The way I've heard it said is "if you live in a developed country, you could probably afford to move to Japan right now. If you get a job in Japan, you'll never afford to move back."

Japan's cost of living is low compared to developed nations, but their average income is also low for a developed nation.

[–] WalnutLum@lemmy.ml 5 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (1 children)

When you move from the US you lose like half your salary for an equivalent position (more now cause of the relative power of the dollar to the yen).

The people that live like kings are the ones that are in Japan at the behest of American companies on American salaries living at like a third of their American costs.

[–] jagged_circle@feddit.nl 2 points 4 days ago

This is true in Europe too. Salaries in the US are just stupid high in general. They need to be because the US has shit for social services, which must be paid out of pocket.

Case and point: childcare.