Cost of Living in TOKYO | Accommodation, Food, Transportation, etc

Cost of Living in TOKYO | Accommodation, Food, Transportation, etc

I’ve been living in Tokyo for over a month now. So, in this video, I’m going to share how much it actually costs from rent, groceries, SIM card, and daily expenses. Plus, we’ll talk about what type of housing you can expect and some little things I wish someone told me before I moved here. Let’s start with the biggest expenses, which is rent. Finding a monthly rental in Tokyo can be a little bit tricky. And there are a couple options on Airbnb, but I personally think it’s more suitable for short-term stay because the room here are very small, especially for the price that you’re paying for. But outside of that, it’s kind of hard to find a rent outside of Airbnb because a lot of landlords here, they prefer not to rent to foreigners, mostly because of the language barrier. So, it actually took me some times until I found a reliable rental and I actually found mine from with Living. So, they actually have couple properties here in Tokyo and it’s perfect for like um midterm stays. So, I stayed in a two-bedroom unit with a kitchen, living room, and an inunit laundry. And it was super comfortable, especially for Japan standard. And the booking process was also really easy. I wasn’t physically in Japan when I booked this, but we scheduled a call and they also have something on their website where you can check out the room. It’s not just photo, it’s like a 3D viewing, which I thought was really cool. But they were very helpful. The team actually came here and we did a video call so they can show me the room before we even booked it. We paid around 600,000 yen per month, which came out around 300,000 yen each if you’re splitting with someone. And for a fully furnished place in Tokyo, that’s actually pretty reasonable, especially considering this is in the middle of Asakusa. And if you’re planning to stay longer than 6 months, obviously rent can be a lot cheaper. But for shortterm or midterm, I found it kind of hard to find something that’s flexible, modern, and also foreigner friendly. And like what I mentioned before, I’m staying in Asakusa. And I would highly recommend this area. It is convenient. It’s more relaxed compared to Shibuya or Shinjuku, but it’s still really well connected. So there is couple of like MRT station nearby, just a couple minutes walk away. And I know there are a couple of popular touristic spot here in Asakusa, but honestly, it doesn’t really bother me because it’s quite quiet, even just like one or two streets away from the touristic spots. By the way, I will leave a link down below so you guys can check out Weave Living if you’re planning to come here to Tokyo. And if you don’t mind living a little bit outside of Tokyo, um you can find a one-bedroom apartment for a more reasonable price. And again, this depends on the type of the building and the type of the contract. If you’re visiting or staying in Japan, having a reliable mobile data is a gamecher, especially here in Japan when you’ll rely heavily on Google Maps and also Google Translate wherever you go. So, I want to give a quick shout out to UBG for sponsoring this video. I’ve been using UBG EIM and honestly, it’s been the most stable connection I’ve had in Japan. I’ve tried couple different ISIM during my stay here, but I always go back to UBG. I’ve also used it during some day trips I take outside of Tokyo, like going to Yokohama, and the connection was going strong. This cost me $17 for 10 GBTE of data. And this lasts for around a month. And the best thing is I don’t have to deal with getting a physical SIM at the store. Um, because it can get a little bit tricky here. You just have to install their app and everything can be done throughout their apps. If you want to try it, they actually give me a 10% off discount code. Just use this code below and it will save you 10% at the checkout. I will also leave the link down below so you guys can check it out. But if you do need to get a Japanese phone number, I would suggest to get it from mobile or Sakura mobile. I heard this one are more foreigner friendly, but to be honest, I only tried mobile. But even the registration process, it was actually a little bit tricky. You have to go to a certain store at the airport and get a physical SIM card there. Now, let’s move to food and groceries. I tried to cook at least once a day, maybe eat out like twice a week. So, for groceries and eating out combined, I spend around 30,000 yen this month. To be fair, I did get invited to few restaurant um through my content creation work, which definitely keep the cost lower while still be able to enjoy and try out different restaurants here in Tokyo. If you’re wondering how I started getting invited or even paid to go to a restaurant or cafe, I actually have a guide for creators who want to start doing brand deals. And this works even if you don’t have a huge amount of following. I get my first brand deal when I only have around 3,000 um followers on Instagram. But if you want to save some money, especially when you’re traveling, I will leave the link down below so you guys can check it out. But honestly, going to the grocery store here is one of my favorite activity. It is just very exciting doing the weekly groceries um because you got to check out like different ingredients they have here in Japan. All right. So, we are going to go to the grocery store now. Okay. I tend to go later during the evening because most of the grocery store here in Japan, they usually have discount after a certain hour. Usually after 5 or 6. Well, I hope you can see that even the yogurt has 3% off. [Music] Look at the selection. Like this is the bread pastry like aisles. We are at the mid section here. Oh my god, look at all this package um meat. Looks so good. Wow. And yeah, food in Japan can be expensive, but if you come grocery shopping, especially to this store, can be like really affordable. [Music] Now, let’s move to transportation. Public transportation in Japan is top tier. I usually just use metro or walk a lot. They also have public buses, but I haven’t personally tried it. Although I think I should do it before I leave. But to use the public transportation, you can either go to it station and purchase a ticket at the station. But a better way is just to get an IC card. So like Pasmo card, Suika card or Eoka card. These are the card that you can just like top up and then you can just scan it every time you go to the station. If you don’t want to get a physical card, you can also just download an app and install this card on your phone. So, for transportation this month, I spent about 12,480 yen. And if you’re not commuting every day, this can even go less. Honestly, walking around Tokyo is one of my favorite activity. Like, every neighborhood has their own bike. You might have heard it. If you do need to get a taxi, you can just use Uber. Uber works perfectly fine here. But I found that getting a taxi here can be a little bit more expensive compared to other countries. Okay, now let’s move to activities. I feel like I have to make a separate video talking about top things to do in Tokyo. So if you guys are interested in that type of video, please comment top 10 down below. But one of the best thing about Tokyo is you don’t have to spend a lot to have a good time here. They have a lot of beautiful parks and they’re mostly free. And you can also just go to Convinini or the convenience stores like 7-Eleven, Lawson, Family Mart. The prices are very reasonable. And also the quality of food is just amazing. Or like what I talked about before, you can also just go to the grocery store like Okay Store, they have even better price. So some of my favorite free activities are scrolling at the park or even going to the Sumida River. And of course, some experience do cost money. For example, you do have to check out Team Lab Planets or Team Lab Borderless, which costs around 3,800 yen for the ticket. And if you’re planning to go to Tokyo Disneyland or Tokyo Disney Sea, that definitely will add more to the budget. I personally didn’t go this time because I’ve been to both Disneyland and Disney Sea before on my previous trip, and I would highly recommend to check it out. Um, this month I also tried a cinema here in Japan because I want to see if they have a different type of like experience compared to other countries. But I got to say that watching movie here at the cinema definitely costs a lot more. It costs around 2,000 yen per person. So for activities in a month, I actually spend 9,870 Japanese yen. Now, for shopping and miscellaneous, I got to say I don’t think of myself as a shopper. But after moving here, I got to rethink about that because there’s just so many places to shop. They have a lot of like good items that I didn’t even know that I need. But you’ll get what I mean when you go to Donkey Hotel, for example. So this month I actually spent around 12,000 yen um on random things like skin care, snacks. Yeah. And random donkey hotel run. Also they have a lot of good place to shop like Uniqlo for example. It is cheaper here in Japan compared to other places. Also I would recommend GU which is the sister brand of Unilo. They have some good quality clothing with an affordable price. And as a tourist, you can also redeem a 10% tax reduction. Just make sure you don’t use the items while you’re still here in Japan. So, after been living here for a month, um this is the breakdown of the cost. In total, I spent 366,900, which is approximately around $2,446. I would say it’s pretty realistic, especially if like you save on public transport and you also cook more often at home, but I would love to know your opinion. Do you think Tokyo is expensive or more affordable than you thought? If you have any questions about living in Japan, you can drop them at the comment section down below. And if you’re curious about how I found my travels and work with Bren, you can also check out my guide book down below. So, if you’re planning to come to Japan soon, make sure you check out UBG and make sure to use my code for an extra 10% off. I will leave the link down below. Thanks again for UBG for sponsoring this part of the video and thank you guys for watching. I will see you on my next one. Bye.

In this video, I will give you a FULL BREAKDOWN of how much it actually costs to live in Tokyo for a month, including rent, transportation, groceries and everything else

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