Received a Job offer from a Company in Tokyo

Dear all,

I've received an offer from a company in Tokyo. Currently, I'm married having one kid (3 years old) working in a government department section in my country (Middle east).

The salary that I've been offered would be around 5 million per year(after tax). Is it enough to cover the living expenses in Tokyo with my family?

Considering that I'm thinking of having an apartment with at least 1 bedroom and living room in suburbs like Minato or Sentagaya.

I may also register my daughter in an international school and need some family health cover!
I can use public transports as I hate driving!

Also, I came from a department that has a very less working pressure! You know working for a government would be an ease :) It's just a 6 hours a day and 5 days a week! But for a Japanese company for sure will be a way more different! But is it really a hell as what some news are telling us? Too work pressure in Japan , people dying (Karoshi)...etc

Regards,
Firas

Is it really "after" tax? I ask this because companies generally offer by salary "before" tax.

I would be very careful and ask about the details of the pay, including what is included in "taxes," what social security schemes (health insurance and pension) they are going to enrol you in, if there is any housing allowance, and commuting allowance, etc.

Suppose you do get "net" 5 million yen, still I would say you can't quite make it if you want to live in Minato-ku (very central) or Setagaya-ku (not really "suburbs," and another rather expensive area of Tokyo) and send your child to an international school (about 1 million yen a year for tuition only, for example).

Also be sure to check that the company assists you with your family's visa ("dependent" visa, it is called). Note that it can take some time until their visa is granted (after you obtain your work visa).

About work hours, there is no such thing as 6-hour work day in Japan. It would be 7 hours usually (9 to 5 with 1 hour lunch break), but people do a lot of overtime, but this depends on the industry/type of work. And check what the pay consists of - some companies give you salary figures including assumed number of overtime work hours, like 30, or 40 hours. This means you don't get paid extra overtime pay UNLESS your overtime hours exceed that number (30 or 40).

I`d be thinking of your career – what does this job do for it? What is likely to follow?

5m yen, even after all taxes and deductions can be survived on, if you can live very cheaply, but isn`t a high salary. In an international company, I paid my secretaries more than that (having adding 30% for the taxes and additional deductions/company expenses.) I`d ask for a pro-forma salary statement showing monthly deductions.

If you are mid-career, as I assume you are since you are married with a 3yo, closer to 8m might be appropriate, but even at that you would probably still need to commute an hour or so each way to keep rent within budget.

As for work hours, think about departing for work at 7am and returning home at 10pm – sometimes later, sometimes sooner.

I disagree with the above poster in that you have to live "very cheaply". Your salary is fine and I would say on par with the living conditions of locals. The difference is that you want to send your child to international school and this is a considerable expense that is not commonly budgeted in many households. So if you prefer to save more and not be always so tight, maybe you'd need to sacrifice living in Setagaya and choose a place like Nakano, for example. Not bad at all, just not fancy. Then you should be able to afford a very decent lifestyle.

Do you know that a net 8 million (which means a gross 11 million) salary is something that only a handful of japanese achieve? And if they do it, is usually in the last phase of their careers. So I guess the living standards of the above poster must be very high.

Average income (before tax) of Tokyo residents are 6 million, for 2 family member.
Considering you pay international school tuition and trip expense to your home country, 500 million can't be enough.

I agree with Burrito - and had meant a gross of 8m. A net of 5m should be OK - but I really doubt they are offering that - but rather a gross of 5m. As for a gross of over 10m, international firms offer that and more even for mid-level employees with supervisory roles (team leaders, sction heads, etc.), but not so much in local firms.