  - literallycancer 6y ago
    Nah. He just asked how far it goes because it's not obvious how much you'd have to spend if you aren't willing to live in a shoebox. Seeing as most of the housing stock in big Japanese cities are the shoebox size apartments. Another thing which a foreigner would have a hard time finding out is how much you have to spend on decent domestic staff or private tutors. They could look up English speaking companies serving the Anglo expat market, but the local middle class is likely able to get those services for dramatically different prices.
pmiller2 6y ago
Did I say "acceptable" means "equivalent to $300k in the Bay Area?" No. Far from it. There's a big gap between $300k per year and "acceptable," even in SF.

acchow 6y ago

SF is not the most expensive place in the world (by far not) so gp was asking if Japan is high COL or not. Seems a fair question to me.

tasogare 6y ago
He asked that in the "aren’t you all living in the streets of Japan with so few money?" in a humble-bragging tone that is quite common here when speaking of wages in an international context. And my reply is clear: yes it’s more than doable if living alone. I won’t speak for people who have families, it may be harder, but none of my foreign friends working here ever complained about their salaries.
- benrbray 6y ago
  fwiw I didn't interpret it that way
- pmiller2 6y ago
  Incorrect. He, who is me, asked in the sense of "I have no idea how the hell much $70k equivalent buys in Japan."
- literallycancer 6y ago
  Nah. He just asked how far it goes because it's not obvious how much you'd have to spend if you aren't willing to live in a shoebox. Seeing as most of the housing stock in big Japanese cities are the shoebox size apartments. Another thing which a foreigner would have a hard time finding out is how much you have to spend on decent domestic staff or private tutors. They could look up English speaking companies serving the Anglo expat market, but the local middle class is likely able to get those services for dramatically different prices.

pmiller2 6y ago

Did I say "acceptable" means "equivalent to $300k in the Bay Area?" No. Far from it. There's a big gap between $300k per year and "acceptable," even in SF.