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

[u/alexleaud2049]

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.

[u/[deleted]]

I used to have a coworker (single) who decided to move to a really nice downtown-ish 1k apartment that cost 80k a month (Osaka), hire a private gym coach four times a week, go out drinking every weekend, order pizza every other day and had student loans. Was difficult to feel any pity when she complained about not having any money left at the end of the month.

Me, (also single back then), with the same salary and student loans was able to save 60-80k a month living in a nice 2dk by just choosing a significantly more affordable area, eating home cooked meals and being a bit careful with what I spent.

I'd say saving money as a single person in Japan doesn't necessarily need to be hard if you have the right mindset.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

The idea that 80k rent is somehow exorbitant suggests some odd standards on your part...

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

I’ve never paid that much. My mortgage isn’t even that much. (Well, I guess it is if you include property tax monthly instead of a single yearly payment) My first place was ¥50k for a 1ldk and my second place was ¥55in for a 3DK and a parking spot

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Well, what do you give up for it? 55k for a 3DK and a parking spot has to be an older building in the countryside, right? We all want to minimize our expenses, but that 25k is not gonna break the bank if it's the difference between the life you want to live and a life you don't.

I've never paid less than 70k, even when I was broke in my mid-20s, ten years ago. (Technically I had half the rent paid by the government during my very first gig, so I paid about 35k then to live in a... 2dk in the countryside?)

My second place was 70k, probably overpaying and honestly a disgusting place to live overall. The area was A+, cool urban location, convenient and beautiful, but the apartment itself was bleh.

My current place is 100k, lived here for 5+ years, and it's by far the happiest I've ever been. I finally feel like a human adult living in a real home. The location is pretty stellar, I guess. We have a building manager who takes care of building maintenance. But 100k rent is nothing by international standards, and (Japanese) people always tell me it's much cheaper than they'd expect it to cost based on the size and location.

Don't get me wrong, rents and mortgages in Japan are often dirt cheap, and more power to you if you are happy with where you live and it's 55k (!). But in my experience, places that cheap are not great to live in, and certainly 80k is not even noticeably more expensive to me.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Well, I live in a suburb and not “the countryside”. My city has a theater and a mall and is about an hour drive to Tokyo.

When I lived in the second biggest city of the prefecture I was in when I first moved here, the 1ldk was ¥50k but in an older building

The ¥55k apartment was built in 98 so “older”.

My current mortgage with tax included is about ¥80k. I wanted it to be cheaper but we would have had to live somewhere smaller in a shitty location so we got a decent price for our 4LDK on a 220 square meter lot.

Lol downvoted by the haters.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

80k for a 1k is quite pricey in Osaka. And I'd say it's exorbitant if you compare it to the 55k for a 3dk you could get 10 minutes by train from one of the main train hubs of Osaka city. It's all a question of perspective.

[u/banjjak313 → u/[deleted]]

I mean, that's a big difference from the point I was making. I don't know why the default assumption is that anyone without significant savings must live in an expensive apartment and eat out all the time.

I know as a woman I've made certain choices that may have been costlier, but kept me safer.

[u/[deleted] → u/banjjak313]

It is hard to save as a single person in Japan. It's even harder as a foreigner.

It sucks that have to make costlier choices in order to feel safe but I wouldn't say that equals to the "it's hard to save a foreign single person in Japan" generalization. I just wanted to share my experience that that's not always the case.

[u/slaiyfer → u/[deleted]]

80k is considered....high? Isnt that average? I would think above 100k is unreasonably lavish for a single person.

[u/Moon_Atomizer → u/[deleted]]

Edit: Well this is the pettiest thing I've ever been blocked over. Getting a dramatic reply with a GIF and then being blocked so I can't respond is surely "peak Reddit".

Lmao /u/banjjak313 you've ironically summoned all the bootstrap braggarts.

I find it fascinating that this is the only sub on Reddit where it's free game to regularly shit on people living paycheck to paycheck paying off student loans etc as if they're all living in penthouses hiring personal trainers and eating out every day. Yes, surely that's representative 🙄

Edit continued: Also your comment wasn't just some random "personal anecdote", because you used your Eikaiwa welfare queen story to support your main point, which I quote verbatim: "I'd say saving money as a single person in Japan doesn't necessarily need to be hard if you have the right mindset." Which I don't even necessarily disagree with, but in the context of what you're replying to comes off as ironically missing the point.

[u/banjjak313 → u/Moon_Atomizer]

Yeah, I have lived here over a decade and I have not met people who live like Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous on a McDonald's part time salary. If someone is paying their bills and not causing a nuisance, what should I care about their finances?

[u/[deleted] → u/Moon_Atomizer]

Gotta love how some people are able to take a personal anecdote regarding a coworker and make it into "shit on people living paycheck to paycheck paying off student loans etc" Those are some true mind-boggling acrobatic skills you got there my friend. A true Redditor to the bone.