It’s been said that one of the major reasons Japanese couples don’t have more children is because of the costs involved in raising children. With the average employee’s monthly income in July last year being around 386,000 yen, there isn’t a lot of discretionary spending going on after the costs of rent, food, and travel are counted. In particular, there isn’t really enough to warrant the cost of 23.7 million yen, or a bit over 1 million yen per year, that it costs for each extra child present in the family.

This number of 23.7 million yen comes from a survey done by the Cabinet Office back in 2006, and includes the costs of education – particularly the high costs of cram school and other related extracurricular activities. It is easy to see why there are not many 3-child families in Japan – there’d be nothing left over to pay the rent!

Predicated for the average Japanese family, this cost of raising kids is surprisingly not so different to that for the U.S., which is commonly quoted as being around $160,000 for each child up to the age of 18. My observation is that what is different is the component costs. Whereas in the U.S., health care, transport, and entertainment are probably major cost considerations, here in Japan, it is the cost of housing, food, and cram school that use up the budget.

Housing in particular is something to watch. Many couples take a 1DK size apartment downtown when they first get married, then after a few years find themselves with little or no quiet space once the third member of the family makes their appearance. They thereupon embark on a search for a 2DK and find that being within 20 minutes of downtown can add 100,000 yen a month to the rent costs. The net result is that the new family is forced to resettle further out of town, thus reducing the amount of time Dad can spend with the children and the quality of life. Further, if you have two or more kids, then you also need to find a landlord who will even allow a larger family into the apartment in the first place.

Foreigners living in Japan and married to a Japanese spouse currently still have the legal right to send their kids to an international school rather than a Japanese one – although this may not be the case for much longer. While it’s great to be able to have such choice, the cost of education in English (or some other native language apart from Japanese) becomes a serious consideration in working out the cost of having kids.

Whether your child is attending the first year of kindergarten or is about to graduate from Year 12, the typical cost per year per child at an international school is around 2.5 million yen per year – not including ski trips and other frivolities! Luckily there are several new schools charging about half this rate – but even then, international schools cost at least ten times that of regular Japanese schools. The only really difference is that internationally schooled kids are less likely to be attending a cram school – which can cost another 200,000 yen or more per month.

If you’re a fully expat family, then you don’t really have much choice if you are not expecting to stay in Japan much longer than 3 years. Your kids will need to go to an International school, so as to reduce any interruption to their overall education. Also, because of the temporary nature of your stay, you will probably find it difficult for the family to change their lifestyle as well. This will mean that the kids will expect to get transported around – requiring a car, and that they will want to socialize after school with their friends, which will probably entail signing up for a social club such as the Tokyo American Club or Yokohama Country Club. This is also a costly exercise, typically requiring membership fees of several million yen, and yearly/monthly usage fees on top of that.

Because of the overall high cost of having and keeping kids in Japan, unless you want them to live a typical Japanese kid’s life, I often advise fathers of young families to either consider leaving the family back in the home country for the duration of the assignment – a very tough decision, or to at least not bring them over for the first 12 months, so that at least Dad has time to figure out how to integrate the kids into the Japanese education and social structure without splitting the family apart.

The fact is that if you’re not on a high-level expat salary, you will find that the costs of school, food, and transport may put taking on an assignment in Japan with your kids also present, out of your reach.

Latest 15 of 21 Total Comments Show All

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  DeepAir65 at 08:01 PM JST - 5th April

  if you got full treatment, lucky you

  I'm a local hire so paying my own way but I know many ex-pats, and most of them not executives, and they have their fees paid for.

  Why I don't think this article is up to much is because it seems to be concentrating on the foreigners. Check out the first line again:

  It’s been said that one of the major reasons Japanese couples don’t have more children is because of the costs involved in raising children.

  As stormcrow says the biggest cost for Japanese couples is accommodation and not schools - going to an international school is pretty much out of reach for the average Japanese and not just because of money - they also require the kids to speak English (for the most part).

  Also let's not forget that having a baby is expensive as it is not covered by the Japanese health insurance - and now they've taken away the 300,000 yen "present"

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  illsayit at 08:02 PM JST - 5th April

  This article is all personal opinion. Nothing substantiates the arguments given. The low birthrate results from people's choices. You can choose the suggested route of this article, but there is other choices, and quite feasible choices for having children in Japan. When having a child, sacrifices are needed, and it all depends on what people are willing to sacrifice.

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  jeancolmar at 09:38 PM JST - 5th April

  There one other thing that needs to be mentioned. When you are about to have a baby hospitals might refuse to take you in. You just might die in childbirth.

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  electric2004 at 10:41 PM JST - 5th April

  Well, high costs are relative. Childbirth: Yes, in a good clinic, one has to pay 45-50 Man Yen, but the Japanese company I am working for as regular worker pays back around 31 Man Yen. And yes, healthcare for both our children is basically free. First, we have to pay the 30%, but we get it back from the city (one has to apply for this). And now (in Ibaraki) there we get a Kids card, which at some places (Mister Donuts) gives 10% reduction. Prices of housing - well it is helpful to live in an apartment provided by the company. Kindergarten: public one is 25000 Yen per Month, and private is 40000 Yen. For the private one, the first year part of the fee is reimbursed later by the village office.

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  illsayit at 11:18 PM JST - 5th April

  Costs are relative to what choice you make. Childbirth through midwifery cost the same as the amount reimbursed from the government, and it is now available before hand. Kindergarten is not compulsory. Education until 16 is provided, and after that there is a multiple of choices depending on your pocket style, and your childs will. Housing, well I know there is expensive rentals, I also know there is cheap ones. It all comes down to peoples' choices and sacrifices. What choice of lifestyle versus what style of family. Children do not cost, as much as some lifestyles.

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  Alfie_in_Tokyo at 12:23 AM JST - 6th April

  Life is expensive. Introducing other little people into the equation just adds to the costs. And in line with rjd jr's comment about what other wise investments one could use the money for, I'd be interested to see this article balanced out with one about how much money the average Japanese dog lover wastes on clothes, pedicures, sunglasses, health-clinics and the like for their daft dogs......

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  nutsagain at 09:11 AM JST - 6th April

  I have to agree from personal experience that this is a very, very costly business. Regrets? Not really, but what is of interest is the number of intelligent professionals not interested in families. Guess who's doing all the breeding... the poor and undereducated. It's not too hard to figure out where that's gonna take us, huh?

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  cleo at 11:24 AM JST - 6th April

  Alfie - Yeah, you could also balance things out with asking how much money the average Japanese home owner wastes on cleaning, new upholstery, flowers/potted plants and the like for their daft homes....or how much money the average Japanese car owner wastes on car washes, navi systems, seat covers, air fresheners and the like for their daft cars.... (Or you could omit the 'Japanese' bit altogether) Some people get pleasure out of spending money on their kids. or their cars. or their homes. or their dogs. Funny how so many people have their nose put out of joint by other folk choosing to spend their money on animals, while there's not a peep about people spending much, much more on inanimate objects that are never even going to so much as wag a tail in appreciation.

  On topically, I'm not sure what the point of this article is. Lloyd starts off telling us that the falling birth rate is due to the high cost of raising a child in Japan - so far, so fair enough. then he rambles on into discussing the costs of international schools - hardly a major factor for the vast majority of Japanese would-be parents. He then throws out ludicrous sums like 200,000 a month for cram school tuition; yes, I suppose it can cost that much if you're a kyoiku mama running rampant, but it's far from being the average and certainly not an essential part of child rearing. And what on earth does the 'fully ex-pat' family have to do with the Japanese birth rate?

  having kids, while sentimentally great and keeps the bloodline going, does not guarantee a future nest egg

  No, it doesn't. But nothing, absolutely nothing, provides the lifelong rush that being a parent brings. Childlessness - sorekoso, fuggeddaboutit.

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  notimpressed at 02:01 PM JST - 6th April

  It has always baffled me, how in the world we live in , life is so cheap, and yet it is so expensive just to stay alive. The cost of living is rising in most developed nations, and declining birthrates are happening everywhere because of it, not just in Japan. But if Japans birthrate has fallen significantly more, well, even people who know next to nothing about Japan, know it is famous for the high cost of living. The only cheap housing in Japan is in somewhat rural areas, so yes, the rural areas, where the jobs are fewer, and lower paying, are where the birthrates are highest. Yet the cities, with the better employment opportunities yet exponentially more expensive living costs has the lower birthrates. The only way to get ahead is to be a workaholic or lucky, the former do not have much time left for any family making. Just seems like an obvious and unavoidable cycle. One unpopular possibility is what happened back home, where there was a cap put on the maximum rent allowable per square metre in inner city apartments. They also put in a miminum allowable meterage for all new apartments, as so many foreign asian students were living in Tokyoesque shoeboxes and paying exorbitant rents. Landlords may lose out, but ordinary people could have a better quality of residence available to them, when there is a standard implemented. I dont know what the standards are here though, but it just takes concern from local government for thier citizens quality of life.

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  anderstungtwist at 05:35 PM JST - 6th April

  Not impressed: *The only way to get ahead is to be a workaholic ... an unpopular possibility is (to put) a cap put on the maximum rent allowable per square metre in inner city apartments. *

  In other words, become a socialist country. Why should landlords suffer for having good business acumen? Instead, how about incentives to get people to live in the countryside?

  There's no need for these cram schools. Parents should be educating their kids after school. They could probably save 200,000 - 300,000 yen per year this way.

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  notimpressed at 07:38 PM JST - 6th April

  NO not become a socialist country, it doesnt have to be that black and white. Just limit the ability of landowners to exploit the situation. Why does good business acumen have to mean not giving a flying **** about the world around you? By the way Im not from a socialist country. The situation was that landlords were exploiting the situation. Capitalism never had to be so absolute as to make profit valued over all else, but everyone seems to think otherwise.

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  Alphaape at 10:22 PM JST - 9th April

  Why would one have to pay for a "cram school" if the children spend all day in regular school? I think if the GOJ took another look at it's educational system, and developed a better method of preparing students not only for a test to go to the "better high school" and college but to be able to learn and compete then maybe some of those child rearing costs would drop. I grew up in a deep south school district, and we did not go on ski trips or out of the country for trips (some students did, but these were privately financed and at times they did fund raisers to help defray some of the expenses), but I think I was able to receive a well rounded education to enable me to pass the ACT/SAT and get a college education (a nice major university) without having my parents pay some tutor to teach me what I missed in school.

  Revise the education system, and a lot of things will start falling into place in regards to decreasing the cost of raising kids.

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  electric2004 at 12:07 AM JST - 11th April

  200000 on cram school? Well, Terry put the same message as commercial in daily Yomiuri in this week. But in daily Yomiuri, it was 20k Yen per month. Now, which number is right: 20000 or 200000?

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  greenteaonsens at 11:41 AM JST - 14th April

  If the Japanese inaka didn't suck so much, more people might actually want to move (or stay) there.

  How about creating decent paying jobs, entertainment facilities and making it illegal to be an old battle axe busy body spying on the neighbors? Hip young urbanites may then be prepared to give up their Tokyo/Osaka/Nagoya lifestyles.

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  stanoue at 09:39 PM JST - 14th April

  First - I just don't get the whole "Japan has the highest cost of living" argument. Sometimes I just wonder if all the ex-pats have lived in Japan so long they haven't moved with inflation in their own countries and just recall the old 'glory days' of cheap living? In the past 3 years, I've lived in Wellington, Sydney and Nagoya. The cost of rent from most expensive to cheapest? Wellington - Sydney - Nagoya. The cost of dining out from most expensive to cheapest? Wellington - Sydney - Nagoya (hands down cheapest). The cost of grocery shopping most expensive to cheapest? Sydney -Nagoya & Wellington pretty even. Cost of utilities most expensive to cheapest? Wellington-Nagoya-Sydney. Granted, we had a 2 bedroom house w/garden in Wellington as opposed to a 1 bedroom in Nagoya and a studio in Sydney.

  The whole thing with kids - as pointed out earlier in the post, the 'poor and uneducated' are doing plenty of breeding. What that tells me, is the 'wealthy and educated' are not, only because they are too self-absorbed in their own time & possessions to possibly make some lifestyle sacrifices to bring a child into the world. Not having enough money to give sonny private schooling and ski trips ... children can grow up well-educated, decent citizens without that crap. Lack of money is one of the biggest excuses for not raising children.

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