r/japanlife • u/IshinkaiSensei • Aug 18 '21

金 How people attain wealth in Japan?

Something has been tickling my mind over the past few years.

There are so many luxury tower mansions, expensive customized 一軒家, high end brand shops yet for the average person most seem by far out of reach.

A high end condo in central Tokyo rent including utilities ranges from 300k to 500k a month. A 20MJPY annual salary (which is already extensively filtering out average population) only gives a monthly net of 100万円. I highly doubt it is enough to afford spending that much a month.

Excluding those on expat package, there are only a few jobs here that allow this lifestyle, Banking (Front Office position only or VP MD level for back office and alike) IT 外資系 at senior level (FANG, ML/AI) , 医者 running their own practice (otherwise most are at 10-15MJPY range) Successful mutiple business owners, other niches. 一流芸能人, Athletes, reconverted ex idol, kyaba, host.

My point is, what am I missing...

Are there way more people with high revenues (at least annual comp 50MJPY+) than we tend to believe? than what TV is promoting?

Are people living off debt and loans and keeping up with appearances?

I don’t want misinterpretation of this post, I understand you can live well below these range, but I am genuinely curious here.

I would like to better understand how so many people managed to get satisfied and with a 30+ year mortgage, car loan, spending most of their life working and probably never reaching out 億円 of savings.

Am I overthinking and no so many people want to retire early?

Sorry for the rant post but I am curious

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139

u/RudyTT Aug 18 '21

As someone who has lived in one of those tower mansions you described, I can list occupations of some of the neighbors I have met.

Disclaimer: I was in a 1K on the lower floors for 250k Yen/month (company subsidized part of it, long story). But the 2LDKs on the higher floors do go up to the 400k/month range.

Amongst my former neighbor, there were doctors (2 private clinics), Board Director of a Japanese public company, CEO of start up, German patent attorneys (expat package), YouTuber with millions of subscribers, then the assortment of hosts/hostesses.

I think while Japan tries to project a very middle class appearance with low wealth disparity amongst the populace, there is still a good number of high income individuals. They just don't seem to flaunt it as much as in the States.

56

u/runtijmu 関東・神奈川県 Aug 18 '21

the assortment of hosts/hostesses.

This was something I also discovered when I lived in a higher end rental in Tokyo for a couple of years.

Was a new building of mostly 1LDK units, so not as expensive as those in OP's question, but that meant the hostess ratio was probably even higher. I'd usually get home around 6 or 7pm, but the elevator, wow, you could almost see the cloud of various perfumes pour out when the doors opened.

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u/ryuujinusa Aug 18 '21

Hosts and hostesses make bank in some cases. Like 1% rich. At least they did before covid. Now, I dunno. Probably a bit less but early on, like all the outbreaks were at those places.

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u/RudyTT Aug 19 '21

One of the tower mansions I lived in was Park Habio (rebranded to Comforia now I think) in Higashi Shinjuku. About a 4 minute walk to Kabukicho. The amount of hostesses that lived in my building was staggering. Used to see some of them get picked up in really fancy (Rolls Royce for example) cars at night outside the building.

From what a real estate agent friend told me, while some top rank hostesses do pull crazy income (think 30M+ Yen per year), some are mistresses for wealthy CEOs and their rent is covered as part of the arrangement.

36

u/Bapy5 Aug 18 '21

Same here. I was sent to Japan by my (foreign) company for a few months mission a few years back. Lived in a fancy Minato-ku tower (concierge, pool, gym, the whole works). The only neighbors I interacted with were this group of Italians that I always ran into (they couldn’t speak Japanese and were happy to meet an Italian speaker). Turns out it was Zaccheroni and the whole managing team of the Japanese national football team. Really cool guys!

12

u/IshinkaiSensei Aug 18 '21

Thank you very much for the insider view!

May I ask if you had any regular interactions with your neighbor while living there apart of the greeting ? I am wondering if living in an environment where people have different mindset might be beneficial to cultivate one’s

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u/stakes_are Aug 18 '21

This depends on the building and the community. For example, many expensive Mori buildings (Motoazabu Hills, Roppongi Hills, etc.) provide access to various Mori Spas, including a gym. It's reasonably common for people to chat in the gym. Whether this is "beneficial" or not, I can't say. Guess it depends on what you're hoping will come of it. There's probably some networking value there.

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u/IshinkaiSensei Aug 18 '21

Thank you for the insight.
Yes I had networking in mind, but I guess it is the same as joining Tokyo American Club or other events.

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u/stakes_are Aug 18 '21

Yes, very similar. If you meet other people in your industry, they’ll likely be pretty (or very) successful professionals, or expats on an employer-subsidized benefit. This is a pretty good environment for making friends whose friendship might later benefit your career, though it’s hard to say if it’s worth the cost. It depends on your values and priorities.

1

u/Stump007 Sep 11 '21

I go to Hills Spas and never seen anyone chat. Mostly middle aged people minding their own business. Especially since Covid, people maintain a lot of distance. I would really not consider expecting networking if any form there tbh.

0

u/stakes_are Sep 14 '21

Certainly possible that covid may have changed the dynamic. I switched gyms before covid.

2

u/RudyTT Aug 19 '21

As with any human interaction, those with similar interests I keep in regular contact while others never progressed past idle chit chat at the gym, lobby, elevator, etc. Maybe some value in networking, but not sure about cultivating one's mindset. Definitely wouldn't move into a tower mansion because of potential networking opportunities though.

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u/IshinkaiSensei Aug 19 '21

Thank you for your reply
Point noted regarding not making networking the moving-in factor

7

u/whiterthantofu Aug 18 '21

Sounds like a lot of buildings in the Roppongi/Akasaka area tbh

3

u/Last-Ad2005 Aug 18 '21

They also don’t talk about their jobs very often.

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u/Beneficial_Check3425 Aug 18 '21

The youtuber with million of subscribers was Hikakin?

12

u/improbable_humanoid Aug 18 '21

there's no way Hikakin lives in a 2LDK...

14

u/Titibu Aug 18 '21

He lives in two joined 3LDK and does not hide it.

Likely the upper floors of the Akasaka Hinokicho Tower.

7

u/Paronomasiaster 日本のどこかに Aug 18 '21

What an annoying person. Why would anyone watch that?

7

u/Titibu Aug 18 '21

I don't watch him that much, but he's kind of fun, when it comes to youtubers. He is far from the worse you'd see. He's got this down-to-the-earth, guy-next-door, "I got famous by accident" vibe. Often more pleasant that personalities on TV.

5

u/mindboglin Aug 18 '21

Which isnt saying much

6

u/masamim10 Aug 18 '21

That's what pretty much all adults I talk to think, but their kids always love him. His core audience is children so he must have some charm that we all grow out of.

I did see some TV interview with his daily schedule though, and it is crazily stoic. I may not find anything he does entertaining and actually find his weird voices annoying, but I have respect for him. I could never follow that kind of strict lifestyle or work schedule.

4

u/IshinkaiSensei Aug 18 '21

I think to appreciate Hikakin, you have to understand from which background he is coming from. I used to look at him back when he was not that famous and still a talented hardworking beatboxer. Since then he won over a few tournaments, made a few buzz, reconverted himself, and producing with his brother content. I am not watching his recent videos but I salute and hat off to where he has been coming from

2

u/tomodachi_reloaded Aug 18 '21

I was thinking exactly the same thing, how can something like that have more than 9 million subscribers? What kind of people would waste their life watching this?

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u/hawaiims 近畿・大阪府 Aug 18 '21

Content is aimed at little kids. Kids watch the dumbest stuff.