Tokyo 2nd most expensive city for expats after Moscow

Friday 25th July, 07:16 AM JST

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roomtemperature at 11:57 AM JST - 29th July

Tokyo is not expensive!! You make it expensive yourself!!
chouwa at 08:49 PM JST - 29th July

Wow! Things never seem to change. Westurn's comments are always a good read for a laugh. I come back from the States (Thank god I did, cause I've been losing a ton of money), and I see this:

Hell a Budweiser goes for $1.89 a can in Tokyo !!! I get em for half that price on the west coast !

Yo homie, you been gettin ripped off. I'm glad I can get a 500l can of Yebisu (frankly the best in my book) for 69 yen ($0.65) at a nice liquor shop (run by the nicest obasan you'll ever meet) near my humble abode.

A bowl of Ramen in Tokyo ??? 700-900 yen ($6.80-$8.80) !

Wow! You tryin ta go fancy? I tend to like stuffin my face with a bit of good ol 200 yen ramen. A little oily (on par with the greasy burgers I had back home), but fills me up.

Or 6 slices of bread for 178 yen ($1.60) ???

If you like shopping in upscale Shirogane, or like buying import from Kinokuniya, I won't stop you. Me? I like to buy my 8 slices for the decent price of 118 yen, or 98 yen when it has that nice little "waribiki" sticker on it.

As for movies. I couldn't believe the outrageous prices nowadays. Over 10 bucks for a non-matinee movie! With popcorn and drinks, you are looking to spend like 15-16 dollars (twice that if you are on a date) for a movie. It's gotten to the point where going to the movies ain't a cheap date anymore. And I swear, anywhere I try to sit in the theaters back home, I end up with my sneakers STUCK TO THE FLOOR! I could've sworn I felt something moving down between the seats. In Japan, I've only once had the "sticky floor effect" at a movie theater.

Back to beer: I don't know why, but back in the States, you get some places serving some lukewarm beer. If I want lukewarm beer, I could just get it from the bottles stocked in the supermarket (and then it would probably be colder still). I don't know about you Westurn, but I like my beer cold!

As for eggs, I'm glad that I'm back in Japan where I can get my nice carton of ten eggs for a decent price of 88 yen. Back home, I was paying something like a buck 80 for a dozen. Highway robbery, if you ask me.
westurn at 06:13 AM JST - 30th July

Chouwa... warm beer ? 10 dollar movies ? Losin' money ??? No chance in hell you were in "Da States"... dude musta landed in Canada ! Warm beer ??? Americans could never be so European ! Thanks for the laugh though !

And hey... 69 yen for a can of Yebisu ??? In Japan ??? Name please ! No honestly ! Name please, location, etc ! I expect a run on that obasans outfit. But then again... bwahaha !
westurn at 04:48 PM JST - 30th July

Time to put chouwa to bed ! From the front page of todays Forbes magazine article: Read it and weep campers...

"Mercer's 2008 Worldwide Cost of Living Survey. Moscow tops the list with a score of 142.4, up 6% from last year--and 42% higher than New York, the most expensive city in the U.S. The Russian capital is followed by Tokyo; London; Oslo, Norway; and Seoul, South Korea."

And this part is especially for them "warm beer drinkers" out there !

"New York fell from No. 15 to No. 22,"

"Los Angeles is the second-priciest city in the U.S., but Hollywood's denizens can't cry poverty just yet: At No. 55, Los Angeles is cheaper than the best neighborhoods of Lagos, Nigeria (No. 30); Almaty, Kazakhstan (No. 44); and Zagreb, Croatia (No. 49)."

And how about Tokyo....yeh, real affordable ??? Not !!!

"while Japan's economy is stagnating, Tokyo is as expensive as ever. For American travelers, the city's real estate prices are the highest in the world--a two-bedroom luxury apartment costs over $5,100 per month, about $600 more than a comparable pad in Moscow or New York."

Not even close kiddies, hands down... facts over exagerated opinions... yer winner, by tko... "da cowboy" !
blaze524 at 08:53 PM JST - 30th July

Westurn: I think it's possible for Tokyo to be number 2 on the list and still have cheaper prices on foodstuff than New York. The report by Forbes includes in the cost of living rent, which as you pointed out is a lot higher in Tokyo than New York. If the report was based solely on food prices, the rankings would probably change quite a bit. Food prices tend to exhibit more variability across the board, so you all could conceivably be right. Seeing as it's all anecdotal evidence, why not try visiting one of the stores the other posters mentioned?
westurn at 10:08 PM JST - 30th July

"I think it's possible for Tokyo to be number 2 on the list and still have cheaper prices on foodstuff than New York."

Thats a stretch ! Remember New York came in at 22 ! The survey is about "cost of living", which includes food. I've given fair examples of food prices, I've asked chouwa to name the local with the 69 yen yebisu.. to date, no response, and I don't expect one. That alone speaks volumes for the authenticity of the post. I was just in the USA, I even brought back the sunday paper food adds to show locals here what they're missing out on. Food is just plain expensive in Tokyo !
westurn at 11:00 PM JST - 30th July

Funny how Chouwa produces the numbers and then glosses right over them like they have no meaning !

"Also, in a 2004 CNN Money article, the average U.S. ticket price in 2003, was $6.25."

Wow Chouwa, that cheap ??? Again hoser... the "average" ! Which means some prices are, yes, less... maybe much less than $6.25 !!!

Oh, And in Japan ??? 1,800 yen !!! Do the math ! Japan is 3x's more expensive ! And food at these theatres ??? As expensive as all get out in Japan... and they don't let you roam around into other theatres like I can in the US ! Hell I can see 2-3 movies nowadays without anyone giving a hoot... because they know I'll buy popcorn, drinks, dogs etc !
chouwa at 11:03 PM JST - 30th July

http://www.boston.com/business/personalfinance/articles/2008/03/09/surgingcostsofgrocerieshit_home/

According to this post, eggs in the U.S. are on average $2.18 now for a dozen. But wait, isn't the average price for ten eggs about 158 yen ($1.47). Now if we calculate that rate for a dozen eggs, we come to $1.76. That my friends is a savings of 42 cents.
chouwa at 11:07 PM JST - 30th July

Oh, And in Japan ??? 1,800 yen !!! Do the math ! Japan is 3x's more expensive ! And food at these theatres ??? As expensive as all get out in Japan... and they don't let you roam around into other theatres like I can in the US ! Hell I can see 2-3 movies nowadays without anyone giving a hoot... because they know I'll buy popcorn, drinks, dogs etc !

You are forgetting, that food prices in U.S. theaters are outrageous, and they don't let you bring in outside food. Here in Japan, I can bring in a full-size bento without anyone batting an eye. I can bring in all the 98 yen goodies I can carry into the theaters and not spend one yen on the food in the theaters.

Moderator: Chouwa and westurn, enough of this childish tit-for-tat.
lipscombe at 11:13 PM JST - 30th July

hahahaha 500ml Yebisu for 69 yen
westurn at 11:21 PM JST - 30th July

Oh... and less we forget...

"The study takes New York as the base measure for prices, comparing over 200 items, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment, in 143 cities across the globe."

Hmmm, food and entertainment ??? Ya don't say !
FairandBalanced at 02:30 AM JST - 31st July

Heck, Japanese are too placid to ask why are they paying so much for essentials.

In the US we have true free markets, everyone can afford to live the good life. You don`t see suffering due to expensive prices in the States, in Japan the poverty is everywhere.
Hughgarse at 03:04 PM JST - 31st July

London is more expensive than Tokyo now, but of course when you spank 3grand in Seventh Heaven in a night it`ll be expensive....
freakashow at 04:09 PM JST - 31st July

In the US we have true free markets, everyone can afford to live the good life. You don`t see suffering due to expensive prices in the States, in Japan the poverty is everywhere.

That's right. Japan should ease up a bit on the piracy laws. In the States, although I would never think of buying one myself, it is much easier to buy pirated CDs and DVDs. In Japan, I'm just amazed at how tight they check your bags at customs, and scan them for illegal imports and copies. You can even see the many displays showing people what is not allowed into the country. In the States, nothing of the sort. Business is business, legal or not. That's the true meaning of capitalism.

It's the reason why some movie theaters in smaller markets are charging cheaper costs to attract the typical moviegoer. Attendance is down in the U.S. 1.42 billion tickets were sold last year, compared to 1.6 billion in 2002.

Why do you ask? Well of course, most people know that there are other cheaper sources for their entertainment, and all officials can do is warn the public of piracy and illegal Internet websites, without the actual enforcement of the law.

In Japan, fat chance of finding any shop selling pirated stuff. The police are here may not be good at stopping violent crime, but they crackdown on the white-collar stuff like hellfire.

It is why theaters can charge so much, as Westurn likes to point out, and as Westurn points out, the theaters are still so crowded with people. The Japanese mindset is one of paying the price to abide the law. Remember market rules, As demand goes up, so does the price. As demand goes down, the price will go down. It's that simple.
westurn at 09:00 PM JST - 31st July

Corruption and scandal are possibly the biggest reasons Japanese pay the prices they do ! And Moscow at #1, well I would argue the same !