I'm going to Japan in October on a working holiday visa for a year, and after paying for flights etc I expect to have around £10k to play with. That's roughly (atm), 1400000Yen. Assuming I go to Tokyo, and find a homestay, how much mileage do you think I'd get from that before I need to start working? Is 6 months realistic with that money in advance?
General cost of living stuff would be useful

Cheers

Sqz

It depends a lot on your upfront costs as far as moving into a place and furnishing it, but if you have a homestay I guess that's not an issue. If you don't do an excessive amount of travelling or drinking, 6 months on 1,400,000 yen is definitely possible. 9 months might even be doable.

Tokyo is quite inexpensive, at least as compared to the U.S. It gets a bad rap because the cost per square foot is high, and because foreign foods are expensive. But if you live in a normal (i.e., small) place and eat Japanese food, it will be less expensive for an accommodation of the same quality and some amazing cuisine.

Living here, I generally budget about 200,000 yen per month, which covers rent, transportation, and a pretty good time of eating and drinking out. You might also look into a guest house, or even a cheap hotel (living with mom and dad seems like it would get old pretty quickly; just saying). I've stayed in a guest house for 65,000 yen per month, and internet cafes for under 2,000 yen per night.

I received an 80,000 yen scholarship each month for a year. I could easily survive on this, but once I started going to a few more nomikais or wanted to travel a bit further away on day trips etc I had to dip into my own savings, so I probably spent around 100,000 yen/month. Of course if you want to live more lavishly it will be more expensive.

In saying that I lived in student accommodation for which the rent was only 22,000 yen/month. That was for a one person apartment (bedroom/living, kitchenette and bathroom), add onto that 10,000 for utilities, another 5,000 for phone, around 10,000 for bus and train, 25,000 or so for food and about 15,000 for general use/eating out etc. There is also health insurance, which was 2,000 a month.

Clearly though it's going to be a lot different if you aren't a student so I can't comment too much on living expenses for the average Joe.

You're short on details for what you aim to do in that 6 months.

Traveling can be pretty expensive. A shinkansen from Tokyo to Osaka and back is about 2-3万. There are night buses that range 5,000 to 1万 though.

General living expenses are relatively cheap. If you are homestaying, then I assume you are not paying rent? Assuming you had to get a place within that 6 months, a guesthouse would be your best bet. There is no key money needed for these places but they tend to be a bit communal, but thats necessarily a bad thing. The rooms can be small though, but again, not a problem. They can range from 3万 to 5万 depending.

Cell phone 4-6,000 yen a month. Depends on plan.
Internet at most guesthouses is already provided in the fee.
Food, depends how you eat. Eating out can be expensive, but cheapish lunch could be 500-700yen. I'd figure for 1000 to 1700 yen a day for food, assuming that you'll probably cook your own dinner.
Trains vary. If you know you'll be going point A to B a lot. Then get a pass for those 2 stations. I don't know how long passes last, but its usually figured at something like: Usual Fare x 40. If you take a lot of trains and go all over, then you'll want to figure about 400-1000yen a day on trains around Tokyo.
Health insurance is probably ~4,000 a month. Generally its considered a requirement for everyone staying longer than like 3 months I think, to have insurance.

Electricity/Gas/Water, all of that should be covered in rent.

Kind of depends on the lifestyle you are used to, but I lived very comfortably in Japan on ¥250000-300000/month, and I suspect I am very much on the spendy side compared to many on this forum. My apartment was very cheap, but I was able to do plenty of shopping, eating out, weekends trips, etc. The only month I didn't have money left over was the fun time my MacBook fell off the counter during an earthquake, and I had to buy a new one.

I spent about a year in Tokyo, and getting 200,000 yens/month was enough for me.
Of course you have to find a cheap accommodation: I was staying in a guest house for 60000 yens/month, and I had enough left to go to restaurants everyday, go out with friends during the week-end...

It's possible to find マンション for 5万/month if you look hard enough, although being a "gaijin" may play against you, and there are even cheaper options if you really don't care where you stay (assuming home stay doesn't work out). Travelling around Tokyo isn't too bad, and you can find groceries for cheap enough if you look in the right supermarkets. I get a lot of 半額 meat from a place called サンディ that still has 4-5 days on it's use-by date.

I think basic expenses can be covered with just about 10万. Like others have said, travelling to other places can quickly rack up costs (I spent more than 1万 on the train/bus to Izu). You might also find you need to initially spend on things you hadn't predicted needing. There are a lot of teaching gigs that only offer 1-2/days a week, so if you can find a convenient one, it could be an unintrusive way to top-up your income.

One tip: if you don't want to smell like Akihabara on a humid summer afternoon, bring some deodorant with you, because the stuff here - for ￥500+ no less - is completely useless.

Javizy Wrote:One tip: if you don't want to smell like Akihabara on a humid summer afternoon, bring some deodorant with you, because the stuff here - for ￥500+ no less - is completely useless.

This.

I used to get my mum to send me deodorant because the Japanese stuff is rubbish. Even in the same brand as what I use at home, the Japanese version was useless. I had to get her to send me slippers for that matter too - couldn't find men's size 10-11 anywhere...

SendaiDan Wrote:

Javizy Wrote:One tip: if you don't want to smell like Akihabara on a humid summer afternoon, bring some deodorant with you, because the stuff here - for ￥500+ no less - is completely useless.

This.

I used to get my mum to send me deodorant because the Japanese stuff is rubbish. Even in the same brand as what I use at home, the Japanese version was useless. I had to get her to send me slippers for that matter too - couldn't find men's size 10-11 anywhere...

That, and if you need it, minoxidil.

A 3 month supply of 5% solution costs 1850 yen outside Japan, while a 1 month supply of 5% Ruip brand minoxidil costs at least 8500 yen. So it's 612/month vs 8500/month. And, this trend continues with most other OTC drugs.

Also, you CANNOT buy antibiotics OTC in Japan, so bring them if you're thinking you might find yourself in "last aid" situations (I'm thinking Japanese Alps) or are prone to annual bouts of strep throat and don't feel comfortable in doctors' offices. (That said, health services aren't too bad here if you can get over the language hurdle; and meds are reasonably priced, if they're purchased with a prescription.)

Just be aware that you may need prescriptions for some meds in order to bring them into Japan. And, some may even be illegal; do a little research.

Baking soda is an amazing substitute for deodorant.

quincy Wrote:Baking soda is an amazing substitute for deodorant.

...and mixed with a little H2O2, a great tooth bleach!

Oniichan Wrote:That, and if you need it, minoxidil.

A 3 month supply of 5% solution costs 1850 yen outside Japan, while a 1 month supply of 5% Ruip brand minoxidil costs at least 8500 yen. So it's 612/month vs 8500/month. And, this trend continues with most other OTC drugs.

Yeah, it's freaking crazy how much they charge for minoxidil in Japan. I get six months worth shipped from the states whenever I'm running out.

There used to be a store selling Kirkland minoxidil for a reasonable price on Amazon.co.jp marketplace, but now there's just one place selling six months worth for 7500. Still way too expensive, but way better than 8500 yen a month.

Quote:And, this trend continues with most other OTC drugs.

Definitely; if you take anything like Benadryl or even just ibuprofen, it's much cheaper in the US than in Japan. I can get 500 ibuprofen here for $10 compared to 25-35 for $10 in Japan.

yudantaiteki Wrote:

Quote:And, this trend continues with most other OTC drugs.

Definitely; if you take anything like Benadryl or even just ibuprofen, it's much cheaper in the US than in Japan. I can get 500 ibuprofen here for $10 compared to 25-35 for $10 in Japan.

It's weird how the lack of price controls in the US made things cheaper, huh? Oh well, that's gonna be fixed soon, so I wouldn't count on those prices much longer.

Stansfield123 Wrote:It's weird how the lack of price controls in the US made things cheaper, huh? Oh well, that's gonna be fixed soon, so I wouldn't count on those prices much longer.

Price controls in Japan are on prescription drugs, which the US needs. A couple $100 bucks for a bottle of 30-40 pills that you need to live, is crazy.

Stansfield123 Wrote:It's weird how the lack of price controls in the US made things cheaper, huh? Oh well, that's gonna be fixed soon, so I wouldn't count on those prices much longer.

Health care in Japan is so much better than in America that it's absurd.

I paid much less for prescription drugs in Japan (and healthcare overall) than in the US. It's the OTC stuff that's more expensive.

Tzadeck Wrote:Health care in Japan is so much better than in America that it's absurd.

It's not (better, or absurd). It's cheaper, because the government pays for most of it. But that's about it.

vix86 Wrote:

Stansfield123 Wrote:It's weird how the lack of price controls in the US made things cheaper, huh? Oh well, that's gonna be fixed soon, so I wouldn't count on those prices much longer.

Price controls in Japan are on prescription drugs, which the US needs. A couple $100 bucks for a bottle of 30-40 pills that you need to live, is crazy.

Right. So who should be paying for the difference? You do understand that price controls don't magically make things cost less, right?

yudantaiteki Wrote:I paid much less for prescription drugs in Japan (and healthcare overall) than in the US. It's the OTC stuff that's more expensive.

You only have to pay a percentage of the total cost, right? The rest is paid for by magic.

Even the total cost is less than the total cost in the US; both the cost and my copay were lower in Japan for most things, although there were a few things that my cheap college health insurance covered better.

There's nothing magic about national health insurance; it's paid through a combination of the premiums and taxes (or borrowed money).

EDIT: Also as JimmySeal says, I like that in Japan you get a clear breakdown of what the procedure cost and what you paid, whereas in the US if you have insurance it's often very difficult to find out what the procedures and medicines actually cost.

yudantaiteki Wrote:Even the total cost is less than the total cost in the US; both the cost and my copay were lower in Japan for most things, although there were a few things that my cheap college health insurance covered better.

There's nothing magic about national health insurance; it's paid through a combination of the premiums and taxes (or borrowed money).

Yes, I can second that. Healthcare prices in Japan are transparent, and even the full prices are several times cheaper than equivalent treatment in the US. That's what happens when patients aren't forced to pay for their healthcare via predatory middlemen.

So you can take your snide right-wing comments elsewhere, Stansfield. They have no validity.

Stansfield123 Wrote:

Tzadeck Wrote:Health care in Japan is so much better than in America that it's absurd.

It's not (better, or absurd). It's cheaper, because the government pays for most of it. But that's about it.

I had a shoulder surgery in Japan a few years back. The entire process- lead-in doctor visits, MRIs, X-rays, Hospital stay, surgery, etc. cost less than just one MRI and X-Ray in the US would have, and that's even after taking insurance out of the comparison. There's a BIG difference in the straight-up costs of Doctor's appointments and use of equipment.

Stansfield123 Wrote:It's not (better, or absurd). It's cheaper, because the government pays for most of it. But that's about it.

I always love how libertarians (and the like minded souls), treat 'government paying for something,' like its some cardinal sin. They apparently missed the part in economics&govt. where taxes are collected to subsidize (OH NOES I SAID IT) a service that the populace (ie: the majority) deems worthy of subsidizing to make it affordable and accessible.

Tzadeck Wrote:Health care in Japan is so much better than in America that it's absurd.

This has been my experience as well, but I pay a lot more here than I ever did in the US.