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Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

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Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

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Japan offers insane value right now for anyone who wants to spend some months abroad.

Why is that? What’s been happening on the ground?

Japan has always been a value. I don't understand why folks think it is expensive. Food is cheap, accommodations aren't expensive, transportation is affordable. The most expensive thing is airfare from the USA.

I believe that they never fully recovered after Covid and tourism never bounced back. The YEN has also taken a beating so you can get more for your USD.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#6
post #4
post #3

Japan offers insane value right now for anyone who wants to spend some months abroad.

Why is that? What’s been happening on the ground?

1 USD = 156 JPY

For years it has been 1 USD = 110 JPY.

Japan is also overrun by tourists right now.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#8
This anecdotally back ups what I was seeing when I visited the US.

Groceries and food (in general) was surprisingly more expensive in New Hampshire and Vermont than Calgary where I live (which is not a low COL area in Canada). I cannot understand how American fruit costs more in the US than they did back home (when including the exchange rate). I was not visiting a premium grocery store (it was a Price Chopper near a Tesla Charger near a small town in NH.)

This generally surprised me because the Canadian "online left" is organizing protests about the cost of food, while I don't see anything similar in the US.

Re: Cost of Living Index by Country 2024 – Numbeo

#10
post #5
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why is that? What’s been happening on the ground?

Japan has always been a value. I don't understand why folks think it is expensive. Food is cheap, accommodations aren't expensive, transportation is affordable. The most expensive thing is airfare from the USA. I believe that they never fully recovered after Covid and tourism never bounced back. The YEN has also taken a beating so you can get more for your USD.

Japan was seen as expensive when I first moved there; my rent there was certainly higher than it would have been in Canada at the time (Circa 2008).

Also, it's hard to directly compare stuff on shelves to what we have here. For example, Japanese peaches are much more expensive than Ontario peaches - but they are also incomparably better. However, if you only look at the price on the label, you would be rightfully shocked at the price difference.

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