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I was paid a local salary while living in Japan. The total cost of living in Tokyo blows NYC and the Bay out of the water in terms of affordability and I’ve liv
by atdrummond 3y ago
I was paid a local salary while living in Japan. The total cost of living in Tokyo blows NYC and the Bay out of the water in terms of affordability and I’ve lived multiple years in all three. CPI with rent in NYC is nearly 90% higher.
Median household in New York is 120k; it’s 87k in Japan. Rent is over 200% higher than in Japan. Even adjusting for square footage and the earning differential, I assure you it is much easier to get an affordable place (and pay less per square foot accounting for income differentials) in Japan than in New York. Because of the Japanese transit system and the lack of household appreciation, there is a much broader range of rental prices and that range increases the further outside the city center you go.
- endisneigh 3y agoI'm not talking about total cost of living, I'm talking about the rent. meals along with other things, in tokyo are substantially cheaper than in New York, agreed.
- crooked-v 3y agoThe post you're replying to directly mentioned rent specifically multiple times.
- atdrummond 3y agoTo be fair, I did edit and make some adjustments. Their critique was valid as of my initial post.
- mitthrowaway2 3y agoI have lived in Tokyo and I agree with you. And other high-tier Japanese cities like Kyoto and Fukuoka are affordable on local salaries as well (both in terms of rent and in general). Wanted to mention though that your sentence "the total cost of living in Tokyo blows NYC and the Bay out of the water" risks being interpreted with two very different meanings.
- atdrummond 3y agoFixed - thank you. I didn’t even want to get into the other metros and complicate the discussion further but yes, they have extremely reasonable options as well.