Most expensive, most livable … with Tokyo, it’s all about who you ask

By James Hadfield

“These prices suck!” complains Bart when he and his family visit a Tokyo restaurant in a 1999 episode of The Simpsons. “10,000 yen for coleslaw?”

Such, alas, is the enduring reputation of this city. Though it’s been 20 years since the peak of the Bubble Era, Tokyo is still famed for its exorbitance. Earlier this month, the city reclaimed the No. 1 spot in Mercer’s annual Cost of Living survey, buoyed by the strength of the yen. The BBC dutifully quoted its Japan man as saying this “would not surprise locals, who could find themselves paying $15 for a watermelon and $25 for a mango” — which struck me as an asinine bit of reporting until I spotted a shop near my local station hawking watermelons for 2,000 yen a pop.

But, really, is it that bad? What often gets forgotten with the Mercer survey is that it’s actually quite specific in its aims. Far from being a one-size-fits-all guide, the results are intended to help companies determine salaries when sending employees overseas. To exchange one stereotype for another, if you don’t live in a luxury apartment in Hiroo and do all your family shopping at National Azabu, Mercer’s findings might not really chime with your own experience of Tokyo.

Last month, a different survey painted the capital in an altogether rosier light. For the past three years, Monocle, the current affairs/design/culture magazine started by Wallpaper founder Tyler Brule, has been releasing its own city ranking, focusing on quality of life rather than brute economics. In this year’s list, Tokyo once again occupies the third spot, with only Zurich and Copenhagen scoring higher.

“The reason we did it in the first place was that, when we looked at all these city surveys… they seem to be missing out on a huge chunk of what actually makes a city quite pleasant or livable,” explains editor Andrew Tuck when I catch him at the magazine’s Tokyo office during a flying visit. “Can you go for a drink at 1 o’clock in the morning? Is there a vibrant restaurant scene? If you come back from a trip on a Saturday, can you go and do your shopping on a Sunday? All these small things also make a city function.”

The Monocle metric takes account of public transport, crime rates and education, but also hours of sunshine, international flight connections and “chain store pollution.” These are, Tuck admits, “softer” and “more subjective” aspects of the city experience. But what of it? “Even when people pretend that their guides are 100 percent scientific, there is an element of what makes a city work for you.”

And, in Monocle’s case, Tokyo works rather nicely. The city is praised for its service culture, efficient public transport, low crime and abundant greenery. Tuck also admires the 2016 Olympic bid, which proposes to use existing buildings as much as possible rather than embarking on a construction spree. “It’s a real shame that wasn’t a lesson learned in London,” he notes dryly.

“I think what’s interesting about Tokyo is: here’s a massive metropolis that actually works,” he says. “Whereas that’s why, for us, we haven’t put on London or New York, because they don’t have that efficiency at their heart — they don’t tick in quite the same way.

“We also make it very clear that this isn’t a ranking of the most exciting places to live, or the grittiest, or the best place to be an artist, or the best place to become a millionaire. It really is about livability — so it’s about public transport, the green city, the ease of being able to set up a small company. Those are the kinds of things that matter.”

Monocle’s approach has attracted flak in some quarters for being too one-sided, too whimsical, but it’s not without its supporters. Since starting the survey, Tuck says that the magazine has become “very central to a debate” on livability, and that they are regularly contacted by city halls around the world looking for advice on how to up their game. Shintaro Ishihara is also a fan. When the Tokyo governor spoke about the Olympic bid at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan earlier this year, he held up the Monocle survey as an indication of what the capital was doing right.

“He was interested by the fact we like Tokyo so much,” says the magazine’s Asia bureau chief, Fiona Wilson. “I think he’s probably used to hearing a lot of negative comments, so he’s quite interested in anyone who’s really, really positive about it.”

Wilson has lived here for nine years herself, and admits that she struggled to think of any bad points about Tokyo for this year’s survey. “Sometimes you hear people complaining, and you think, ‘Hang on a minute,’” she says. “I was having dinner the other night, and the waitress was being super polite. And this English person went, ‘Oh, she’s so polite, it’s really irritating…’”

Tuck roars with laughter. And well you might.

This commentary originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).

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Latest 15 of 41 Total Comments Show All

USARonin at 10:44 PM JST - 28th July

Why would UK food be 'horrible'?

Don't they have all the foods that first-world countries have?

Are you actually sayin' that good food is bein' ruined by dentist cooks?
xrc at 12:00 AM JST - 29th July

ah come on now...as I see most of you probably eat regular food from your native America, England or Canada etc. here in Japan if you eat Japanese...you can buy a good teishoku for about ¥600~800. and you go to a super market (local) i can get same (shark) for ¥500 for three good sized pieces...daikon a buck, can go out with my wife for a quick meal and drink at an izakaya for about ¥3,000~5,000. and I went to Itayokodo and bought some nice cheap light work shirts and some shorts for ¥950 each. Now if you want fashion and expensive steak etc...You've gotta pay.....I'm not interested...I can live pretty cheap in these cases. Other cases cars...etc. are expensive...
shawnth at 12:47 AM JST - 29th July

USARonin, yeah they have all the foods first-world countries have. They just don't make it good =D.
sydenham at 08:52 AM JST - 29th July

shawnth, read xrc's post, s/he makes an excellent point.

it is rather odd to compare western food in Japan to western food in western countries, and then base one's argument about how livable Tokyo is on this ridiculous comparison.

how overpriced and inauthentic is Japanese food western countries? I know in Montreal(my hometown), half of what passes for Japanese food is actually overpriced, Canadianized, fusion Chinese-Japanese food. The other half is just plain bad.

but just because you can't get good Japanese food in Montreal doesn't mean the food in Montreal is bad altogether. au contraire!
sydenham at 08:57 AM JST - 29th July

shawth, i forgot to add my main response to you:

i agree about English food being bad, except for their Indian stuff.
ChrisBiggins at 08:58 AM JST - 29th July

Tokyo is overpriced and that is why it has few tourists fcrom western nations. Come to London Fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, i could go on forever, yummy wummy.
BobbieWickham at 09:48 AM JST - 29th July

If you want to know about over-priced check out Dublin some time. Cigarettes and whiskey are 3 times the price they are in Tokyo. And that's all that matters really ... So if you're really rich you holiday in Ireland ...
pawatan at 02:03 PM JST - 29th July

Tokyo is overpriced and that is why it has few tourists fcrom western nations.

I don't think you've ever actually been to Japan. There's plenty of western tourists here.

Come to London Fish and chips, chicken tikka masala, i could go on forever, yummy wummy.

Chicken Tikka Masala isn't exactly English now, is it?
BurakuminDes at 04:36 PM JST - 29th July

I may be wrong, but I think Tikka Masala is an english dish...I remember reading it was first served in the Midlands?

Tokyo - like the rest of Japan - can be very affordable, if you stay away from all the tourist trap restaurants, and eat/drink/stay where the locals do. A night out in my hometown of Sydney is much more expensive...no nomi-hodai!
kirakira25 at 04:34 AM JST - 30th July

I have just come back from 2 fab months back in the UK and British food is NOT bad! It was wonderful - you just have to know where to get it and how to cook it.

BurakuminDes - yes, I saw the same article - but I think it might have been a Balti you are thinking of? They are trying to get it banned from being sold elsewhere (a bit like the champagne argument of the 90`s) because it was "invented" in a particular part of Birmingham. Although I am sure there are chefs in a corner of India somewhere who would beg to differ...
ChrisBiggins at 03:25 PM JST - 30th July

Chicken tikka masala was invented in Britain when a customer asked for sauce as he found chicken tikka too dry, so the chef made a sauce. It became a nation wide hit after a decade or so and beats any Japanese food anyday, yummy wummy!!!! Tokyo is cheap, and yes sweeties i have been there and found it rather queer that gays had to hide out in litttle areas and not flaunt themselves. It's called repression, not nice is it. Tokyo, you are over rated, over priced and intolerant of minorities and lastly you have a ghastly xenapobe for a mayor.
hokeydokey at 12:08 AM JST - 3rd August

"shawnth, read xrc's post, s/he makes an excellent point. it is rather odd to compare western food in Japan to western food in western countries, and then base one's argument about how livable Tokyo is on this ridiculous comparison."

Ok, so lets just focus on the daily life of the typical J salaryman !

Starts the day with a newspaper... 130-140 yen, or about $1.45 ! Hmm, the last time I checked the ol "Times" back home it was 35 cents !

Well maybe our salryman can find some comfort in his morning rice bowl... not ! Japanese pay, on average 8-10 times the world price for rice !

OK, how about that morning commute ? I think not... Mine costs me more than 650 yen one way here in Japan($6.55 US). I found prices at one of Americas most averaged sized cities with a light rail system to be charging $5 for a "day pass" !!! Moving along, after a day of paying through the nose for this and that... lets settle down to a beer ! Hah, only if yer livin high off the hog ! A beer in Tokyo goes for better than $2.00 bucks a can ! About 3x's the price I pay stateside. Well, lets forget the beer and just head to a movie... yep, that'll set ya back $18-$20 bucks ! No where near the $3-$5 I pay on tightwad tuesday in the US. Face it folks... Japan is the most expensive country on the planet. Due mainly to closed and heavily controlled markets... anyone tries to tell you otherwise is lying ! As for liveability ? Hmm, the crowds, dirt, grime, weather, crime, prices, dark dreary faces, high suicide rates... I think not !
wisenhoff at 04:54 PM JST - 3rd August

I also agree with hokeydokey, prices here are shocking. I just priced a quarter slice of watermelon for 400 yen. That's $4.00 US and would would come to $16.00 for one stinking melon stateside, that is unbelievable. A melon back home is $3.00 tops ! As for the rest of this jibberish, I have found Tokyo and the rest of Japan to be anything but liveable. For me its all about comfort. The houses are cramped and poorly built. The morning commute is a drain. And anyone who hasn't experienced this on a daily basis has no right commenting about life here, it is the norm. Throw in the heated summers and well, no thank you !
pawatan at 11:08 PM JST - 3rd August

As for the rest of this jibberish, I have found Tokyo and the rest of Japan to be anything but liveable. For me its all about comfort. The houses are cramped and poorly built. The morning commute is a drain. And anyone who hasn't experienced this on a daily basis has no right commenting about life here, it is the norm.

Depends where you live. My apartment is cool, spacious, and comfy. My commute is short and I usually get a seat. My neighbors are nice, the neighborhood is pleasant. All my home-related needs are within a short walk. I have several reasonably priced shopping centers nearby.

Life is good! And yes, I live in the Tokyo area.
mygrain at 04:07 PM JST - 17th August

Hah ! If Japan was so livable why aren't the worlds immigrants knocking the door down to get in ? Japan is fine for singles who have no problem living in squallered cramped conditions. But if it's a family you want, well just follow the lead of the local citizens and... don't ! I'm right there with hokey on this, the prices quoted seem accurate and that final comment on suicides is a fair observation. Pawatan makes me laugh. Seems to me if the morning commute is so short, comfortable, and stress free, then why bother going for a seat ? Hell stand like I do, rub shoulders with the cutey on your right !