Hey guys and girls on Ask Japanese this is CathyCat, greetings from Tokyo and
one of the questions you guys ask us a lot is how much is living in Tokyo
what are the expenses? how much do you actually have to expect when you come
to Japan? And today we're gonna find out about that so let's go and take notes
First of all for rooms now generally people in Tokyo just rent one room unless you have
crazy lot money then you can have more than one room but generally it starts at just one room
we got 1R, 1K, 1DK, 1LDK so what does that mean?
1R is simply understood in the english term 1R means one room which means everything is just in one room
you have like a little corner in that square that maybe is the kitchen and maybe your wardrobe is in
it as well usually the wardrobe is sometimes in the wall for security reasons because of
earthquakes so everything is in one space that is 1R it's very very common
the next one is 1K which means you have one room but you have kind of a little bit of a seperate area for the kitchen
it might just be a little alcove you know something that isn't quite big enough for
to be a room but there will definitely be a little bit more of a separate kitchen so
it's a bit more preferable if you don't want your clothes and your
bed and everything else to smell of the food that you cooked yourself last night
1DK you're already lucky enough to have a kitchen that is big enough to put down a table
and I don't mean the big american dinner tables but a small table on which you
could in theory sit and eat no i've never had that but it does exist
if you are wealthy and lucky enough to have an apartment that is a 1LDK it means a one living dining kitchen
meaning you have your original room the size didn't change
but the kitchen is now big enough that you can fit a table there to eat and maybe a sofa
or something similar to spend some time in that room... that is pretty sweet mind me saying that...
but going back to the 1R apartment the one room apartment meaning that the kitchen the dining
the living and the sleeping is all in the same room now the sizes of those ones can start from
the size of just being able to squeeze a single person bed in there and then they can go up to
from 13 to 20 square meters but still everything else is in that room apart from maybe the bathroom
now let's go to the 1k so that means you have or at least supposed to have a separate kitchen
now it doesn't even actually mean that it's completely separate they sometimes cut some
corners there and have like a tiny little wall between it or it's like a little niche
that counts as kitchen and stuff like that so it sometimes doesn't even make that much of a
change compared to a 1R just one room it's just easier to sell it that way if it says 1k
it says as a kitchen but it might not be that much of a difference and it only changes about
you know a little bit in square meters so it can go up to like what 25 square meters as a max
like I mentioned a 1dk means there's enough space to actually put some dining chairs or tables into
the room... now again not the big sizes that you might be used to in the west maybe just a single
little table you know the size of a big of a big book and then maybe one table next to it or a
second table next to it, just having enough space to not just cut your vegetables but also sit down
and eat the vegetables in that room... so already you have a little bit more space but not too much
from around 23 square meters to up to 30 tasty 35 square meters
you might be able to be the proud person who lives in a LDK meaning the kitchen is big enough to put
not only in a table and maybe one chair or two but also maybe a couch and maybe even a tv so you
can actually spend some time in that room that is separate from where you sleep or keep your clothes
now the director researched and found the average rent so let's look at that one 1R is around
32 000 yen up to 125 000 yen on average so the average would be 76 000 yen 1K is
30 000 yen to 120 000 yen 1DK would be 40 000 to 160 000 and one LDK would be 55 000 to 220 000
but that's just an example and that's actually the average taken of Tokyo the inside of Tokyo
and the outside of Tokyo meaning Tokyo is not just this big city there's also more
of Tokyo that is more on the countryside where barely anyone is living and the rent is a lot
lower so to be honest those prices are a bit ideal something gets a lot a lot more expensive
so even the max price that I told you that can easily get maxed out
So how much do you pay for renting a room or for living one month here in Tokyo so apart
from the rent there's also the lifelines that you'll have to pay for water gas and
electricity yes Japan still uses gas you will have to pay a gas bill and then on top of that
other living expenses come together such as food but also your internet your phone those kind of
things you need to have so let's summarize this up have a look what other costs are coming up for you
so your lifelines: gas water and electricity those things are generally built separately
and they actually count separately if there's a big earthquake and one of
those lifelines or even two of those lifelines break down you still have a third one to rely
back on and that's why they're separate sometimes the companies can work with each other or they can
one company can have two of those lifelines but it's generally all built separately as well here
in Japan now that can start from around 8 000 yen and upwards depending on how much you use
it especially electricity don't forget Japanese people here in winter heat with air conditioning
and in summer cool with air conditioning in winter and summer months that might go up also depending
on the volume and size of your room and where your air conditioning is placed you might feel hotter
or colder and you might use it more or less so so in summer when it's really really hot or in winter
when it's really really cold and you use that non-stop then you'll definitely have a lot higher bill
next number: food, of course that's the most important thing
and food can actually vary depending on which city you're living so Tokyo the average is around 43 000
yen per month while Osaka still a big city is at 37,000 so some reasons for that being is
first of all a lot of people are moving to Tokyo generally living expenses for
Tokyo are higher and there's a lot of great restaurants, foods, convenience stores there's
food at every corner they say that Tokyo is the biggest density of culinary restaurants
anywhere else compared to anywhere else in the world so you spend a little bit more to get
the food that you want while in other cities, even Osaka you pay a little bit less for the food
so for the 43 000 yen you'd get around 63 big mac combos
around 54 bowls of tasty ramen
or 92 caramel macchiatos
but there are other extra costs that will come on top of that: toothbrushes, face washes
and I wanted to show this on time and it's not working
One more time?
but on top of that there's some other extra costs that will come to you: toothbrushes, face washes,
soap, laundry detergent, hand sanitizer all that kind of stuff will add up now the director put
the average around 5 000 yen let's be honest for girls that can be double or triple the
size here for like: makeup remover, makeup products, special hair products similar things like that
especially because Japanese girls here pay a lot of attention to their physical appearance you have
to buy a lot of extra things on top of that so i'd say double triple quadruple the price of that
There was something I had to buy today... what was it? I think I need more handwash.
Living in Tokyo is probably the most expensive place you can live in in all of Japan so keep
that in mind when you want to move to Tokyo a lot of people are opting to move out of Tokyo to
the surrounding areas and have a longer commute Saitama is very popular for that Chiba is very
popular for that and Kanagawa is very popular for that and the camera is way too close what
you doing? Go away go away! Many people are opting to live in a very very cheap room so they have
more money for the stuff they want to spend their money on but unfortunately that's not really
an option for everyone because living is already so expensive so generally people compromise
space or location or similar things like that in order to make a living or survive here in Tokyo
but I can recommend you guys to not just live your day on cup noodles and cheap food because
A it's not good for your health and B you're not getting the full Japan experience out of it
if this video gave you a little bit more information about living here in Tokyo please be
so kind and give us a like and if you enjoyed this and want to know more about living here in Japan
then do subscribe because there's more coming soon also guys would you like to have a Cathycat's daily
monthly expenses videos if so let us know see you guys bye
hey hey hey ...