[Panther34543]

Considering cost of living, what salary would someone need to maintain a similar lifestyle as a senior engineer making ~$170-230k while living in a major U.S. city?

Some of the jobs on that site have salary ranges below 9 million Yen, which seems to equate to about $67k. Given that consumer goods are generally pricier in Japan, and that cost of living is generally quite high in Japan, that salary seems quite low.

[etdev]

Cost-of-living comparisons get complex, but I can give you my personal opinion.

Let's assume SF vs Tokyo.

To live the same lifestyle and have the same amount of disposable income as someone earning $170-230k in SF, you'd need to earn ¥12-18M or so in Tokyo.

You can live in a nice apartment in the center of Tokyo and still save a lot of money as a single person earning ¥12M a year.

Also the yen is super weak against the dollar right now (historically so). So converting to dollars doesn't give an accurate value imo. As long as you earn and spend yen, what matters is purchasing power parity. Not the exchange rate.

To me, living in Japan, ¥9M still "feels" roughly like $90k despite the exchange rate.

[kaashif]

> To live the same lifestyle and have the same amount of disposable income as someone earning $170-230k in SF, you'd need to earn ¥12-18M or so in Tokyo.

The same amount of disposable income, measured in dollars or yen without PPP adjustment? That's a big gap and I don't think it can be made up with cost of living savings.

> So converting to dollars doesn't give an accurate value imo. As long as you earn and spend yen, what matters is purchasing power parity. Not the exchange rate.

If you ever want to leave Japan, then the value of your savings does matter. Your savings don't get PPP adjusted down if you move.

[etdev]

Yeah these are good points, I guess if the yen never recovers you'd take a hit. The current exchange rate is an outlier though. At least historically, you've had the chance to convert back at between 100-110 JPY:USD every few years.

There are tons of caveats with cost-of-living. But for me personally, I worked for a company HQ'd in Palo Alto from Japan. And I looked into moving. I calculated that I'd need an extra $50k or so on top of my Tokyo salary to maintain the same lifestyle in Silicon Valley.

That's for me though. If you want a car no matter what, or you buy all your food at import markets, or want a huge apartment in the center of town exactly like the one you had in the US, Tokyo gets expensive. International schools for your kids can also get really pricey.

But if you live relatively closely to how locals do, it's cheap as hell. Seriously. The rent for my nice, new 2BR in central Tokyo is ¥190,000 a month. That's $1,416 at the current exchange rate.

The going rate I saw in Silicon Valley for a similar place was around $4k. And you absolutely need a car there, which means gas and insurance too. Here you can get anywhere super quickly via train, and companies pay your commuting costs if you're not WFH. Plus food is WAY cheaper here in my experience (I paid ¥950 for a big lunch today, tax included, no tip. 7 bucks all-in.)

So YMMV but that pretty much covers the $50k for me.

[mym1990]

Can you expand on the last sentence?

According to https://www.numbeo.com/cost-of-living/country_result.jsp?cou..., cost of living in Japan is a good bit lower than the US, and I would consider 67k as a decent wage when in medium COL cities(pandemic times have changes this a bit obviously, but I was able to live quite comfortably at 55k in a MCOL city in 2017).

[hungtantran]

@Panther34543, sorry that this reply is unrelated. However, I saw your post in another [thread](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32141962) suggesting people to look at the small business initiatives by each branch of the U.S. military for opportunity. That thread is no longer replyable.

I'm really interested in learning more about that and getting your advice on how to start. Is there any way that I can contact you for that, or can you send me a ping at "<my user name> at gmail"? Thank you very much.

[ricktdotorg]

my wife's parents live in Sangenjaya (Setagaya), i've had an eye on apartment rentals in that area for about 5 years, with a view to a perhaps/potential move over there. the prices (yen-usd translated) honestly look like ballpark NYC (Manhattan, not BK or Q etc) apartments from when i lived there 1997-2004. the prices are cheaper than NYC/SF/SEA/LA, but of course as you point out, the salaries are lower. i've not "lived" those expenses month-over-month as a local would do, but my gut feeling after several months "living" there [spread over a few years] in a local apartment is that food/eating costs are lower, but overall, other costs (perhaps not including than commuter travel) are higher. somehow, i think it balances out.

edit for clarity