Is Japan expensive to live in?

Question:

I hear it's really expensive there, is this true? and i mean is it expensive compared to America

Answer:

Expensive is subjective, and yes it depends on how you look at it. Also the dollar to yen ratio is bad right now. Bad if you are paid in Dollars if you are a visitor, good if you are paid in Yen because you live and work in Japan.

Let me take an example from my life:

In America I had to own a car (no public transportation network where I lived).
Think about the true cost of car ownership in one year in America.
1 year worth of gasoline at nearly 4 dollars a gallon
1 year worth of maintenance (oil change, tire change, cracked windshield).
1 year worth of insurance
Additional items such as tolls (in NYC it's going to cost nearly 10 dollars in Tolls ONE WAY! just to cross the dang bridge).
Additional items like personal property taxes etc.

The "true cost" of car ownership in America per person for one year is roughly 5-10thousand (more if you use your car a lot, ex Los Angeles).

That's 5-10+ thousand USD dollars off the bat, that I save because I don't need to own a car in Tokyo. Tokyo has a fantastic public transportation network (as with many major Japanese metro areas). That money is then redistributed elsewhere.

Is it expensive, as pointed above it depends on how you look at it.
If you wanted to move to Japan, buy a big house, have a big car, big backyard like in America, yes things are really going to be expensive for you.

Just like anywhere else in the world, you can have a $500 dollar dinner or you can have a $5 dollar dinner.

If you live like the Japanese do, then its generally fine.