Living costs in Japan

こんにちは、

One of the first great difference between my home country Germany and Japan that I realized after coming here are the living costs. Of course, living in huge metropolis like Tokyo is more expensive than living on the German countryside. That’s why seeing the cost of my rent was no big surprise, but when I entered a supermarkt here for the first time I was shocked by the prices for food. As the fruit and vegetable section is the first one you see when entering most supermarkets, I was directly exposed to the biggest difference. Especially fruits were very affordable back in Germany, thats why I used to eat a lot of them. An apple for which you pay at least 100 yen per piece here in Japan would cost around 30-40 yen. When I saw those fruits that are supposed to be gifted, I couldn’t believe my eyes. 65000 yen for two mangos? I would never pay that much for such a small amount of fruits. That was a big shock for me especially as it is not common to gift fruits in Germany. Besides that, other food is generally a bit more pricey here in Japan as well, but the differences are definetely not a big as with the fruits. All in all, living here and experiencing a contrast like that makes me value the cheap living costs in Germany a lot more from now on.

One of the most expensive fruits I have seen in my life