Do you basically have to be rich/wealthy to live in Tokyo?

Question

Since it has been documented for another year in a row Tokyo is the worlds most expensive city to live in I was just wondering who even lives there?!

I love Japan jopefuuly will learn some japanese sometime this year and respect japanese things.

But, they have such a large popultation of people living in Tokyo like New york has despite the price of living but it cost more so what type of people are living there?!

I heard they say a luxury 2 bedroom apartment is like $5,000+ in Tokyo.

I know the typical japanese in Tokyo live in very small spaces to say the least but how do they afford cost of living and buy up all the latest technological advances from videos games , cellphones,clothes and shoes and prance around harajuku dressed as anime characters?

Someone help me understand this................

Answer 1

Not really, but you can't be too poor because of plane tickets etc. Also im not sure if for all visas, but for student visas we have to prove access to 30k. The cost of living is higher so if your using money from the US (because of what some posters above me said about peoples salaries being higher here), even when the exchange rate is good, your standard of living will be a little less. Also the price of apartments varies greatly depending on location and age. I think the average cost of a 2 bedroom would me more like $1500-$2500 and even less the further you go out of the city/old the building. But they can easily be $5000 in an aoyama highrise.

Answer 2

Yea for the US now since our doller rate is lower then them now, i think its like everything double everything down here

Answer 3

>I heard they say a luxury 2 bedroom apartment is like $5,000+ in Tokyo.

This is true for the most expensive area in Tokyo. Most ordinary workers live in suburbs. And it's like 2 bedroom apartment is $1,000 for 1 month in suburbs.

>how do they afford cost of living and buy up all the latest technological advances from videos games , cellphones,clothes and shoes and prance around harajuku dressed as anime characters?

Salaries are high, too. And Japan is in deflation economy after 1990. So product prices are declining since then.

Answer 4

well, if you look at the salaries in any high cost of living area, you will find that they are much higher than the nominal.

The people in New York, Tokio, San Francisco get paid more than their sub-urban counterparts.

Also what is interesting is that Japan has instituted a 100 year mortgage.  Buy a house, get a 100 yrs mortgage and your Son or Daughter will be responsible to pay after your gone. :-)

Answer 5

There are 35 million people in Tokyo. And not everyone has or wants all the latest gagets.

There's poor and middle class people in Japan as well as rich...There's alot of things that you don't see or hear about unless you live there.