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> Tokyo is pretty awesome, but you do have to be able to afford it. Are you saying that for the same $120K/year a family would be better off in Tokyo than in O

> Tokyo is pretty awesome, but you do have to be able to afford it. Are you saying that for the same $120K/year a family would be better off in Tokyo than in Ogaki (or Austin)? Lower cost of living means that you can afford other things, such as bigger house, better neighborhood, better doctors, babysitter, better car etc. I see though how Tokyo could be better than San Francisco or NYC - thank you for your explanation.

veidr 12y ago
It is instructive to think about those 'other things' -- because each person will value those in different ways. To some people, a smaller house is a good tradeoff if it comes with abundance of extremely awesome restaurants, shopping, and riverside parks nearby. For others, having a big personal space is more important. Some people get a lot of satisfaction from having a Porsche or (more likely, with kids) a well-appointed Audi Q7. I think the best car is not having a car at all (at least until the robo-cars arrive) -- but to me that means public transit + bicycle is literally so good that I can get where I am going faster than I could with a car. The only cities I have lived in where that is true are Tokyo and Amsterdam. So yeah, depending on what you value most, you might be better off in Tokyo even on $120k. But if you want the car and big personal space, then probably not.