Do The Japanese Feel Poor? | Street Interview
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- Опубликовано: 18 май 2024
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DISCLAIMER: The views expressed in this video do not represent that of Asian Boss or the general Japanese public.
0:00 - How much do you make?
2:50 - Is your current salary enough to get by?
2:49 - What was your biggest financial struggle?
5:07 - Do you consider yourself poor?
9:16 - What salary would be considered poor?
10:13 - Ideal salary to be worry-free?
12:57 - Are you saving any money?
15:53 - Message to foreigners who might think all Japanese are rich
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plaza accord doing it's thing
It would be awesome if there's a follow up video on this few months down the road. Japan has not experienced this type of inflation in decades and the upcoming shunto wage negotiation will likely see the highest increase in wages. Would be curious to how ppl feel about their income/wealth increase relative to prices increasing all around them.
@@levelaznlevel, Plaza Accords helped Japan face reality that their economy was not sustainable in the long run by keeping their currency artificially low.
.
It also made Japan incredibly rich.
Life in Japan is quite difficult. Wages are not going up, only prices are going up. In addition, the number of elderly people is increasing, and the amount of tax paid will continue to increase. I'm jealous because the salary in America and Australia is twice as much as in Japan. We recommend investing in fast-growing India.
By the way, the reason Japanese wages are not going up is because the traitorous government is letting cheap foreign workers into Japan. Most jobs for foreigners in Japan include modeling, English teaching, and manual labor. However, there is also a possibility in Japan. That's when robots replaced manual workers.
@@INFP-T50INFP, your first paragraph is correct. Your second paragraph is far removed from reality.
"yeah I make katanas, Other time I was in the Mafia". That took a turn xD
Was that Japanese sarcasm? 🤔
@@beadnut I'm pretty sure he was serious.
Sarcasm isn't something japanese use. You have to explain it to them and even so they don't really get it @@beadnut
What does "katana" mean?
@@TheWhippingPostSamurai sword making.... We that practice Iaido and kendo pay a lot for 1 single sword....
LMAO THE GUY SO CHILL 'AND SOMETIMES I WAS IN THE MAFIA'
It’s always the oldies like that that gotta lie he even said at the end they are pretending lol idiotic old man lolol clown who tf buying swords in todays age 🤡🤡😂😂
The chill types are often the real deal.
Bro said that with no hesitation 😂
When you randomly bump into the most sincere person in Japan.
The interviewer is really good. She follows up with the right questions, so it doesn’t sound scripted. When an interviewee reveals something unexpected, she knows what to ask next 10/10
I thought in Japan things are better for people ...but looks like is the same as Europe
Yo, underrated comment; this interviewer is GOLD. Very rare to have an all-around quality interviewer in almost any RUclips street interview videos. Unobtrusive, consistent but also reactive and humanistic.
It's not about how much you make, but how much things cost. This is why inflation is worse than having a small wage.
Oh you got that backwards. The income is more important, because (a) it's something you can control and (b) it has infinite upside whereas costs can only be reduced 100%
They are both important. It's the ratio that gives the results.
@Dayvit78 Have you seen the prices of the San Francisco Bay Area. Imagine if they built enough skyscrapers' apartment Complexes. The housing cost would come down for future generations.
Deflation is good for the economy. As well as increasing the supply to outpace demand.
Income is definitely not important lol@@Dayvit78
@@CoreyANeal2000if they build all of that,the price of a house around there will go up higher😅..The more developed the area is,the more expensive its gonna be😅..Housing costs will never go down in a developed area.
As someone who lived in Japan until very recently, it always frustrates me when videos shows prices in Japan (converted to USD) and all the comments talk about how cheap Japan is and how they could live such a luxurious lifestyle. You can't look at Japanese prices through the lense of your American salary! For locals making local salaries, these prices are really hard to afford! Literally everyone I knew in Japan felt like they were struggling financially. I'm so glad AsianBoss decided to tackle the nuances of this issue rather than going the clickbaity route
Calm down angry person … everyone is struggling … low wages and high rent is a common problem in every country
Disagree, that's an oversimplification.
Goods trend towards similar global prices though, especially manufactured goods, and produce prices are affected by global markets. So those in a high cost of living country could be better off dependent on their housing situation.
If so many Japanese people were struggling like you said, amusements parks all over the country wouldn’t be a destination to Japanese people every weekend etc, when people are struggling this much they barely have money to eat comfortably and do housing stuff and pay bills, people are not struggling as you said, it might be your own vision, I believe there are a significant number of Japanese people right now but it would be so naive to say “ everyone Japanese I know is struggling right now “
mrggy, why are you frustrated? If foreigners see how cheap Japan is now, why can't they be happy about that?
Yes when you factor in low salaries it all kinda evens out. They have similar purchasing power as people in the EU or US.
Except they also have a really great country that's super safe and almost everyone is Japanese and shares their culture. What I wouldn't give for my country to go back in time 30 years to when it was in a similar state.
The interviewers did an excellent job.
That was a very eye opening video. Having spent a lot of time in Japan and briefly googled what average wages were, I was very surprised to hear all those people's answers being considerably lower than expected. As a foreigner you feel like Japan is so far ahead of other countries because of the incredible infrastructure they have there, the efficiency of everything and the abundance of choice of everything. It is good that their social nets seem stronger than most countries, but sad that the average person doesn't have the purchasing power to go beyond their basic necessities. Hopefully things will change for the better.
wow i just realized you were in the "you know you're dating a russian" video.
@@giantlabs lol that I was
Alina, you totally skipped Naiyang Beach on your last trip to Phuket.... I am more shocked at how many Rich Russians there are in Phuket despite their war.
not surprising considering japan has been in deflation for 30 years.
Things will only change for the worse because Japan is a rapidly aging population with a birth rate that is below replacement rate for many decades now so both Japan and many other developed countries will be in for some really tough times ahead. The future will not be better.
I’m in the Uk and watch vids from worldwide and it’s so clear that the whole world is broken . We are all getting squeezed dry with no end in sight . Here it’s food, petrol ,rent and electricity that suck the most . My rent has doubled also in just 2 years and my state sick pay( I’m disabled) hasn’t really kept up with these increases. I feel for the younger generation the most . All on here point out if they didn’t live a home and have family help they couldn’t survive. It’s so sad really .
Yep only USA getting rich, a UPS driver making 170k USD per year, a dream salary anywhere else in the world.
Businesses are making record profits, but wages never go up.
It's the globalists.
Well that's the result of debt as money, which is employed world wide. Governments worldwide are in debted, America has 35 trillion dollars of debt alone, but so do all other countries have hundreds of billions or a trillion of debt. This is just the natural outcome of our system.
I bought a house four years ago my mortgage increased 433% since then.... and my income has improved 3.25 % ... It's ridiculous.... I can't believe this, however I am still lucky I have a warm home and enough food.
Want to hear more from the Thai monk guy, what a story.
Exactly
For him 1,200 USD is enough to be able to get by in a very expensive city like Tokyo. This guy is a legend.
@@Erick-ev5zt Probably because Buddhists have fewer desires.
Yeah, you could see him almost tear up when he talked about it.
The little girl was like I’m over this let’s go 🤣
No, she was like " go out and play?" we never do that....
man that katana yakuza guy is interesting af, lol. that samurai story is such a good one.
I'm surprised that the wages are that low in Tokyo.
it's good that they have a circular economy - if they had to depend on imports, they would be hurting a lot more for sure.
That samurai story is a good example of this concept of 'face' in Asian societies. (In Chinese - 面子) A private one where only your closest family and friends see (your true self), and another for everyone else (strangers, acquaintances, distant relatives, your colleagues and superiors). And it is the latter where you want to make yourself look good so you'll seem respectable and people wouldn't think ill or look down on you (i.e. prestige and reputation). Sometimes, people do go out of their way to inflate that public 'face' even though it is beyond their means just to make themselves look like they're living "better".
Idiots lol
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡😂😂😭
🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡😂😂😭ぉお
Kids like you gotta learn to know a lier
These interviews were so interesting and thought provoking. Japanese people can appear quiet and reserved, but once you speak to them they're so open, kind, and honest! 💕
Love how the daughter is quiet and respectful while the mother is being interviewed❣❣
It seems like most of the interviewees are surviving instead of progressing. Same story in a lot of countries these days with increased living costs but not increased wages.
American wages have increased dramatically in the last 15 years.
At least the houses in Japan are extremely cheap. Although it looks like with migration opening up the prices are slowly starting to creep up. And Blackrock has been invited in so they'll probably begin to buy them all out in order to force everyone into rental agreements.
Yeah we have decades of central banking and FIAT currency printing transfering wealth from everyone to the richest and most powerful. No wonder everyone is struggling.
So have prices! actually prices increased even more thanks to QE and the Corona printing extravaganza@@earlysda
@@Cha4k cheap in rural, very expensive in cities
I'm a Japanese working on a pelagic fishing boat and I get about 9 million yen a year.
These days, people don't want to work in the construction industry or other jobs that people call hard, and I think this is the same in other developed countries around the world.
But what makes Japan different from other developed countries is that if you choose such a hard job, you don't have to live in poverty.
I grew up in a place where a lot of lower-class people live, and a lot of them chose hard jobs, and a lot of them were despised by the people around them, but now I'm in my 30s, and the people who didn't run away from those hard jobs are all living happy
What I'm trying to say is that in Japan, at least, those jobs are available to everyone, and if you don't run away, you can usually live a wealthy life.
People I know who have been working hard jobs for 10 years earn around 8-10 million yen. If you convert this amount into US dollars, it seems small, but in Japan, I can say with confidence that they are rich.
And in the 80s and 90s, when Japan was considered very rich, all the people in that period were doing what I call hard work.
My husband is Japanese but he moved to my country, Philippines 4yrs ago because his income was just enough for everything and we didnt even live in Tokyo. He has a job in IT here in the PH and the salary is lower than Japan but it is high enough to be in upper middle class in PH. I also live very comfortably in the PH vs Japan, having my own house in those gated communities and lot in a major city and car. Japan has a lot of nice things but ngl it was very expensive. Also, I think wealth and socioeconomic status is so relative from country to country. I'm also a believer that one should go where one flourishes especilaly financially.
Wow US sucks rn too
earning 20000USD in developing nations is better than earing 30000 35000 in developed nations which is way below per capita
Earning 20k$ in developing nation is like earning 40k$-60k$ in developed countries grocery price are not so different but rent eduction and transport drives cost of living in most developed nation in California or NYC a 1500$ apartment could cost just 250$ in developing nations @@arlecchino248
@@arlecchino248a bachelors degree that cost 50k$-100k$ for entire program.would only cost 10k$ for entire 4years in developing countries example Thailand 350kbhat 4yrs at Bangkok university just around 10k$ for 4yrs tuition. Grocery prices and dining out we're almost close to prices in developed country though but there are ton of.things that's ridiculously cheap in developing.nations
I think what screwed is just in big city like tokyo where housing and rent is extremely expensive, if you live outside of tokyo it actually kinda good
Prices increasing and wages stagnating are indeed an issue in many countries right now. Always like learning about issues in Japan.
The root cause is Big government printing money causing inflation stealing the fruits of everyone's labor to keep it for themselves and their corrupt scum friends.
Thank you so much for this interview! Extremely well done interviews, very good questions (in particular the follow-up questions). I couldn't praise the interviewer more for making the effort to talk to many people with greatly differing backgrounds. This makes the information given by the people so much more interesting and illuminating. Again, thank you for the great work! It is so valuable and fascinating to me to watch, also because I don't speak Japanese and can't follow regular japanese media.
That Katana old man so cool..looks like character from like a dragon game 😂😂
I have lived in Japan for almost a decade. The labor wage is stagnant for almost 30 years, whilst tax and living expenses are increasing.
That’s why more and more productive and young people would like to leave Japan and find better opportunities overseas.
It sounds like America, minus the last part
@@julianzuniga8905 It really does, which confuses why so many US people are giving advice on the comment thread.
House prices in Japan are *much* less than in Western Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, etc., however, and having a roof over your head is priority #1.
You can purchase a decent quality akiya in "walk in" condition in a pleasant rural area within easy commuting range of the big cities for *under* US$20,000. Try that the USA or UK. : )
@@dw620 not true, these places are not cheap because Japan is affordable, it is because nobody wants to live in these places cause these cities are dying. Not enough young people and lot of elders. Try finding a house within the city , it is pricey as well. And 20.000 USD you cannot really find a place to live that you won’t have to reform or so, which sometimes cost more than the price of the house cause in japan reforming is quite expensive.
@@crownsofhia9864 Who said anything about "cheap because Japan is affordable" - it's because there are too many houses that people don't need (declining population) and being able to sell them for any money at all is better than leaving them to ruin while having to pay.
I've seen plenty pictures: the majority are liveable, many are half-way decent and if you need to spend any money for upgrades it's *still* dramatically cheaper than any possible option for someone living in Oz, US, Canada, UK, etc. A factor anyone from Japan thinking about leaving the country to earn "big money" elsewhere has to take into account.
All of the participants had very interesting insights. I feel the guy that got disowned and had to spend 4 years in Thailand as a monk probably had the best takes.
Samurai/mafia guy was the most based. The backpacker monk guy had some good ideas, but some weird ones too.
Hmm except the part when he said that young people can live in internet cafes. Even poor people should have a roof over his head and a place/room he could really sleep and feel safe.
That guy that lived with the monk was the one that spew the most amount of nonsense! Their parents did right to disown him, he would probably just drag the whole family down.
@@ksooskksoosk, the internet cafe comment was about 10 years behind the times. Nearly everything that man said was from a different era almost.
This is really one of the best interviews. The interviewer did a really good job. Nothing spectacular but every question was well thought out and she was careful not to hurt anyone's feelings. Really job well done.
The guy who lived in Thailand for 3-4 years is my favorite person you interviewed as well as the guy who makes katakana swords
The thailand guy is a Ignorant fool LOL what do you think that makes you?
Wow! Im so relieved. At first, I thought I was poor. Turns out I am just Japanese. But I am happy.
But Japanese people are not poor
Love your retro avatar!
Excellent video. Like one of the best I have seen on the channel and the interviewees were selected really well. Great job!
One of the best and insightful interviews so far
I live in Japan and i have decided to move back to Germany this year. It’s very difficult to get by on a Japanese salary. I barely have enough money to get by every month. My parents are the ones paying for my flights, despite me working full time in the business sector. If they wouldn’t, i would be unable to even afford to move back by myself.
Nora, did you study in Hokkaido Univeristy in 2012-2013?
This needs to be talked more. I've been thinking about moving somewhere in Asia but it was a shock to me how little the salaries are in many of the countries there. It's so annoying that they don't even mention the salary range in any of the job postings.
@@strawberrysoup202 some are mentioned but very rare. They would ask you for a salary range but 🥴
what did you do in the business sector?
@@strawberrysoup202 or maybe because everything in the West is super expensive that Japanese salary seems small to Westerners.
I mean, JNG (japanese national government) collected data in their archive about annual household expense in Tokyo and the figure for 2022 was around ¥3,500,000. Sounds a lot of money but if you convert it to usd, that's only around $23,000.
That comment about the samurai and their toothpicks was incredibly apt. That seems to be exactly how it's like for the Japanese.
Wow! These wages are so low, much respect to the Japanese for being able to manage in Tokyo. As a foreigner making USD living in Japan, this was very eye-opening and humbling.
@@AndIwandermuchreturn to your country
@@nidhirao7728 yeah I wanna know too, working remotely might help alot
@@chinavirus841Thanks! I will submit my transfer request to the US on Monday morning lol😂
@@AndIwandermuch Ty ❤️
Lucky you! I should try looking for companies that pay in USD. Heck, earning a meager 50,000 USD is pretty much a high roller in Japan!
The mother and her child were really touching at the end. The little girl was so well mannered and her mom said even without money they could go out and play. Just got back from Tokyo and there's just something so haunting yet addicting about life in Japan.
Thank you for the fantastic and enlightening video! Also, kudos to the interviewer; they did an amazing job with the way they presented the questions and allowed the interviewees to speak freely and comfortably about the different topics.
I was in the US military and spent the last 6 years living in Japan, so I was blessed to receive my income in USD. It was a modest amount, but compared to most of my Japanese friends, I understood how unfair the discrepancy was. That fostered an immense amount of gratitude and respect in me toward Japan's working class as they could get by with comparatively little yet still put in a degree of effort that is quite uncommon in the US.
I'm actually leaving Japan tomorrow and flying back to the states, but I hope to eventually make my way back here and settle down. Until then, I'll for sure be using these videos to keep me on track and motivated.
@13:38 He nailed it. Building wealth is not about saving fiat money.
This video was very interesting. I really enjoyed listening to all of the different people that you chose to speak say what they had to say. Each person shared such genuine thoughts and information - honest insight! Thank you to everyone who was involved!
The last point about what make you feel your heart fulfilled even you are not rich is wholesome. I smiled.
The elder gentleman with the cap and glasses has a very realistic idea about hard times. He probably has a very interesting story
I was in Japan last year. I was surprised how affordable everything was, but Japanese people thought the cost of living was high.
I’m curious how much I can get for 1715 I’m retired lol
Here in Spain it happens the same. Foreigners say everything is cheap, but when you earn 20k/year for blue-collar jobs and 30k/year for white-collar ones... life is tough!
I'm an IT Systems & Networks Technician and my biggest salary ever was €29k, so guess... in USA the same position is paid $85k+
Yeah, that's the exchange rate for you. Last time I was there, £1 was close to ¥200 and it's almost there again now. Might be time to take a trip and put some more foreign currency into Japan :)
Rental is expensive in Tokyo.
It’s a recent phenom actually. People were complaining about deflation and the appreciation of yen for the past three decades. Then suddenly we got both of those reversed. Still, necessities are generally affordable compared to other G7 nations, but naturally you rarely find anybody thinking in USD terms.
Extremely informative video 📷
Please do more of those similar topics
One of the rarest videos you`ll find these days. It reveals why many gullible families and young people move to teach English in Japan and realise rather late that they`ll end up poorer than in their own countries because cost of living is high, taxes are high and pension payouts are too low to survive retirement. So many have to work late into their 60s. They cannot afford to retire.
Interesting. And I was imagining they would average around 5000USD per month at the lowest end of jobs (as depicted by animes, comics, and such).
really eye opening stuff as usual
great video topic, would love to see this topic extend to other countries as well. Korea, Thailand, China, etc.
Below USD 2k is painful in Japan especially Tokyo. Been to Tokyo last year and even the prices there not as expensive as western europe or Australia. But 2k salary......
I'm a non-white woman from Russia's Far East. I have a degree in Japanese studies. I can speak Japanese. I thought about moving to Japan to work and live there for the rest of my life. I've actually lived there for 3 years when I was around 25 but then I decided to go back to Russia. now I'm struggling here because I'm against the war and nobody here can't live safely. this interview makes me feel like I shouldn't go to Japan. most of my friends live in Canada, US, New Zealand and Thailand now. what should I do? in terms of wages I think I should do my best to move to US. but then I think that unlike my friends I know Japanese very well and I could work there so maybe I should try moving back to Japan? but the economic situation there really makes me worry and I know that Japanese people don't like foreigners in their country and I accept that. I don't know. I'm so lost. I'd love to live in Russia but I'm against the war and I know people like me will be treated worse and worse from now on...
I think it's best to work in America and come to Japan for sightseeing.
You say you're against the war, but if uncle Vladimir doesn't arrest you then you should be fine right? I'm sorry if that came across as naive. I wanna know more about what Russians are going through right now, what's the average pay and cost of living for example? And.... are most people okay with what's going on in Ukraine? Thanks in advance for the insight!
the end went straight to my heart, crying rn
very insightful, thanks a lot
exyakuza dude was badass
The problem with Japan is that even though the wages are so low and it is difficult to live, there are few Japanese people who go abroad unlike other Asian countries such as Korea, China, Vietnam and India. If more and more Japanese people go abroad, countries and companies will have a sense of crisis, and they will have to raise wages due to lack of manpower.
Japanese used to love to travel abroad. But not so much anymore.
This was a really informative vid - thanks Asian boss
I'm only 3 min into this video and is the wildest by far, how many interesting people in one interview!
Mainly because of depreciation of the JPY
I’m shocked at how little some of these Japanese people are surviving on living in Tokyo
Japan isn't poor, it just isn't rich anymore. Japan needs to innovate like it used to and create new products that people want around the world. Take risks and grow
Things that Japanese people don’t do , specially with the culture of having always old people on top… nothing changes.
Isn't rich? 4th biggest economy. Japan is still a rich country.
This is what pisses me off to a grand extent.
Japan used to be the brains behind innovation.
Japanese companies would vie for the most effective, most efficient, simplest, strongest, absolute best goods and services that made absolute sense.
The directors of these companies demanded innovation themselves.
Unfortunately, those directors were eventually replaced by successors who were some of the dumbest, densest, most absolutely inept idiots known to man - and don't think that I'm being offensive for the sake of being offensive, because it's a view that has gained tremendous weight as time has passed by.
The original directors wanted innovation. They wanted light bulbs to be turned on in people's brains.
Their successors (not limited to just the one next successor in each case, but passing through many successors) started to look more towards the American über-capitalist system.
They didn't want innovation.
They didn't want more nuances.
They didn't want a shake-up in their businesses.
They wanted to ride this one wave of one way to profit off one product (or one line of products), forever and ever and ever and ever into eternity.
'Eternal income'. Like a gold mine that never depletes.
That meant that innovation doesn't matter anymore.
If I'm not mistaken, someone in the highest echolons of Sony (possibly the director) wanted Sony to devise and manufacture products that people ten years into the future would want. That was the philosophy that drove Sony through much of the latter half of the 20th Century. That's why Sony came up with the Trinitron, the Walkman, the Discman, the PlayStation, a whole range of home entertainment goods that people remember with immense fondness.
Unfortunately, today's Sony, much like the rest of the big companies in business (not just in electrical and electronic goods), is barely a shadow of itself.
'We don't want to think about the future. We want profits now, and we'll get that with products that are far too safe to fail with the common layperson.'
(Or so I imagine these idiots are thinking).
The passion for innovation is stifled far too much.
The passion for taking risks and making mistakes and either falling out of the competition or having to fall back on what is making money, is waning, if not already about to be extinguished.
I hate the way global society has gone in the 21st Century. This may yet serve to be humanity's second Dark Ages.
@@chaoticheaven17 Japan is 3rd isn't it?
@@kingearth3672 Germany recently surpassed Japan's economy.
That was wonderful episod.
The salary standard in Japan is very low compared to the one in the US. A dishwasher's wage in Massachusetts is $15 per hour
Dishies are the backbone of the restaurant industry, much respect!
Which explains why tens of thousands of foreign nationals are clamoring to cross the border into the USA daily. Simply getting paid in USD for one’s labor is a life altering event for them. The treacherous journey to simply step foot into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, or California is worth the simple reward of getting paid in USD, regardless of the job.
@@loganflatt Yes, the currency value difference is huge. A Southeast Asian could work as a dishwasher in Massachusetts for three years and buy a decent house in his or her country without having to take any loan
A dishwasher making 15 an hour in one of the most expensive states in the country. How much are rents in Boston?
@@cboy0394 Many restaurants in the state provide housing and transportation for their workers
Japan's economy used be so good in the 80s and 90s. I'm from Singapore and in the past we all think they are very wealthy. Now we think they dress well but they're actually quite poor. I'm in my early 30s and making about $8k/mth which seems to be almost 3x more than an equivalent profile in Japan. The Japanese have allowed their employers to shaft them for too long. In a country where loyalty is culturally entrenched, companies have been able to get away with underpaying workers for the longest time as they don't have to compete for talent. In return, this also causes their companies to become less competitive on the global market allowing competitors to surpass them.
💯💯💯
aero, part of your analysis is correct. The other aspect is that Japanese workers don't quickly adopt new ways of doing things, so their productivity is very poor. Everything is done by the manual.
How much rent do you have to pay though? what porpotion of your salary does it take up? Isn’t Singaporean housing really expensive?
The issue here is the yen has depreciated against the dollar so much so it sounds even worse than it actually is. Though none of the people they have spoken to here are well off, that’s for sure.
yeah, a 2000ish usd wage here can get you by and give some savings. it really just depends on how much rent you're paying. as long as rent is only 25% or less of one's income here, you'll have enough to go out every week and even travel. Japan is very affordable compared to other 1st world countries.
14:00. Nailed it!!!
The reason that the average income sounds to high to the people in this video is that using the average is a terrible metric for an income distribution. An average can be heavily skewed when there are a few outliers with extreme values such as the extremely wealthy class.
That's why when you ask such questions it's more useful to talk about the median income.
Correct 100%
The median salary in Japan, for 2024 is 471,000 JPY (3,470 USD) per month
Median income in Tokyo alone is 574K (4,229 USD). So its even higher than the average income.
Median income is not a useful metric either when using as a comparison either (since this graph would have an extremely high skew).
Its actually better to use a 95% distribution average (i.e. the average income that the middle 95% of the population). If you need a hard number instead of a range of numbers.
I pay £1250 per months in London flat. My friend in Saitama spend £150 per month in a tiny block of flat with a loft.
With current conversion rates I pay the equivalent of £321 per month for a 3 bedroom flat with a garden, In a quiet neighborhood next to a forest in Yokohama.
In Australia I paid the equivalent of £932 per month for a 1 bedroom apartment, no garden, on a busy and loud main road. High crime area next to freight train tracks.
They are richer than the average household in US. Most of them do not have loans. Live in the family home, etc. Even if they have home loans, it's well within their means because the financial system protects them from going overboard. They also have lots of savings to top it off.
Helps that rent is so cheap in most of Japan. Groceries are quite cheap too if you’re buying domestic products.
Big cities are poverty traps. The bottom of the food chain is agriculture and natural resources.
As more people pack into big cities, you have more people competing for the same sized economic pie. If you want to have a chance to make it in life, then you have to move to an economy that has less competitors, more natural resources, and a favorable demographic.
The ideal place is an up and coming growing country-side town; ideally when a new economic opportunity presents itself, such as a mine, oil, tourism, retirement village, etc etc...
Look at income to rent ratios.... higher than better!
It's very surprising too hear the low wages with all the branded stuff all the people wear ok the street 🤔
The shocking thing about this story is that the salaries quoted seem not much more to what was the standard when I was looking for work in Tokyo in 1989!
It's pretty impressive how honest everyone is with their thoughts!
Japan and US had almost the same GDP per capita in 2011.. And today in 2023 Japan is half of US in GDP per capita and has seen a absolute fall of 30% in per capita income. In yen they might be earning more but real GDP per capita has decreased. They need to work fast on this problem
Very true!
that proves that EDUCATION is JUST A BUSINESS!!!
I lived in Japan 26 years ago. When I traveled to US, I felt everything was so cheap. Last month I travel to Japan and surprised how cheap Japan is now. The yen to dollar ratio changed from 70:1 to 150 to 1. If we use the old rate, everyone in the video will have doubled income and that will be even to the us income.
jpy/usd highest rate ever was 79. That was right after the Great Hanshin earthquake in 1995. It hung around 110 for a long time, but 2 years ago start dropping.
Japan is a fire sale now for foreigners.
The opinion of the elders are always the most fascinating to me.
That's so hell low😳. So great and raw interview from normal people
I've lived in several countries including Japan. average rent is around 50% of average take-home income in all of them. The problem isn't actually the rent, but a rapidly escalating epidemic of singledom. It's rife in America, UK, Japan, but rapidly rising in Latin America, China, Cambodia, Vietnam. Couple up, cool the market, save on rent, put the savings toward a deposit for your own place. It's a global social disaster - and nobody seems to have any idea what to do about it.
I'm always wondering if these amounts are before or after taxes
A lot of Japanese live with their parents and their income they can do what they want. Japanese also get a bonus twice a year, that helps a lot. Many don't pay for transportation costs to and from work, so that helps. Many don't need or buy a car like in the states. Many Japanese get help from parents or grandparents for thier college expenses.
This was a very interesting video. Thank you.
I ask many Japanese similar questions. Recently they say they can't travel overseas like they use to, and are basically just getting enough to live. Salaries have been flat for over 30 years now. One person I know graduated from university 2 years ago and joined a large comopany in Tokyo making a whopping 22,000usd/year. One other Japanese I know is going to become a registered nurse in 2 years. When I showed her the median salaries in America were 3 times what they are in Japan, she was in shock.
But the cost of living in the US is very high, rent food and everything.
@@mamig3216 it really depends where you are. Americans in general live a very large life, wanting lots of space and toys. Japanese are typically much, much, less consumed with that.
Prices is increasing meanwhile wages is stagnant and i feel bad now for buying taylor swift ticket concert when my wages is in average 👁💧👄💧👁
Well, that was a lovely slice of day to day Tokyo de. So candid and well-informed, globally too. Loved the blonde gentleman’s vibe. And what a perfect child.
Bravo, Boss.
😙
I think everything sounds low cos the yen lost a third of its value against the dollar. I was shocked to hear them say that 10,000,000yen being converted at 68,000USD as it was really much closer to 100,000USD until recently.
I’ve been living in Tokyo for ages now, but comparing my wages to these others here I feel I’m not that bad.
Great review. I bought the pi 4 with keyboard called pi 400. It was fun, but to browse the web, much slower than my $150 Chromebook
Yes the wage is low in Japan but we also have to take in account that the cost of living in Japan is lower than many big cities in the U.S. Also, the yen is weak now so…
Someone making 400,000 yen a month would be above average for sure (assuming they’re in their 20’s to mid 30’s). Also, for most companies, they pay bonuses 2-4x a year which I’m sure is not included in the video.
For reference, my Japanese ex earned only 200,000 yen a month for his first year but he received 6 months of bonuses in his first year. For someone who just graduated from college, what he made was above average for a normal office worker
That guy is surely doing yakuza or mafia style in real life 1:40 😮😅
the knife guy?
Idiots lolol kids are too easy
🤡🤡😂😂😭🤡😂🤡🤡
With the exchange rate right now its hard for people to travel outside of Japan, but other than that things aren't that crazy. Just keep in mind that Japan is not experiencing the kind of inflation the U.S. is. A pretty good quality of life is possible here on a much lower salary comparative to the U.S. or European countries.
I’m currently on holiday in Tokyo. If you think it’s gonna be cheap: you’re wrong.
I heard prices outside of Tokyo are lower, I’ve yet to see that
Yes, in South Korea, Japan, and China, as long as you have money, you can live very well. There are many people competing to serve you, but in Europe, this is not the case. Even if you are wealthy, you cannot enjoy services like in East Asian countries
After COVID, my brother's company let him telework full time so he has been living in Japan for 3 years with his girlfriend while enjoying the California salary of $175k/year. I visited him 3 weeks ago and they were living like kings! I was so fricking jealous lol
Best of both worlds!
Let me guess, he's a software engineer right? I'm so jealous of the US salaries, us Europeans struggling over here
@@strawberrysoup202 Operations engineer for some biotech.
I make about 2200$ a month in Osaka and on that salary i have 1200$ to save or do as i wish depends on the city and job and where you decide to live in the city living in main Tokyo is expensive move to Saitama you can get an apartment for 600$ a month same in Osaka live outside the city higashiosaka, sakai, 20 min by train to "downtown " you are good with that money you bring in
The wages look lower because of the exchange rate. Multiply it by 1.2~1.4 times and you will get a more accurate value.
Inflation hasn't really hit Japan compared to other countries, so it's possible to live with a low wage and still be well off.
Sleeping at Internet cafes doesn't sound that bad if you're a young gamer, tbh. If it's anything like the SK PC Bangs, you could probably live a lot more comfortably doing that than being on the streets.
Short-term savings accounts are the biggest trap that people fall prey to. The interest yielded over time won't even be able to cover the loss caused by inflation. You want to have enough liquid capital to pay for your daily expenses, but you also need to have long-term investments in your financial portfolio to grow your savings.
You are missing the whole point of why people have to live in internet cafes.
the problem of sleeping at those cafes is not having an address, which excludes them from a lot of social welfare as well as being a problem when wanting to apply to jobs.
A person must save before they have capital to invest. The key to saving is living below your means. Then use your savings to invest in assets that generate multiple incomes for you without you having to work for those incomes. The assets you bought with your savings generated the incomes for you.
@@loganflatt baiklah noks
@@loganflatt That's the issue. Most of these people are part time workers or day laborers. They only make enough to pay for internet cafes. They can't find normal work because they have no fixed residence. To get a place to stay, you need to pay at least 3 months rent plus key money, so it's almost impossible to break out of this cycle.
Used to live in Tokyo for a month. The old guy is kinda correct ¥100,000 is needed atleast to live in Tokyo
Good interview
16:10 wise man, well said.
Nice video, but I’d like to point out some context
The exchange rate used to convert YEN to USD was about 147 Yen == 1 Dollar, or 1 Yen is equal to 0.0068 Dollars
This is worth nothing because it has only spiked to this level since the beginning of 2022. The last time it reached this level was 1998. The average exchange rate from 2000-2022 was more to the tune of 110 Yen per 1 Dollar.
The exchange rate makes their salaries look worse than they actually are. Moreover, purchasing power parity (PPP) is a better indicator of quality of life than just a gross number in relation to USD. Even then, it lacks some nuance
Japanese PPP per capita has been steadily growing for the last 3 decades (albeit a bit slower than peer nations. This is where nuance is lost)
While there are glaring issues with the Japanese economy, simply converting it to USD without context is misleading to an audience that is predominantly western
Yup. If it was 1 = 100 yen, their salaries don’t seem as bad honestly. I live in Osaka and am from NYC. If I make 300,000 yen here, I would consider myself making 4000 usd because the cost of living is much cheaper here. Taxes too.
Normal lunch in NYC now would be 15-20 USD where as it would be like 500-1000 yen here
yeah, i have lived in 3 countries and price per parity is the fairest way to understand how well people living.
unfortunately, idiots just raw converted the salary 😂
PPP is a joke.
How many PPPs does it take to buy an ounce of gold?
@@earlysda And how many people buy an ounce of gold as a part of their daily routine?
If that is the insight you can give into PPP, maybe it is better to not say anything at all
@@tsuivotsuivo, well, you have, perhaps unwittingly, just shown that PPP cannot purchase anything at all. So my initial observation that PPP is a joke is verified.
.
Hopefully you will learn about economics and start questioning so-called "scholars" who come up with odd ideas like PPP soon!
These people are so humble and doing honest work! In america you have people making literally 5-10k as a waitress from pay and tips or making 100k+ and still complains about their job and life. The goal to is fine something you're passionate about and not just work for the money.
If you live in spacious house or condo in Tokyo and make some savings and investing, having a car etc,
I think you need ¥600,000 monthly.
I suppose many have felt how low the wages are. But we need to bare in mind that the Yen is at a 30 year low against the Dollar at this moment, losing half of its value from 2011. This is mainly due to the interest rate hike in the US versus BoJ interest rate being kept in negative territory. Adding around 50% feels like a better comparison to me.
And they can't raise interest rates for any reason even if it is to save their currency strength because it will literally unravel the entire country.
@@kageyamareijikun They can’t AND they don’t need to, at least for the time being. Being an export driven economy, it was always the government’s intention to bring down the value of yen for the last two decades or so.
Japanese people say that our salaries are low, but the infrastructure is good and the food is cheap and delicious, so we are satisfied with that and don't think about making more money.
Everything is considerably cheaper than in most western countries so their purchase power is actually higher in my opinion...for instance in my country we make even less and things are still much more expensive than in Japan
Homeless people are very rare in Japan, and most people are in the middle class and enjoy good living standards... if you travel around a few western countries, and especially big cities, you will notice a striking difference😅
I talked with many young people (in their 20s) that said they lived alone and were able to save around 40% of their salary every month...in my country, this is completely unheard of
What's your country by the way?
Homelessness is rare when there is an abundance of akiya (vacant houses).
Try finding anything in "walk in" condition in a pleasant rural area within easy commuting range of the big cities for *under* US$20,000 in the USA, Australia, UK, etc. Not a problem in Japan...
@@duartesilva7907 Italy
@@dw620 The question is how Japan can create such environment but you cant. You can always find the excuse of why other Country is thriving but you can't find solution for your own country? Pretty ironic and petty in my opinion!
@@slothypunk Managed population decline is not a chosen solution in most countries.
That random TITLE in the middle at 14:09 lol
Boss interviews as always! Super interesting, people from Hong Kong just love travelling to Japan now. Many people in HK make after tax salaries the JP today could only dream about, oh how the world changed since Japan dominated the world in the 1980s.