Name: Why My Family's Cost of Living is Cheaper in Tokyo
Uploaded: 2020-03-23T04:11:09.000Z
Duration: 10 min 37 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

yet my quality of life is somehow better across the Pacific ocean.

This is largely in part due to the cost of living being cheaper for my family.

How could this be, in one of the most expensive cities in the world

Well the first thing you need to know about the cost of living reports

is that it was probably from the likes of the Mercer Report,

or the Economist Intelligence Unit, which I'll quote

"The survey itself is a purpose-built Internet tool

designed to help human resources and finance managers

calculate cost-of-living allowances and build compensation packages

for expatriates and business travellers."

In other words, those reports are meant for high-flying business people,

with the expectation that they can live their same New York lifestyle

and it's for a basket of goods that you would never buy if you lived like a local.

What this means is that while a currency of a country might go up and down,

making it cheaper or more expensive in any given reporting year,

if you're a local, this would have way less of an effect on you.

Currency fluctuations are a big reason why Tokyo

So what is the reality for the average Japanese family?

Is it expensive living in Japan, living in Tokyo?

So, I went to the statistical agencies of both Canada and Japan,

If you love stats, get ready for an action packed video!

I just love scrolling through them. So much data!

there were a few major differences that were the most important to point out.

In general, housing in major Japanese cities is cheaper than in Canada,

especially if you consider homes within a 30-60 minute commuting distance to the core

and the number of people living in the cities.

A couple important factors are housing sizes and zoning.

Japanese homes are smaller, so they cost less.

The average new Japanese home is about 1,000 square feet, or about 100 square metres,

whereas it's about double that at 2,000 square feet, or 200 square metres, in Canada.

It's not only the overall size of housing though,

In Japan, you can get housing as small as 10 square metres,

This means that people are more able to sacrifice the size of their living space

in order to get closer to where they want to be.

This also makes it so that you don't need to get roommates or tenants

This variety in housing sizes is largely aided by zoning laws,

Zoning, if you're not all into urban planning,

is the set of rules that say what kind of buildings

Japanese zoning laws are mostly controlled at the national level,

and allows for homes to be built almost anywhere

on practically any size or shape of land.

to self-solve and build the types of buildings

that fit the demands of any particular area.

So all told, for a budget between $1,000 and $2,000 Canadian a month,

a family can either afford to buy or rent

within a 30-60 minutes commute of the downtown core of Tokyo.

Oh, right, silly me, using Canadian figures.

In the default global currency, the U.S. dollar,

this is roughly between $750 and $1,500 a month.

Another part of the housing equation is utilities,

While Japan is much more expensive than in Canada,

Japanese use less in all of these categories,

meaning the end amount of money spent isn't much different.

So the great thing about living in the Tokyo area,

that it'll probably be easier to take a train to work.

Also, most employers will pay your transportation fees.

from grocery stores, to household goods, to doctors,

On top of that, getting things delivered is generally free or very affordable.

that unless you're shopping for something specialized,

you don't have to leave the house for many things.

For example, I used to love to go to the giant electronic store Yodobashi Camera in Akihabara.

It's many, many floors or electronic goodness,

But when you can get free, same day delivery,

it's actually more expensive and time consuming to leave the house.

So with company subsidized public transit and cheap deliveries,

the Japanese person's budget for transportation

is significantly less than the Canadian person's.

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Why My Family's Cost of Living is Cheaper in Tokyo

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