What Is Considered a Lot of Money in Japan? – Escape to Asia (2024)

If you’re new to using yen, it can take a while to get a feel for how much it’s worth. Aside from conversion rates, you also need to consider the costs of rent and products in Japan, too—right? Well, luckily, it’s not that hard.

The cost of living in Japan is similar to the U.S. (Japan is 4% cheaper). This means you can just convert yen to USD for a sense of the purchasing power. For example, 1 million yen is roughly $9,000 USD, and it can buy about the same as $9,000 USD in the U.S.

Below, I’ll share many reference points for getting a sense of what’s a lot of money in Japan. We’ll look at what is considered “rich,” along with median salary, minimum wage, cost of living, and the cost of various common items!

Converting Yen to USD

Before we get into all the different measurements of wealth in Japan, let’s cover some quick notes on conversion.

Conversion rates change, but a single yen is typically worth about 1 cent in USD.

This means $1 USD is about 100 yen (it’s actually 110 yen as I write this). So, to quickly estimate any conversion, just move the decimal point over two spots:

• 500 yen = roughly $5 USD
• 1,000 yen = roughly $10 USD
• 10,000 yen = roughly $100 USD

Notice that Japanese bills go up to 10,000 yen, roughly equivalent to $100 USD—this is also the largest bill in U.S.

Let’s cover some larger examples before moving on:

• 1 million yen = roughly $10,000 USD
• 10 million yen = roughly $100,000 USD
• 100 million yen = roughly $1 million USD
• 1 billion yen = roughly $10 million USD

Again, these are just very rough estimates. As I mentioned in the intro, 1 million yen is actually closer to $9,000 USD rather than $10,000 USD at the moment. But for quick estimates, just moving the decimal point is convenient.

What Is Rich in Japan?

Now let’s look at what is considered “wealthy” in Japan.

An article in the Japan Times mentions a specific set of numbers to define “wealthy” by the standards of the Japanese financial industry.

Those numbers are an annual income of at least 30 million yen (roughly $271,000 USD), and a total net worth of at least 100 million yen (roughly $904,000 USD).

So that’s what is considered “rich” at the high end in Japan. But now let’s look at what is a more typical but still “good” salary.

What Is a Good Salary in Japan?

Japan has a median salary around 3.5 million yen (or $31,600) annually, and average salary around 4.2 million yen (or $38,000) annually. When broken down monthly, that’s a median salary of roughly 291,000 yen (or $2,600 USD) per month.

However, these statistics can vary depending on a few factors, such as:

1. What year of data you’re looking at.
2. What the conversion rate between yen and USD currently is.
3. Whether you’re looking at average or median. (The average is higher, as it is skewed upward by very high earners.)
4. The specific industry, population, or area being surveyed.

For example, the average salary in Tokyo is about 50% higher than in the rest of Japan, at around 6.3 million yen (or $57,000 USD).

When it comes to foreigners working in Japan, one of the most common jobs is teaching English. The average salary in that position is about 3.2 million yen ($29,000 USD) per year. So it’s a bit below average, but not horrible.

What Is a Good Hourly Wage in Japan?

A “good wage” could be defined in a few different ways. I’ll give you a few points of reference to consider.

First, since Japan’s cost of living is similar to the U.S., it’s pretty easy for Americans to think about this issue. Just ask yourself what wage you’d consider “good” in the U.S., and the answer should be about the same for Japan (converted to yen).

Another way to look at it: The minimum wage in Japan is $7.61 USD on average, with the exact amount varying by prefecture. This is also pretty similar to the U.S.

But most people would not consider minimum wage to be a “good wage.” So let’s grab a few more reference points.

If you divide the average annual salary in Japan by the average working hours, we get an “average wage” of 2,417 yen per hour (about $22 USD/hour). Most people would consider this a good wage in Japan, since it’s an average that includes very well-paid workers in the sample, too.

One last number to consider: Surveys show that part-time workers in Japan average about 1,400 yen per hour (about $12.65 USD/hour).

Are Most Japanese Rich?

Most Japanese would not qualify as “rich.” Only around 4% of Japanese earn the equivalent of $100k USD per year or more.

Again, keep in mind that the cost of living in Japan is very similar to the U.S. on average (more on that below). So just think about how these Japanese salary numbers would apply to the U.S.

As an American, I’d say you are definitely not “rich” if you make less than $100k/year in the U.S. You’re likely comfortable, but not “rich.” So I’d say the same applies to Japan.

Another way to look at whether people in Japan are “rich” is per-capita GDP.

The per-capita GDP in Japan has fallen relative to other countries since the 1980s. In 1988, they were 2nd in the world by this measure of wealth—but today, Japan ranks 28th in the world.

That’s still pretty good in the scheme of things (the U.S. ranks 13th on the same list)—but it’s not like Japan is insanely rich.

Cost of Living in Japan

The cost of living in Japan is about 4% lower than in the United States on average. That said, this depends greatly on where you live and how you live.

For Tokyo alone, I found cost-of-living estimates between $1,300 USD and $3,300 USD per month. (These were real figures from people living in Tokyo.)

For a possibly more “objective” look, you can check out cost-of-living comparison calculators online. How does the cost of living in Tokyo compare to other cities around the world?

Personally, as someone who grew up in the U.S. and has lived in many U.S. cities, I feel like the estimates I see for Japan prices are usually pretty similar to the U.S.

The common impression is that Japan is more expensive than the U.S. But personally, I would say it’s about the same when it comes to most expenses.

Mercer’s 2020 Cost of Living survey estimated Tokyo to be very expensive, however. They found Tokyo to be the third most expensive city in the world for expats to live in (Hong Kong was #1).

If you live in a smaller city in Japan, your costs should be lower than in Tokyo, however. Numbeo estimates that Kyoto is as much as 15% cheaper than Tokyo overall. (They don’t have data on much smaller cities.)

Cost of Common Items in Japan

To get a bit more specific, here are some other common prices in Japan:

• Alcohol – Beer and other alcoholic drinks seem to be cheaper in Japan than many other places, at about 100 to 500 yen per drink (roughly $1 to $5 USD). You can sometimes get an “all you can drink” 2-hour pass for around $20 USD.

• Eating Out – There are quite a few cheap food options in Japan for eating out. Fast food chains like Matsuya and Sukiya offer many meals between 300 yen and 1,000 yen (roughly $3 to $10). Ramen is usually more like $10-12 USD. But fancier restaurants could be much higher, in the $50-100 USD range.

• Gym Membership – Joining a gym is more expensive in Japan than in most other countries. In one “cost of living” breakdown I saw, the gym cost was around $140 USD/month. Others also confirm that gyms are more expensive in Japan.

• Monthly Transit Pass – These are around 10,000 yen (roughly $100 USD). As someone who used to buy monthly transit passes in Chicago, I can tell you it was roughly the same cost ($105).

Another thing to consider about Japan is that they have these “100 yen stores,” which are similar to dollar stores elsewhere. (100 yen is about equal to $1 USD.)

At dollar stores in the U.S., the quality of the products is often lacking. But in Japan, the 100-yen stores actually have some high-quality, durable products for a great value. So these can potentially help with reducing your bill.