4.1/5
2,361 reviews
Photo by Denys Nevozhai via Unsplash

Cost of Living in Tokyo

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english

expensive

food

bit

speak

country

stay

friendly

ogikubo

great

day

incredible

cities

completely

fun

cheap

Tokyo offers plenty to see and do, and the exchange rate makes it feel like good value right now. The reviewer likes the Roppongi area and suggests staying in a hotel there. They mention that social connections can be harder to make because Japanese people tend to keep to themselves, and the language barrier adds to feeling like an outsider. Practical tips include using Anytime Fitness if you already have a membership, and bringing rashguards if you have tattoos. Co-working spaces like WeWork close early and have limited weekend access, so plan accordingly. The reviewer also recommends tools like Airalo eSIM and Wise for easier travel.

AI-generated summary of reviews
10 days ago

Pro tip: if you have AnytimeFitness membership in your home country, you can train at any AnytimeFitness gym in JP. Lots of them in Tokyo! If you have tattoos - wear rashguards / spats.

10 days ago

Tokyo is awesome, make no mistake about it. However, it's better to come here with a friend/partner due to how "inward" the Japanese are, which can make you feel a bit isolated. Unless you speak the language (one of the hardest in the world), you'll always feel like a "guest" and will have a hard time being social (more than normal, I guess).

2 years ago

2nd time to Tokyo in 2 years. So much to see and do and great value in the past few years due to a declining yen against the USD & Euro. Wework (not open past 6pm & only iceberg open on weekends), Airalo Esim, and Wise Visa are your friend. Check out my Youtube for some nomad guides (Chicvoyage, @digitalnomadworld). I like Roppongi area. Stay in a hotel

3 years ago

Tokyo has so much to offer and so much to do. It is easily overwhelming. Whereas I usually take my first week to explore a place Tokyo’s sights just kept on going. I remember ending up in a hidden cocktail bar, a mexican rooftop party with 1 meter margaritas, spending a whole day going only to French places(?), visiting a store that only imported 2nd hand hiphop apparel, and throughout it all the best michelin star ramen. It just seemed endless, completely unrelated and incredibly fun. Six weeks went by in an instant.

Money wise Tokyo is expensive, especially for Asia and in some areas like housing and mobile and ok but not cheap for (incredible) transport and tickets prices. Superb food and drinks can be had for cheap. The quality and service for most things is top-notch.

Besides some large parks Tokyo is a lot of concrete and I had to look a bit harder to find green than I normally do. Finding a good place to run was also difficult without bumping into people. Though if you look for it there are a lot of serene quiet corners, temples and gardens. Cycling in Tokyo is easy, so consider renting a bike and explore a neighborhood or two.

Communication was never difficult, though often a bit awkward. In general Japanese will try and leave you alone or be polite and superficial. This all changes completely as soon as you start drinking alcohol or even sober when they find a common interest. I found Japanese in social settings curious and easy to speak with and at times students/young-japanese would come up to me and talk. Nobody will disturb you when reading a book or doing some work. People are are just incredibly polite. Socially in hang around mostly with expats. Since coworking spaces were expensive I went mostly to meetups to meet people.

For housing I’d advise to stay outside of the central places and near a subway line. I stayed in Kichijoji, which was 15min from Shibuya and Shinjuku, more affordable and less busy. Most people only spend a few days in this city and handle Japan by planning obsessively. Ask anybody about to go to Japan what their plan is and they’ll start drawing maps and timetables. I do think strongly that a longer stay in Tokyo is worth it and every week added will get you past the highlights and into unexpected places you’ll enjoy and remember.

Lastly: the subway stops at 0:00, do not miss it. Cabs are expensive (and the last subway is an attraction in its own right:)

Tokyo is unlike anything else you’ll ever experience in live.
Now go forth and eat ramen!

6 years ago

I would say that Tokyo is probably the easiest major city to transition for a Westerner visiting Asia. Infrastructure is incredible, the metropolis is immaculate no matter where you go, people are friendly and amenities/food/shopping etc are all fairly accessible. We've been many times and it remains one of my favourite cities in the world. For English speakers, the language is easy to adjust to because Kanji basically sounds as it is read. Food is phenomenal and where it sometimes lacks in variety it's made up for in incredible flavours and skillful preparation. There are plenty of places to work, Internet is strong.

My suggestion when looking for a place to stay is to look to some of the communities beyond the typical Shinjuku, Roppongi, Shibuya, Harajuku, Ginza, Ueno. Don't get me wrong, these places are all wonderful and a worthwhile but once you make the move away from them, you'll discover many wonderful cities within the metropolis with less tourism. You'll also spend less. Personally, I have always looked to stay on the Sobu Line during my visits. My favourite neighbourhoods would be Koenji and Kichijoji - both on the line. Also, honourable mention to Shimokitazawa further South.

If you haven't experienced Japan yet, you should go. Tokyo is unlike anything else in the world and the country at large is phenomenal. You'll love it. Look no further.

7 years ago

I spent most of the trip in Tokyo staying in part of suginami city called Ogikubo. This was really just a vacation for me; I spent most of my time shopping in Harajuku, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ueno. These places are immense, dense, vibrant and crazy-wealthy. Ogikubo would pass for downtown in almost any definition of a city, but in Tokyo it is sometimes called a suburb (although still part of the 23wards). I also traveled out if Tōkyō: 1 day in the temples in Nikko, and 1 day in Fukuoka for Nakasu and Sumo. I love Ogikubo: the barely-one lane roads with multi family surrounds is both quiet and urban at the same time. All of Tokyo, not just Ogikubo is cleaner than any western city. After seeing the other side of that equation in months in Latin American cities, it was an honest surprise to see a huge city that Is far more clean than those from my home country. Some things are cheap (coffee, humble/normal food) others expensive (cabs/jr, fashion). In attire and customs, you see shades of formality and expressiveness at once that feels both more stodgy and more informal in various ways. Just different, really. Ogikubo exemplifies quiet/ luxurious living to me, and more generally perfect urban density. I do wonder if any other parts of the world I will see will tend to have such small, walkable streets and that much density in a still serene but more affordable form. My apartment was the first story of a converted house, about 125m2 - apparently worth about $1.5m... 1m too much for me, and only somewhat bigger than ideal.

7 years ago

Really fun city. I think the easiest big city in Asia for westerners to feel comfortable in. People are generally pretty friendly on a superficial level, quick to smile, laugh, and help. Unfortunately, becoming real friends with Japanese is much more difficult and most cannot speak English. Store staff are mechanically polite like robots, which is better than rude, but also a bit weird. A bit pricey and gets more expensive after a year of residence (after you get taxed based on previous year's salary, same for health insurance fees). You can drink in public at any time, though it's not really a drinker city like some European cities are known for. Clubs and music events are expensive unfortunately, though quite a few options. Great public transport system, can just be a bit confusing with all of the different names. The street layout is completely chaotic, which can be fun but also disorienting. You will often have no idea which direction you are facing, like you are in a giant maze. You can find most major international food options but not in great numbers. Obviously, Japanese food is everywhere though. It's technically on the water, though odds are you will live more inland. Still, you can reach the bay within an hour or so and an actual beach further south in Kanagawa within 90min. Japan itself has a lot of cool things to check out as well. Best time of year are spring (cherry blossoms) and fall (cooler, leaves changing cooler), though there are a series of summer festivals that start in August that are incredible (people dress in traditional clothes, food vendors all over, tons of fireworks, etc.) and they have a lot of Christmas lights and displays in December. Dating for men is not bad, just don't come expecting every woman wants you. As mentioned before, most cannot speak English and they're somewhat conservative overall, not big on casual sex. You may have an advantage in the dating pool if you're not an English teacher, since most western foreign guys there are and that job is known for not paying that well, and definitely do if you can speak Japanese near fluently. Some negatives besides those already mentioned: it's really humid and mold develops quickly, there are A LOT of crows that creeped me out and cicadas that are VERY noisy in the summer, finding the right specialist doctor that also speaks English can be tricky, the friends you make from other countries come and go constantly, a lot of guys with issues come here (socially awkward, major womanizers, right wing nuts, escaping something from their home country, stereotypical anime fanatics, etc.), Japanese men are not anywhere near as friendly as the women are and are more likely to be xenophobic (pretty much like every other country), living space is really small for the price, vegetable selection is pretty limited and expensive, a lot of food products contain soy, subways get really overcrowded during rush hour, popular areas get really overcrowded on weekends, it's not that English friendly especially dealing with contracts and anything government related (there is a free foreigner help service that can help you via phone and usually whatever government stuff you're dealing with will have at least one person on hand who understands English and can help you).

8 years ago

Nomaded here for a month Aug-Sep 2018. It's perfectly ready for digital nomads. I won't go into details about why Tokyo is a great place to travel to, you know that. For nomads: there are many coworking spaces, especially in Ginza area (personally I recommend Ginza Hub or Co-Edu or Yahoo Lodge which is actually a free coworking space). Almost every place I've checked has daily membership options too. Starbucks is almost everywhere and locals work in cafes all the time. You can also get a very decent 4g sim as a foreigner from Mobal. The prices are okay-ish, Paris or Singapore level. Many people don't speak English, but that wasn't a problem for me at all: people are friendly and trying to help even when I didn't ask them. If you're feeling lonely, there are numerous international meetups happening every single day. I didn't notice any hostility from locals towards me, only curiosity; made some friends. The situation is different if you want to immigrate to Japan, but we're not talking about it here, right? I'd definitely recommend Tokyo for digital nomads!

8 years ago

✅ Great value due to exchange rate

✅ Lots to see and do

✅ Very safe

✅ Fast internet

✅ Lots of fun stuff to do

✅ Warm now

✅ Warm in the spring

✅ Good air quality on average

✅ Nomads.com members liked going here a lot

✅ Many Nomads.com members here all year round

✅ Spacious and not crowded

✅ Very easy to do business

✅ High quality of education

✅ Great hospitals

✅ Roads are very safe

✅ Freedom of speech

✅ Democratic

✅ Very safe for women

✅ Family friendly

✅ Very friendly to LGBTQ+

❌ Japanese people are inward, making it hard to socialize

❌ Language barrier makes you feel like a guest

❌ Co-working spaces have limited hours

❌ Extremely expensive

❌ Gets cold in the winter

❌ Very sweaty and humid now

❌ Very difficult to make friends

❌ People don't speak English well

❌ Many people smoke tobacco

❌ Marijuana is illegal

Jan

Feb

Mar

Apr

May

Jun

Jul

Aug

Sep

Oct

Nov

Dec

Feels (median)

541°
cold

1254°
cool

1864°
cool

2373°
mild

2577°
warm

38100°
hot

3799°
hot

2475°
warm

2170°
mild

1763°
cool

846°
cold

Real (median)

643°
very cold

643°
cold

1355°
cool

1864°
cool

2373°
mild

2576°
warm

3086°
very warm

2475°
warm

2068°
mild

1661°
cool

948°
cold

Humidity

nice
60%

nice
58%

nice
66%

nice
74%

nice
80%

sweaty
84%

sweaty
80%

nice
79%

nice
78%

nice
69%

nice
64%

Most common

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

☔️ Rain

☀️ Clear

Rain

rainy
61mm

rainy
68mm

rainy
110mm

rainy
71mm

rainy
80mm

rainy
102mm

rainy
155mm

rainy
117mm

rainy
116mm

rainy
149mm

rainy
87mm

rainy
62mm

Cloud

pockets
43%

pockets
30%

cloudy
67%

cloudy
63%

cloudy
70%

cloudy
85%

cloudy
77%

cloudy
72%

cloudy
71%

cloudy
66%

cloudy
55%

pockets
43%

Air quality

clean
38 US AQI

clean
46 US AQI

clean
48 US AQI

okay
51 US AQI

okay
50 US AQI

clean
39 US AQI

clean
43 US AQI

clean
47 US AQI

clean
35 US AQI

clean
36 US AQI

clean
48 US AQI

clean
41 US AQI

Sun

safe
2 UVI

seek shade
3 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

avoid sun
6 UVI

seek shade
6 UVI

seek shade
5 UVI

seek shade
4 UVI

safe
3 UVI

safe
2 UVI

Remote workers

6,816 people

7,487 people

11,139 people

13,320 people

9,355 people

8,558 people

6,023 people

6,000 people

8,133 people

13,867 people

10,358 people

8,425 people

Green is good. Red is bad. Values shown are the medians of all daily highs in a month based on past few years, not necessarily current numbers. Remote worker count is estimated based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members.

If you'd like to filter destinations based on their climate, try Nomads.com's Climate Finder

Current weather data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0)

Based on Tokyo's cost of living, here's selected remote jobs that would cover your costs:

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🌥 Feels 27° 81° 26° 78° Has AC AQI 31

✈️14h

$4,979 / mo

103 Mbps

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😙 Affordable

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked good

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

🌥 Feels 42° 108° 32° 89° Has AC AQI 176 😷

✈️7h

$1,865 / mo

🌇 Also went here710 people

Berlin

Germany

⭐️ OverallAll

💵 Cost 😳 Extremely expensive

📡 InternetWiFi 🏎 Fast

👍 Liked bad

👮 Safety mediocre

Tap to open

☀️ Feels 28° 82° 26° 79° Barely AC AQI 24

✈️15h

$5,065 / mo

🌇 Also went here772 people

13,200 remote workers in Tokyo now, of which 15+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

Values shown are estimated visits by traveling remote workers based on the total amount of trips logged by Nomads.com members. Visits to a place are only counted once per year per user, even if they visit more in that year. Visits are also normalized by overall trips added per month on the site, so if site usage goes up or down it does not affect trends. Not all digital nomads are on Nomads.com, and not all Nomads.com members log their trips. So the data is only indicative.

The chart below shows visitors by nationality normalized for population size. This means we take all trips logged on Nomads.com, check which country of origin the user is from, then divide that total visit count by the country of origin's population. If we didn't, it'd just show the big countries like US, Brazil and India always on top. Instead, this shows which nationalities worldwide proportionally visit more or less, which is more useful.

🎒 Nomad Score™	4.1/5 (Rank #13) 2361 reviews
❤️ Liked by members	👍47 liked it 👎1 disliked it
👍 Quality of life score	Good
👶 Family score	Good
🎒 Community score	Good
🤯 Overcrowding score	0% is nomad here
💵 Cost	🧐 Very expensive: $4,403 / mo
📡 Internet	😡 Slow: 25 Mbps (avg)
😝 Fun	Great
⛅️ Temperature (now)	🥵 Hot: 26°C79°F (feels 30°C86°F)
💦 Humidity (now)	🥵 Sweaty: 91%
❄️ % of buildings with AC	😍 Very high: 91%
💨 Air quality (now)	🌱 Great: 13 US AQI
💨 Air quality (annual)	🌱 Great: 41 US AQI
👌 Safety	Great
👩 Safe for women	Great
🌈 Safe for LGBTQ+	Good
🤮 Food safety*	Great
👮‍♀️ Lack of crime*	Great
🤝 Lack of racism*	Bad
🎓 Education level*	High
⚡️ Power grid	Great
🌊 Resilience to climate change	Bad
💰 Income level*	Very rich: $3,220 / mo
🙊 English speaking*	Bad
😤 People density	🧘‍♀️ Low density: 4k ppl/km² (1 per 15x15m)
🚶 Walkability	Great
🚦 Traffic safety*	Okay
✈️ Airline scores*	Great
🧳 Lost luggage*	Great
🏥 Hospitals	Great
😄 Happiness*	Okay
🍸 Nightlife	Great
📶 Free WiFi in city	Bad
🖥 Places to work from	Great
❄️ A/C or heating	Great
😁 Friendly to foreigners	Okay
🗯 Freedom of speech*	Good
🎅 Startup Score	Bad

🌍 Continent	Asia
🚩 Country	Japan
🗓️ Average trip length	10 days
📡 Internet speed (avg)	25 Mbps
⛅️ Weather (now)	🌥 26°C 79°F + 🥵 Sweaty (91%) = feels 30°C 86°F
💨 Air quality (now)	👍 13 US AQI 🍃 OK
💨 Air quality (annual avg)	👍 41 US AQI
🔌 Power	115V 60Hz
🧔 Best neighborhood to stay	Katsushika
🚀 Upcoming neighborhood	Kita
🚕 Best taxi app*	Line Taxi
🚑 Travel medical insurance	Safetywing
💸 1,000 JPY in USD	USD 6.48
🏧 Suggested ATM take out:	JPY 10,000 = USD 65
💸 Tipping	No
💳 Cashless	💳 Yes, cards OK almost everywhere
💻 Best coworking space	Agora
💻 Best alt. coworking space	Jelly Jelly Cafe
🚰 Tap water	👌 Yes, safe to drink
♻️ Return rate	👍17% of visitors return
📸 Visitors per year	9,713,500 visitors
📸 Tourists now	186,159 tourists
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 Population	33,000,000 people
👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 GDP per capita*	$38,640 / year
😤 Population density	🧘‍♀️ not busy: 15x15m (225m²) per person
👫 Gender ratio (population)	👨 48% 👱‍♀️ 52%
👫 Gender ratio (young adults)	👨 55% 👱‍♀️ 45%
👫 Gender ratio (nomads)	👨 84% 👱‍♀️ 16%
🏞 Foreign land ownership allowed	Yes
⛪️ Religious government	Non-religious
💻 Online electronics shop	Amazon
✈️ Best short-haul air carrier	All Nippon Airlines
✈️ Best int'l air carrier	Japan Airlines

💵 Cost of living for nomad	$4,403 / month
💵 Cost of living for expat	$3,233 / month
💵 Cost of living for family	$5,357 / month
💵 Cost of living for local	$1,530 / month
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$2,485 / month
🏡 Airbnb (median price)	$6,688 / month
🏠 1br studio rent in center	$1,289 / month
🏠 Median home price	$369,115
🏨 Hotel (median price)	$116 / night
🏠 Airbnb (median price)	$219 / night
🏢 Coworking hot desk	$356 / month
🍛 Dinner	$8
🥤 Coca-Cola (0.3L)	$2
🍺 Beer in cafe (0.5L)	$4
☕️ Coffee in cafe	$4
👩‍🏫 International school	$17,873 / year
📱 Mobile data (~10GB)	$34 / month
🚕 Taxi price (avg trip ~3km/2mi)	$11 / trip

Cost of Living in Tokyo

13,200 remote workers in Tokyo now, of which 15+ members checked in (some members are set to private)

Members who will be here soon

Members who have been here

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