Living cost increase in Japan due to Weak Japanese Yen

Over the past few years, the weak Japanese yen has quietly but steadily reshaped everyday life in Japan. What once felt like minor price adjustments have now turned into noticeable increases across essentials, travel, and household expenses. For many residents, the impact is no longer theoretical—it’s felt every time they pay a utility bill or shop for groceries.

One of the most immediate effects of a weak yen shows up in import costs. Japan depends heavily on overseas sources for energy such as crude oil, natural gas, and coal. When the yen loses value, these imports become more expensive, and that cost is quickly reflected in higher electricity and gas bills. Food prices have followed a similar path. Since a large portion of Japan’s food is imported, a weaker currency directly translates into higher grocery bills, even for everyday staples.

Consumer goods have not been spared either. Many items people rely on daily—clothing, electronics, and household products—are either imported or manufactured using imported components. As production and import costs rise, companies often pass those increases on to consumers. What used to be affordable essentials now come with a noticeable premium.

Travel and transportation costs have also climbed. Within Japan, higher fuel prices have pushed up the cost of air travel and gasoline, making even domestic trips more expensive than before. For international travel, the impact is even more pronounced. Japanese travelers abroad find that hotels, meals, and shopping cost significantly more, simply because the yen doesn’t stretch as far as it used to.

Small and medium-sized businesses are feeling the pressure as well. Many rely on imported raw materials or goods, and the weak yen has driven up their operating costs. To survive, these businesses often have little choice but to raise prices, which ultimately affects consumers and contributes further to inflation at the local level.

Perhaps the most difficult consequence is the decline in purchasing power. For people whose incomes have not increased in line with rising prices, daily life has become more financially challenging. Pensioners and low-income households are especially vulnerable, as fixed or limited incomes make it harder to absorb higher living costs.

This situation is made worse by Japan’s long-standing issue with slow wage growth. While expenses continue to rise, salaries have remained relatively stagnant for years. The gap between income and cost of living keeps widening, placing increasing strain on household budgets.

In response, both the government and businesses have taken steps to ease the burden. Subsidies have been introduced to offset rising energy and food costs, offering some short-term relief. There has also been renewed emphasis on encouraging domestic production to reduce dependence on imports. At the same time, the Bank of Japan has continued its ultra-loose monetary policy, a strategy aimed at stimulating the economy but one that has also contributed to the yen’s weakness.

Looking ahead, the weak yen is likely to remain a key factor shaping Japan’s economy unless there are major shifts in monetary policy or global financial conditions. While exporters may benefit from the current exchange rate, the pressure on ordinary households continues to grow. For many people living in Japan today, the weak yen is no longer just an economic headline—it’s a daily reality.

Unexpected Costs For Rental Apartments in Tokyo

You may wonder why there are unexpected costs while renting an apartment! Some people call it unknown costs or hidden costs of living. You have to pay for it, but you did not expect such expenses. At the end of the day, you need to pay it.

The decision to rent an apartment and the type of apartment depend on some conditions. Are you going to be in Japan for quite a long time? for example, more than 2 years? If you plan to be in Japan for more than10 years, you can consider to buy your own house or apartment. If you know that your stay in Japan would not be longer than two years, it is better to look for a fully furnished apartment. All you need to do is making a payments for the utilities, phone and internet bills. 

During the process of searching for a new apartment, I became more aware of some of the "hidden costs". These hidden costs depend on the apartment type you choose. If you are going for a private apartment, a guarantor company should support and you need to pay for them. Some private apartment owners ask for renters insurance and lock exchange money. Public housing corporations such as UR and JKK do not have such hidden costs. However they also deduct "Damage and Cleaning" money from your deposit. 

Good things with UR and JKK are the exception of Key money, Agency commission, Guarantor fee, renters fee and lock exchange money. Deposit of two months is required for UR and JKK. Private apartments have more hidden costs, but apartments of public housing corporations are not free from hidden costs. 

When I approached the real-estate agent to look for an apartment in JKK housing complex in Komatsugawa, at first the agent talked about the attractive feature of Two-months Rent free campaign for couples with children. Then he informed that there is no gas stove installed in JKK apartment. Tenant needs to buy and install. Some of the rooms do not have lights. I bought lighting fixtures and fixed it myself. JKK apartments in Komatsugawa have lower wall heights compared to that of UR apartments. Hence some of the lighting fixtures became useless and we had to buy new ones. 

Some private apartments offer washing machine, Refrigerator, Television, Microwave oven, Heaters, Air conditioners and furniture such as Sofa, Dining table, study table and chairs. Apartments of Public housing corporations such as UR and JKK have started providing air conditioners. UR apartments in Komatsugawa provides Gas stove. JKK apartments have lighting fixtures fixed on the ceiling of entrance area, veranda, toilet, kitchen, Washing-bathroom area and Service room.   

In summary, the unexpected costs during the recent change of apartment from UR to the JKK were for Gas-stove and the light fixtures. The cost was around 60,000 JPY. 

What percentage of the salary a foreigner can save in Japan?

 

Some of the visitors to this blog were interested to know the living expenses in Japan and how much they can save. It is quite natural to have these concerns about living costs before one makes final decision to come to Japan. For expatriates, apart from the job satisfaction, savings is one of the major driving forces to accept the offer from their prospective employer in Japan. Cost of living has increased recently. “Especially in the changed scenario” one would like to add with the preceding sentence in the wake of recent alarming news from one of the famous baby food producers.

Living cost for foreigners in Japan and I believe also for Japanese people has been on the rise after March. Either people buy water from the stores. Some book online from western sides of Japan or water from outside Japan. The consumption tax will have negative impact on the potential savings.

 

 

Again on the living expenses for a foreigner family in Tokyo

On March 22nd I wrote a simple article on living expenses for a foreigner in Tokyo. As I told in this blog and other discussion forums, cost of living in Tokyo is much higher compared to other East Asian and European nations. When I was writing that post in this blog on March, I was living alone and my family was in India. Almost three weeks after writing that post, they joined with me along with my mother.

It will be interesting to compare the cost of living in Tokyo for a bachelor and for a family, especially for foreign people. I think this will be a helpful hint for at least some of the Asians planning to come to Japan for work.

In order to tell how big the difference in expenses will be for a family in Tokyo when compared to the bachelor life, I would like to narrate the real incident. One day in May, I got a phone call from my wife saying that, one of the Japanese woman has come to our home telling something. As my wife was new to Japan, she could not understand even a single word, but could guess it is something related to the bill for gas.

As I also did not have confidence to speak in Japanese especially over phone, I requested help from one of my Japanese colleagues. My Japanese colleague after talking over phone explained to me that the Gas bill has suddenly shoot up to 13340 Japanese Yen (JPY) for the last month. Compared to the March month’s bill of 1600 JPY, that was more than 8 times high! The Japanese staff from the Tokyo Gas company was surprised and doubted for some leakages inside home. She wanted to enter the home and check! When I heard from my colleague, I thought of the promptness and alertness of Tokyo Gas company’s staff. It is really appreciable. They are not only for billing the customer, but also to educate and alert them of a sudden change in the billing amount.

My colleague explained that my family has joined with me from last month and that was the reason for sudden change. Taking the high cost of living in Tokyo with family, we could control the Gas bill for the subsequent months by putting restriction on the usage of gas heaters and water heating system.

The same thing happened to the Electricity bill during summer seasons, when we switch on the air conditioners almost throughout the day. Compared to the bachelor life, the bills for Gas, Electricity, Water and sewage, has more than tippled on average. Yahoo BB bill is same and there is no much change. The Softbank mobile bill has increased a little to reach something around 3600 JPY per month. Putting all the bills together, it comes around 30,000 JPY per month for Water and Sewage, Gas, Electricity, Mobile, Internet connection, Cable TV etc.

The drastic increase in expense is on the education. The school fee and the bus fee for children is the biggest contributor to the high cost of living for foreigners. The education is free in Japanese schools. The fee in international schools in Tokyo is too high for an average paid foreigner especially in Japanese companies. Japanese companies mostly have no separate rules for giving special allowance to support the education of children of foreign staff.

We are paying 60,000 JPY per month for the kid’s fee and 15,000 JPY for school bus. The miscellaneous expenses for the children relating to education may vary from 10,000 JPY depending on the schools. Since my kid is going to Indian International School in Tokyo (Morishita), she has to go by school bus.

To summarize, the living expense for one month on an average for a simple living family will be around 300,000 Japanese Yen. This expense does not include the House rent, tax and other deductions. Including the house rent, travelling expenses, the expense will be around 450,000 JPY per month if the whole amount of house rent is to be paid by us. Many Japanese companies pay 70 to 80% of the house rent to their employees. This is a great support for employees. Since the tax depends on the basic pay, I don’t want to make a comment here.

In short, living in Tokyo is not simple! There are very few chances in Tokyo to live simple and save a lot of money from our salary, compared to many other major cities. This makes Tokyo unique. One of the biggest cities in the world, where more than 12 million people reside at the heart of the city and more than 30 million people including the surrounding areas. The cash flow in Tokyo is high…….and still Japan has been the second strongest economy in the world!

Shopping experience at Costco wholesale, Makuhari

This was the fourth time I did purchase at COSTCO WHOLESALE at Makuhari after coming to Japan. When Balasan told about Costco and the economical benefits of purchasing from Costco one year before, I was not fully convinced obviously because I was leading a single life at that time in Japan.

Now with family, purchasing from Costco is an economically beneficial. Membership is mandatory to purchase from Costco. Two individuals can do shopping with one membership card. Balasan has taken the membership card for one year. The one year membership card costs 4000 yen without tax.

When we buy household items in bulk, Costco is a good choice, as far as our experience goes. I could see Ready to eat MTR foods from India, which is an attractive item for Indians and Pakistanis in Japan. The cost of 4 Nos of Palak paneer packs cost 898 Japanese Yen. The average cost of one pack is 224.5 Japanese yen. The same Palak paneer from MTR in other local shops in Tokyo that sells Indian foods costs 480 Japanese yen. There are some Indian shops that sell little bit cheaper than 480 Yen but not very near to the cost at Costco.

Another example is the cost of Olive oil. The one liter Olive oil I bought from a local supermarket cost me around 900 Yen, while the one I did yesterday at Costco cost me around 500 Yen per liter, when purchased a can of 5 liters.

Travelling from our place to Makuhari is the only disadvantage for us to shop at Costco. For me, living at Higashi Ojima, I have to take Toei Shinjuku line up to Motoyawata. From there by changing to JR line to reach Nishi Funabashi. From Nishi Funabashi the frequency of trains directly to Kahin Makuhari is less. Most of the time we have to make one more transfer at Minami Funabashi to reach finally at Kahin Makuhari. From Kahin Makuhari we will board the bus that goes to Costco wholesale, Makuhari. There are two buses in every one hour. We have to plan the travel as per the bus timings to save time.

When we used to go to OVTA for our Japanese lessons, it was easier to shop at Saturdays once the Japanese lessons are finished. Vegetables and Food items are much cheaper compared to shopping at local shops. Costco is a wholesale shop whose history dates back to 1976 when it started first sale in Morena Boulevard in San Diego, CA, U.S.A.

First Costco warehouse was opened in Seattle, WA, U.S.A in 1983, Costco have more than 500 locations worldwide. Best part of Costco is it is open not only to business customers, but to retail customers too can avail the benefit of purchasing the things at whole sale price. Costco operates at nine locations in Japan. The branches in Japan are in Fukuoka (Hisayama), Chiba (Makuhari), Machida City (Tamasakai), Hyogo (Amagasaki), Yokohama (Kanazawa), Kawasaki (Kawasaki), Sapporo (Sapporo) and in Saitama two branches one at Iruma and another at Shinmisato. We can see the Makuhari branch when we go to Kahin Makuhari from Nishi Funabashi on our way to OVTA for Japanese lessons. Click here for Costco website in Japan; Costco.jp

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Makuhari, click here; Costco Makuhari

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Tamsakai, click here; Costco Tamasakai

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Amagasaki, click here; Costco Amagasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Hisayama, click here; Costco Hisayama

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kanazawa seaside, click here; Costco Kanazawa seaside

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Kawasaki, click here; Costco Kawasaki

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Sapporo, click here; Costco Sapporo

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Iruma, click here; Costco Iruma

For address and location map to reach at Costco warehouse at Shinmisato, click here; Costco Shinmisato

Shopping at Costco is a good option to control the living cost in Tokyo. Living in Tokyo is highly expensive especially with family. Then the options like Costco will make the living somewhat comfortable though not fully. Daily living items, the expiry date of which are more than 6 months can be purchased at once in bulk to save money while we do shopping at Costco. One of the disadvantages is that most of the times we have limited options of brands to choose from. Electronic items do not have many options.

As one of the Japanese friend told, foreigners in Japan spend more money for living as they lack information on places where they can do economical purchasing. Local people and foreigners who have been living in Japan for long know such places and have many options for shopping. They can limit their expenses to their budget, while many of the new comers to Japan spend more unknowingly due to lack of information. Single living does not require many items to be stored in bulk. This also tempts singles to buy from local shops as and when required and that costs them higher making the living expense in Japan further high.

Cost of living for a foreigner in Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world. The recent statistics shows that capital of Japan, Tokyo is the most expensive place in the world to live. Japan is the second strongest economy in the world, but the most expensive.

One reason for this high expense is the highest living standards by its citizens. The quality of life is also high in Tokyo. Everything contributes to the expenses.

From the last one year living experience in Japan, let me brief the costs of living in Tokyo. The apartment rent per month is 115,000 Japanese yen. For Yahoo BB broadband internet connection with a land phone the bill be around 6,400 Japanese yen. It is quite reasonable considering the quality of service Yahoo BB offers and the advantages of having a landline telephone from Yahoo BB in combination with Apa Kabar international calling card.

The monthly electricity bill will be around 6000 Japanese yen. I paid the last water bill approximately 3600 Japanese yen for two months. So, monthly 1800 Yen is nominal for a single man. The gas bill will be around 1600 Yen, because I don’t cook at home. This gas consumption is for heating the water for making coffee and water heating for bathing. The NHK television bill will be 1390 Yen per month. Softbank mobile phone charges for a month is around 2000 Yen. This includes the extra calls I make to friends within Japan. For making international calls I use Apa kabar card which costs 2400 Yen. I have to buy at least 3 Apa Kabar cards in a month, thus this amounts to 7200 Yen per month.

Daily commutation charges by train to office and back will be 580 Yen per day. So accumulated for a month and also including the extra travels I make to visit friends and for purchase will total to 20,000 Yen. This kind of expense depends on the place where we live. For others, this amount may be less or high.

For food and snacks monthly approximate expense for a single head will vary from 45000 to 60,000. If I go for eating out together with other friends once in a week, this amount will go further high.

Hair dressing charges are quite noticeable in Japan. My hair dresser charges me with a small bill of 3,000 Yen. This is where I got astonished with the living expenses in Tokyo. Every month I pay 3,000 Yen for hair cutting. I am not going for any beautification of my hair! In my country, for this amount of money, even if I go for a medium luxury hair saloon, I can have my hair cut for full two years! Here in Tokyo, we are not paying for the actual work he does rather we pay the hair dresser to live in Tokyo. He has to live in Tokyo in order to render his service to us!

The clothing and physical fitness charges will vary according to the individual and I don’t want to put any amount, but it won’t be less than 10,000 Yen if we take the average per month.

Then there are vacation expenses for a foreigner. Entertainment expenses another category. Today I went to see a movie. One movie ticket costs 1800 Yen.

Since I have insurance, I have to pay some 30% of the expenses. Monthly medical expenses are approximately 5000 Yen.

Living with family and kids is quite highly expensive in Japan. The lowest international school fee won’t be less than 60,000 Yen per month for one kid. The school bus expense may vary from 20,000 Yen and more. Then comes the other education expenses separately.

All the above mentioned expenses are purely from my own experience and have nothing to do with a national average figure. I don’t want to do a totaling of all the expenses and state a particular amount as the monthly expenses. Some companies will take care of some type of expenses. Again that depends on the individuals agreement with the company and company's commitment to the employees. Therefore Just I have given the breakups of living expenses in Tokyo. There are other types of expenses, which I might have missed out. I will update once I remember those expenses.