Lower cost of living.

As far as I know, Tokyo is the most expensive city in the world followed by Osaka. My question is if what place in Japan has/have a cost of living sifnificantly lower than tokyo and osaka but is not to far to the two cities mentioned?

Recent articles I have read place many places in the world above Tokyo and Osaka. However any city can be as expensive or cheap as you want to make it.

Which is a cheaper city to Tokyo/Osaka? ANY city which is not Tokyo/Osaka! Which is close? ALL of Japan is close (transport wise) to the rest of Japan.

Saitama (to pull a random area out of the air) is close to Tokyo, but is not Tokyo - and on that grounds is cheaper than Tokyo.

What really are you asking?

Those lists are based on criteria which don't really reflect everyday life for the majority of people in those cities. They are based on expats trying to reproduce their life in their home country in Japan, which is obviously going to be a lot more expensive than living like the locals do. The prices given for food and housing for example are way above the average for Tokyo and Osaka.

Accommodation in Tokyo is going to be more expensive than the same-sized apartment in a smaller city, but that is about it- unless you want to go drinking often at central Tokyo bars, the costs of practically everything else is the same no matter where you are in Japan.

If you live in the suburbs accommodation does not have to be that expensive at all- you will just have less space than you would in a rural area.

The advantages are that there are a lot more jobs and leisure activities in Tokyo and Osaka than elsewhere.

This was discussed at length in a recent thread if I remember rightly- try a search through recent threads

In terms of daily expenses on food, travel, plus the monthly rental for home. which have a low cost of living in terms of basic neccessities. We will probably move in Japan before the year ends. please help. Thanks.

Ok, food and travel are going to be similar prices all over Japan. Accomodation can vary widely, and is obviously more expensive in the larger cities. But then again, as I've said before somewhere, my apartment here is more expensive than the one across the road - which in turn is more expensive than 2 mins walk from here - all relative.

Transport can cost $$$$ (or YYYY as the case may be) - so you need to consider both the time and cost once you figure out where you are working/studying.

No point spending 5 hours on a train at a cost of Y9999999999999999 in order to save one yen rent - you know what I mean.

Same as any other country - the further out you get the cheaper it becomes, but where "cheap" become "inconvenient" is arbitary and up to you.

Arigato gozaqimasu. those informations you've given me are very useful. It will surely help me a lot. Thanks again.

I moved to Shibuya one mont ago and was actually very surprised, becuase I always heard how expansive it would be.
Okay I admit apartments can be really expansive if you want to move directly into the city (I pay 200.000Yen a month for 58 square meter for an apartment that is abotu 15min footwalk from Shibuya station),
But other than the apartment I think it's very cheap here, electricity, water and gas costs seems rather low and I really don't pay much attention how much I use it, I put on the airconditioner everytime I am in my apartment for ex and food and beverages cost about the same as in Germany. If you want to eat something to lunch in shibuya, in most places you can get something good for about 1000Yen, I think that you can't really have good food outside for this price in Germany, as long as it is not fast food.
Of cource you can alos go to expansive places, but you can live expansive everywhere on the world.
And I think the public transportation is also very cheap compard to other countries.
So, after a month living here, I really don't know, what people mean if they say Tokyo is expensive.

Arigato Ichimaru san. anata wa niponjin des ka. anata wa gakusei des ka.
How about the foods like katsudon. tonkatsu ad tempura? I like those food. Isn't it hard to adjust living in Japan?

I am on a working visa here, so I have to work, otherwise I think it would be really hard to pay for my apartment. ^^
I was always interested in Japan and really wanted to live here, perhaps that is the reason, why I don't have had any problems with adjusting to living here, the biggest problem is the language at the moment, I understood what you wrote, but that are only the basics.^^
Don't ask me how it was to just buy the easiest things like salt, it was a real adventure. ^^
At the moment, I can only write emails from the company, since I applied for Internet last week. So hopefully I can get it soon.
So then I can look for classes or language exchange partners.
About the food I really love it, tonkatsu isn't so different from our ''Wiener Schnitzel'' in Germany and Tempura is really great, too. But I also really like sushi or sashimi.
So at the moment I still think coming here was the best decision in my life, because I really love every second here, although I have to work during the day, but luckily, I only work about 40hours the week and not so much like many Japanese do.

So you are a German Ichimaru? Ahm I'm a Filipino with a Japanese blood. Hopefully, I, my mother and some of our relative will move to Japan, if not for good, I'm sure it will be for a long time, by the end of this year. I hope to see you in Japan Ichimaru. Thanks a lot for the info. can I have your e-mail ad so I can contact you through that. Arigato

In my opinion Japan is the cheapest place to live.
Income tax is cheap,
Sales tax is cheap,
Public transportation is the best in the world.

Here's what I did:
I bought property with a old house in the country side that was so cheap, it's amazing how cheap property is in Japan.
I pay no rent,
I pay no property tax,
I just teach english a few hours a day and live great.
You can live in Japan with out it costing an arm and a leg.

Hello Lester,

I would like to give you my email ad, but I don't want to write it here.

Hi Ichimaru, do you have a friendster? maybe I will contact you again, here or other way, when I'm already in Japan. Thanks and God bless.