To give a sense of just what life costs in various cities, Mercer priced out the cost of a two-bedroom unfurnished apartment, a cup of coffee served, a fast food meal and an international paper. In Moscow, the apartment will run you $3,000, the coffee $5.27, the paper $3.40, and the burger with fries $3.87
$3000 (JPY348,000) will get you one hell of a tiny "2 bedroom" in my neighborhood! I doubt they are considering: square footage including storage, cost of utilities (free heating in many NY buildings), and that unfurnished in Japan = ZERO appliances (no refrigerator, stove, oven, washer/dryer, air conditioners, etc.)
$3.87 = JPY452. I challenge you to find a meal for less than 500 yen, unless you want to be eating cup noodle all the time.
Sure, I think the FX rate is doing most of the damage, but still, I'm not convinced, as much as I would love Japan to get cheaper. Besides, I get paid in yen and want to buy dollars for saving, so the FX rate keeps moving against me!
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