What is the Cost of Living in Japan? This is the estimate ...

When living in a country, we certainly need to calculate the cost of living necessities in order to manage the amount of expenditure not exceeding income. The following is a reference to the average amount of expenditure required by a man who lives in Kyoto for a month.  

Sumber: Kyoto Sohyo (Kyoto Labor Union

Rent Apartments - 41,667 yen per month

Although there are various types of housing in Japan, the cost of renting a residence will take up the largest portion of income. There are various factors that affect rental prices, such as location and others, but other factors such as distance to the office need to be considered. For example, the price of renting an apartment is cheap, but the location is far from the office. 

Food - 44,441 yen per month

The cost of eating a month depends on how often you eat at restaurants or buy food outside, rather than cooking alone. For example, buying a box of karaage bento ( fried chicken bento ) costs around 474 yen and a bowl of ramen costs 547 yen. A bowl of gyuudon (rice with beef) costs around 374 yen. Of course, the cheapest and healthiest is to cook your own food and occasionally you can enjoy tendons (rice with tempura) for 970 yen.

* All prices displayed are based on May 2019 data sources from the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.

 Basic Needs - 7,419 yen per month

This is the average monthly cost for basic needs such as electricity, gas and water. Although in reality these costs can be different because it depends on usage. Especially during the summer and winter months, people usually use air conditioning or heating more often.

Furniture and Home Appliances - 3,836 yen per month

Household equipment such as for cleaning or washing clothes, as well as other household chores, the price depends on the season. 

Clothes - 5,921 yen per month

Same as above, depending on the season, winter requires more layers of clothes or rainy months of course require sturdy shoes. This is an estimated monthly expenditure, but who needs new clothes and shoes every month, right?

Transportation, Communication and Internet - 18,612 yen per month

Although it seems that it consumes a large portion of monthly expenses, but usually some companies in Japan will pay back ( reimbursed system ) transportation costs for their employees. For workers who take the bus or train, there is a commuter pass (a kind of card to be free to take the bus or train). Meanwhile, workers who go to the office in a private car, there is a method of calculating the monthly gasoline expenditure that will usually be paid back by the company. 

Other expenses - 23,434 yen per month

Whether traveling with friends, going on a date, or just having fun for yourself, this is certainly still needed for the balance of personal life with work. But this expenditure item can also be an additional savings fund. 

Savings - 17,800 yen per month

With 7.4 percent of salary put into the savings account, it might not look like much. But please note there are other posts that can be saved. Some people can save more, but some are not even able to save at all.