Is this a good job offer?

Hi,

I am currently living in Germany, but I will move next year to Tokyo to work for our Japan branch on my own wish. My Japanese is bad at the moment, but I want to improve it there and also my employer don't see a big problem, because all my co-workers there can speak English.

I am 26 years old and a graduate engineer in telecommunication engineering with 2 years of work experience.
Now my employer there has made me an offer:

I will get 500000 Yen per month and twice a year a bonus of 800000 Yen. They will also pay for an agent to get a visa, half of the apartment rent (up to 250000 Yen), for a real estate agent and also for other things like key money.
I will get a 40 hours contract like in Germany and have 24 days vacation (I think this is good for Japan) plus the national holidays holidays.
They are also willing to 2 trips to the USA a year, because I need it for my work field.
They will also pay for one home-leave trip per year.

On first sight I think it is a good offer, but because of my little knowledge about the costs there I am not 100% sure. So perhaps someone can give me his opinion.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. That is a pretty good monthly salary, and the fact they will pay half your rent is really good. The only thing I would look into is health insurance and what they offer, whether you will be placed in the local system or be covered by a German company.
There also may be overtime on top of your 40 hours. This could range from very little to 2 to 3 hours a night. But that really depends on the company.

In all, seems like a very good deal (one that I would like myself!).

I forgot to mention, that the 500000 Yen are gross, so about 20-30% taxes will be lost.
Yes, I know about long hours, but my employer ensured me, that he is always trying to keep this at a minimum.

I also realised, that I made a mistake in my first post, I get a bonus of 400000Yen twice a year, so a total bonus of 800000Yen a year.
I am also wondering if this is a good salary for someone with my education and experience, this is a first offer, so nothing is really settled.

I still think it is a very good offer even if the bonus is 400 000 yen twice a year. I am not familiar at all with the IT industry here, but for someone your age it seems pretty good. Someone else here might be able to give you more info, or try maybe the Japan Today forums.

I am a 26 Year old Computer Engnr.

I get around 450,000 pm (after tax deduction) and my Health Insurance is reimbursed.

NOTE: National Health Insurance will not cost you much (Esp in the first year).
If your are not going to lose much in tax, then your salary is a good one.

That seems like a good package for someone with 2 years experience in your field. I doubt you will pay 20-30% in taxes in your first year here to the Japanese government at least, do you have obligations to pay German taxes that will make them this high? I would expect more like 15%.

Also 250,000 by itself would get you a pretty nice apartment even in the more central areas of Tokyo, so that is a very nice addition to your package.

I aksed again and the 25% would already include health insurance, pension or other taxes.
So I think I can be happy with the conditions.
Yes, I also think that the apartment condition will give me the opportunity to get a nice apartment that will be closer to my work place.
Also that one trip back to Germany in a year will be paid is also a very nice addition to the package. So I think I will agree to this offer.

I think it's a pretty good deal for someone your age and the kind of working hours. What kind of pay are you getting currently in Germany? Cost of living in Tokyo will be higher but most of it is rent, so if your company is paying for part of it it shouldn't be too bad.

I am getting 3000€ gross at the moment, but about 40% of that will be lost due to taxes for example.
So it will be a better incoming there, on the other side, yes the apartments are expansive, I am planning on getting something for about 250000 total (I will have to pay the half of it). Of course that means that less money will be available for other things, but I want to get something more in the central areas, so that I don't have to travel too far.
How much money do I have to calculate for food and other things? I am alone and normally I will try too cook often and therefore save some money.
Do you think, that it is possible to survive if I will be paying 125000 Yen per month for the apartment?
According to my calculations, I will be able to save some money, but I am not 100% sure because of the costs for food and other daily expenses.

you are spending too much money on an apartment. you are going to be paying over 50% of your income just for your apartment - that's a nono.

if you want to live in central tokyo you need to get used to living in smaller apartments. you can get a fairly modern 1bedroom apartment with a small kitchen for 7man (70,000yen) plus utilities. you can get an older style apartment for the same price and it will be larger, possibly even 2 bedrooms, somewhere like ikebukuro.

avoid roppongi at all costs, not only is it a dirty crime filled place the apartments there have the rent prices all jacked up through the roof.

you may also consider somewhere along the keihin tohoku line, apartments tend to be fairly cheap but the commute is not long on either the yamanote or keihin tohoku. the commute is always very busy though.

Because I only have to pay the half for the apartment, it won't be over 50%.
But thanks for the tip, of course it would be nice to pay less. I am not very demanding when it comes to an apartment, as long as it has an air-conditioner and internet, but I think that's standard in Japan.
My work place will be in Shibuya-ku by the way.
I am also wondering, what would be the best option, when it comes to tickets. Are there special train passes, where you can use special lines as often as you want? I think that such a ticket would be cheaper, than to buy and pay every day a ticket, although tickets didn't seem to be very expansive when I was on vacation in Tokyo.

i just double checked the figures and at the current exchange rate, if you're making 3000eur per month, and you lose 40% of your income to taxes and insurance, and you pay 125,000yen per month for your apartment you're paying more than 50% of your income for your apartment. not worth it to do.

depending where you work in shibuya, you will probably want to get an apartment near the yamanote line, or maybe the hanzomon subway line. the stations on the hanzomon line tend to have cheaper apartments than those around the yamanote. you will need to decide how long of a commute you can tolerate. i live between ueno and ikebukuro and i used to have to travel to shibuya every day, the trip took about 25 minutes. not that bad but being squished into the yamanote that long during rush hour starts to suck. it's a choice you'll have to make on your own.

as for train passes, everyone here uses SUICA (Super Urban Intelligent CArd) for JR trains. there are also other cards such as pasmo but suica is the most common one. There is no discount for buying a suica vs buying a ticket. it's just that with suica the minimum amount you can "load" the card with at a time is 1000yen, whereas you can buy a ticket for as little as 130yen if you're making a short 1 way trip. the suica is really the best way though. when you watched people slide their wallets over the gates at the stations, that's suica.

winterwolf、where are you getting the figure of 40% for taxes and insurance from? Can you break it down for us? It seems rather high, especially for someone on their first year in Japan who won't be paying resident's tax etc. yet.

i used the figures he gave in the post above my first post, but it looks like those figures are what he's making in europe and not what he will be making when he gets to japan. so i'm correcting my advice below..

at 500,000yen a month 125,000 for an apartment is OK, but still cutting it a little close. you'll be spending a little over 30% of your after tax (20% tax) income just on housing. just be very careful to consider if those bonuses you mentioned are a sure thing or not (especially with the world economic problems right now). as Sira mentioned the first year of NH insurance is cheap but it skyrockets after the second year if you stay on the national health insurance plan. if you stay on NHI after your first year you can expect the figure I mentioned in my above post to be correct.

i would search for an apartment that costs you under 80,000 yen per month (remember that's actually 160,000 total since your employer is paying half) which will allow you a pretty decent apartment close to shibuya station. it will also allow you to live a good lifestyle in tokyo, eating out when you feel like it, buying things when you like, it will also make getting a credit card easier since the lenders will see that you're not using more income than you should for housing.

just my 2yen!

Thanks for your advice.
But you wrote that prices for the health insurance will exploading after the first year, are there other options, when it comes to health insurance?
Also accordig to my information about the NHI system, you have to pay 30% of costs when you see a doctor, doesn't seem too much, but what if you have an accidentand need to go under surgery and need to be hospitalized, than the costs would be very high.

There are expat insurance options in Japan, but depending on your employer you may end up on shakai hoken (national insurance for fulltime employees) which you may not be able to withdraw from. There is also insurance to cover the 30% not covered by the national programme which you can arrange separately.

winterwolf's suggestion for a price range for an apartment sounds pretty good.

Thanks again for all your answers.
I closed the deal last Tuesday.
I arranged that the company will know pay always 125.000Yen for the apartment, so that I have some more money if I find a cheaper apartment.
I will start in July, well I know its a tough month to start because of the weather, but I can't choose this.

At 25 you are very lucky to get such a job offer in a foreign country!! I don't know where in Germany you live but in any big town in Europe, North America, Japan etc. it makes sense to get a place not too close to downtown in order to have both a bigger and cheaper place and also much less noise. I live in Canada and don't mind my 45 minutes commute (one way) to downtown. By the way you can get Suica transit smartcards loaded with a commuter pass. Read all about Suica etc. in this site (check A-Z at the top, then inside A-Z look at transportations-trains- suica/pasmo)