Is a JPY 1,000,000.00 salary good enough?

Hello everyone, the company I'm working for just offered me a training transfer to japan with a package of JPY 1,000,000.00 salary (before taxes), housing and insurance allowance. Do you see that offer attractive? I'm 28 yo, married with one children (3yo). I don't want to take my family out of their comfort zone.

Thanks!

That's a month? Ultimately 100 yen pretty much equates to a dollar in buying terms, save that food is probably more than what you pay in the US but less than what we pay here in Australia.

Supposing you mean "yearly" and are asking about sustaining yourself with that salary (i.e. not using savings), well, that will be a bit tight. So you may want to forget "comfort".

The biggest expense (housing) is taken care of. How about utilities? But for 3 people, the food budget will be at the very least 50,000. So you will have less than 30,000 for all other expenses.

Of course it depends where you will leave (as you can imagine, life is cheaper in Hokkaido than it is in the center of Tokyo :-)).

Now, there are many more criteria to factor in. Professionally, this opportunity may be a stepping stone for you. Plus, on a personal level, it will be a great experience. Only you can make that judgement.

Good luck!

Per year? You'll have absolutely no comfort. Per month? Only 1/5 of the working force makes more than 500,000.00 monthly, so double that, and you have an idea where you are compared to the rest of the society.

1 million per year is not an unusual stipend for trainees especially if their housing and insurance (likely referring to pension and health) are covered. On the other hand, I don't think that usually takes a family into account. I think Motivist said it best that you'll have to judge the professional and personal opportunity against a relatively low income. And let's not forget when comparing to other jobs that the salary is not your total compensation.

what type of a visa will you have ?
if it is a visa for 技能実習生, you can't come with your family.

Hello everyone, thank you very much for your reply. Let me clarify a few things, salary will be "monthly", I will be living in nagoya. My visa is for specialist and my family will enter japan as "dependants". The only allowance I'm not receiving is for commuting. Once again, thank you for your kind reply!

You're earning 1,000,000 yen per month and nearly everything is paid for?
Either you're here to brag or you have absolutely no concept of money...

You could live pretty well on that. You couldnt go berserker or anything, eg a family trip on the shinkansen might chew into the weekly budget a bit, but you wouldnt go hungry, that's for sure.

That's about $108,000 US.

I think you'll be fine.

Y1M ($10k/month) - pretty reasonable - not super so you will not be affording the best apartments, but you can live pretty comfortably.

Could you tell us what you're working as? And from what I've heard prices in Japan are not higher than Western Europe, therefore I would assume not higher than US either so 108k per month sounds just insane, I don't understand how people here are saying that you wouldn't afford the best there is. That's a million dollar in 10 months... :/ Or is everyone (almost) just being ironic?

No, it is $10K per month, about $108K per annum.

I could live pretty well on $108K per month!

so 108k per month sounds just insane, I don't understand how people here are saying that you wouldn't afford the best there is. That's a million dollar in 10 months... :/ Or is everyone (almost) just being ironic?

It is $108k US per year. OP clarified that their pay is 1 million Yen per month....12M Yen per year.

Do you see that offer attractive? I'm 28 yo, married with one children (3yo). I don't want to take my family out of their comfort zone.

I wonder if anyone knows if it's common to have everything paid for except the commuting fee. I thought it was usually the other way around.

The money is indeed attractive, but I would be more concerned about how risky the job itself may be. If it's a dangerous job or if the OP is forced to be away from his family for too many hours, then you can't really say it's a "comfort zone" for the wife and child.

I mean, even pilots and doctors usually don't earn that much. If the OP is a person who deserves that salary, then I hope he has better places to ask his question then anonymous internet forums.

Hello guys, thank you for all your comments... most of you will be thinking that i'm insane for asking such a question on this forum, but i've never been in japan and in the company I work for, there are many Americans (US) and Australians workers that earn twice that much in the same position... so that's the reason I was worried about... but after all I think it will be enough to live on that salary based on your comments. Thanks again!

Although it is a high amount - there might be some things to take into consideration when it comes to Japanese expat packages.

One thing to note that is it's quite common for businesses to only cover school fees from Grade 5 for some reason. Some people may ask how I know this - well I used to work at an international school near Tokyo and this affected us dramatically. Our elementary numbers were dropping but we were totally full in the high school (because of the school reputation).

I say this because sending a child (or two) is quite expensive which can range between 2-3 million JPY a year per student in the middle/high schools. If you have 2 or 3 kids of school age that you want to send to an international school then this significantly affects your wages. There is also a tax on this for the company involved so they just can't claim it as an expense.

Dear Cj
You have generated so much curiosity about your salary, at least do tell us what is that you do
Are you a stock trader? IT?

Is there any vacancy in your company? ;)

most of you will be thinking that i'm insane for asking such a question on this forum, but i've never been in japan and in the company I work for, there are many Americans (US) and Australians workers that earn twice that much in the same position

I don't think you're insane, but it's natural to assume that people with enough skills to earn that much has connections and friends and sources that they can trust and rely on, perhaps such as Americans and Australians that earn twice as much.

JPY 1M gross or net? I understand that is a 40% difference issue..