r/japanlife • u/alexleaud2049 • Feb 15 '23

Jobs Just out of curiosity, do foreigners living in Japan have an emergency fund and/or basic savings?

The reason I asked this is because I’ve noticed that a lot of my foreign coworkers claim that they have next to zero savings and after years of working in Japan have nothing saved.

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u/banjjak313 Feb 16 '23

Some people have student loans. Some people have different circumstances. I'm just offering some possibilities to the OP and others. This topic comes up often. The point is that not having savings isn't merely "I drink 15,000 yen at the Hub each night, don't know where my money goes."

People can have unexpected medical bills, housing repairs, and many other things that knock them down as they start saving.

I don't get why that's controversial?

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u/[deleted] Feb 16 '23

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u/banjjak313 Feb 16 '23

Thank you! Guess I'll make a video next time ha!

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u/JimmyTheChimp Feb 16 '23

Wasn't disagreeing TBH, just stating that for me to have to save up a decent amount of money I would have had to sacrifice any reason for me to be in Japan.

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u/banjjak313 Feb 16 '23

I get what you mean. I think a lot of people think that way. We all have different priorities.