5M JPY salary enough for 2 in Tokyo?

Hi everyone!

I have a job offer:

- 5M JPY per year
- 100% transportation allowance
- 100% lunch allowance

Do you think this salary is enough to live in Tokyo for 2? The net salary (after tax/pension/health insurance) is about 330,000 JPY monthly.

I don't mind living about 45 minutes from the center of Tokyo (my workplace is located near Shinjuku).

We don't have a fancy lifestyle: we cook most of our meals (90%), we enjoy a good night watching TV and walk around the city.

To compare (even if I know it is bad to compare) we are living with 2500$ CAD monthly in Canada right now.

I think you can, especially if transportation is covered. Your biggest expense is going to be rent. I would look for a place to stay someplace west of Shinjuku on the JR Chuo Line maybe starting in Okikubo and heading out toward Mitaka. This would give you a straight shot into Shinjuku w/o transfers. The farther out you go and the farther from a train station you go the cheaper the rent. If your employer is decent, they can help with rental and sometimes even get all the 1st month/last month/key money reduced or even waived. This was a while ago, but when I was a university student in Tokyo I survived on Y80,000 per month and that was for the teikiken (commuter pass) and all meals and rent. I lost weight but I got through school.

I'd say quite easily - Japan is not as expensive as people think. Obviously rent is the big ticket item, but I would have thought that two people could easily live your lifestyle on Y220,000 for basics (rent, utilities, food, mobile phone, internet), leaving you a good Y100,000 for leisure, etc...
BTW, Shinjuku is also directly accessible from Saitama in the north by express train...Urawa, where I am, for example, is less than 30 minutes away...