Adam Corn Nov 19, 2008
Moving this topic over from the Where are you? thread so as not to take it over.
Also to those who live in Japan, how's the cost of life compared to your country of origin?
Japan (particularly Tokyo, where I'm near) is notorious for its high cost of living but I don't think it's all that bad, and it certainly seems to have improved in the several years since I've been here. It depends of the area of consumer spending you're talking about. Compared to America, going out for dinner is about the same, especially when you factor in the extra ~20% for tipping that people in Japan don't have to worry about. A trip to the supermarket seems to run about the same in both countries now too. (If you go deep into Tokyo the prices go up but in the immediate outskirts it's not so bad.)
Certain things can be really expensive if you don't find a way to work around them. Movie tickets are pretty outrageous at 1800 yen but if you go on certain days and after 8pm it drops to 1200, which is not much different from back home. Japanese domestic CDs go from 2400 to 3000 yen but imports are less expensive and download services obviously even cheaper.
If you're coming to work, you would definitely want a company to sponsor your accommodation as the real estate agents have all sorts of deposits and other fees that can make the charge for moving into a new apartment worth about four months' rent.
Anyway if you learn the ins and outs and avoid going out all the time (I'm not so successful about the latter) - and find a decent paying job - it's easy enough to get by comfortably.
Also, let's say you don't speak any japanese (besides a dozen or so keywords), would you say it's impossible to ''get by'' in Japan?
Not at all. Tons of Westerners (I'd be tempted to say a majority) get by without being fluent and some hardly speak any Japanese at all. That said, the more proficient you become at Japanese the more enjoyable your stay is going to be here. I've had a few friends say they think their Japanese would have progressed much faster had they had a basic, proper introduction to Japanese grammar so if you're serious about coming you might look into taking a semester-long Japanese course back home or at least sign up for a Japanese class soon after arriving.
And despite what some people may say, make it a priority to learn the katakana character set first! It will be the most easily applicable to daily life here in Japan. Hiragana should follow soon after and then the big daddy, kanji. Even if you're coming just to visit, I think it would be worth your while to learn katakana.