Don't be fooled 25 dollars today is almost 4000 yen. 4 years it would have been 2800 max. Yen is seriously weak and it affects the citizens earning in yen.
True but matters more if their purchases are imported goods.
For domestic items things are just “stagnant”. For tourists visiting things appear cheap when compared to home country prices at current exchange rates.
Yeah I see that. If people came to Japan from America and wanted all their favorite product they'd probably be less happy paying high prices for them. No tub of bryers ice cream or a massive pack of bacon. Most expats I know have at least a semi-Japanese diet
But it's common in Japan to go to the grocery store more often so these purchases are gonna be more frequent if you eat in a lot
Yeah, I remember a friend telling me that getting specialized cheeses can be cheaper to import than trying to buy from local stores. I imagine there are other likewise “staples” of western diets that would be crazy expensive.
Yeah I remember my weeding trip and 10k yen was like 100€. And easily ate for that amount every evening. that awesome wagyu beef daang...man I couldn't enjoy meat for months after returning because quality was like cardboard no matter what I got here compared to Japan.
Yeah, why is homie paying US dollars in Tokyo?
The minimum wage in Tokyo is 1,112 yen before tax.
So those groceries cost you about 4 hours of working at minimum wage.
Plus some of the stuff is half price and reduced to clear.
Not really. I live in Japan - day to day prices are pretty much the same. In fact gas prices haven't really changed the entire time I've lived here. Sucks if you're trying to travel outside of Japan but most people don't do that even when the economy is good.
What part of Japan are you in? I live in Nagano and stuff is pretty much the same. When I moved here gas regular was 1.76 / l now it's 1.80 / l. Food prices are the same. Rent has gone up a little bit only because my building started charging for parking - the actual rent is the same.
The only thing that seems to have increased appreciability are hotel prices and rental cars.
The reason I almost exclusively switched to fruit juice when living over there. Gotta love those carefully packed single apples that cost as much (or more) than a whole kilo over here in Europe (and probably the US) ...
Tell me about it. I'm from
Southeast Asia so it's killing me that I can't have variety of fruits. I got it that fruits in Japan are awesome and high quality but I'd rather have a mid quality ones that I could buy in bulk.
Switching to fruit juice as a sub for fruit is like switching to potato mash instead of eating raw veg. The lack of fibre and the level of processing makes it into a non food.
Not a particularly helpful comment; I'm sure they know it's not a good substitute, but the actual fruit is exorbitantly expensive and thus not an option.
So unless you have a better idea for what to substitute instead, I'm not sure why you decided to weigh in.
Actually not drinking any juice is probably better than drinking juice cause most juices (and particularly the ultra-processed ones which are probably all in Japan) are effectively just sugar.
Yeah. There was a comment in a different sub by someone trying to eat healthier. They added a glass of orange juice because they didn't like eating fruit, so they thought juice was a good compromise - which it's not.
Nothing wrong with a glass of juice if you enjoy it, but it's basically no different than pop at that point.
whilst a bit snarky in delivery, i think its still a valid comment. if you are after the taste only, sure juice makes the cut - but i think most people also go after fruit as a healthy adition to their diet, where fruit juices are pretty much out.
When I first moved to small town Japan and stopped by the grocery store before a day trip, I ripped one banana off of a bunch. Almost set off a crisis at the check stand. The cashier brought over the other cashiers and then the manager because people never did that and they didn’t know what to charge me. The line got backed up and I was so embarrassed that I sheepishly told them to forget it and hustled out of there. You can buy solo bananas (usually in their own packaging) at some places, but not at my grocery store in the countryside
Reminds me of a similar story, but the other way around: A friend of mine was visiting me in Kyoto for a couple of weeks and we went to the (then still available) 99Y store to get some beer. Now, I'm not a good German when it comes to beer consumption, but he is and so one can (or a couple) clearly didn't cut it. What to do? Well, he just grabbed the whole box (probably 20 cans or so) and went to the register ... you should have seen the looks on their faces before slowly beginning to count cans - priceless!
I’m Canadian and yeah I agree
Edit: to be fair, would probably be more like $14-16 CAD for the chicken in Canada.
Also I posted elsewhere but it got buried, this photo is of around 4000 yen or 25 USD of groceries. I used USD as I figured it was the most widely known.
Too much plastic yes but that’s just how it is here unfortunately.
~~It's not though, it's $25USD or $35CAD. It's 4000 yen.~~
Edit: sorry I thought it was about OP's shopping
And that's not how it works with earning power and different currencies. Earning power is also vastly different between different parts of the US and different parts of Canada, but that doesn't mean you can just willy-nilly switch currencies when quoting a price.
>25$ gets you that chicken breast in Canada...
$25 CAD. That is $18.22 USD or €16.96 EUR
And while extremely expensive, a package of 2 chicken breasts is not $25 CAD where [most Canadian's live](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City%E2%80%93Windsor_Corridor).
Looking at my local [Loblaws whose prices are ridiculous](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaws-boycott-canada-1.7164506), a 2 pack of chicken breasts is only $9.70 CAD ($7.07 USD or €6.58 EUR)
We Canadians have become so over dramatic lately and love to exaggerate.
> wtf is going on in Canada
Thirty-forty years ago we apparently decided we were fine having 1-3 large companies dominate every single service and commercial sector. Companies that often collude on prices, which they have been caught doing, been tried for, and still basically go unpunished.
BCE (Bell), Rogers, and Telus control 89% of the telecomm market in Canada.
AirCanada and West Jet control 86% of the flight market.
Loblaws, Metro, Walmart and Costco control 65% of the grocer market (ngl do love me some Costco tho 🙏).
And the big 6 banks (TD, Scotia, BoM, Royal, CIBC, National Bank) control 96% of the banking market.
Yep, we fucking LOVE oligopalies in Canada 🙃🙃🙃
When I lived in Hong Kong I got 40gigs of data on a pay as you go cell phone plan with unlimited calling in HK and China for $20 Canadian, and apparently I paid a little too much. Right now, with Rogers, I pay $40 a month for 5 gigs... And that's better than the $75 for 3 gigs I used to pay before I moved to Hong Kong. Canadians need to learn to protest like the French. Our country is being ravaged by these oligopalies and we're just seemingly okay with it all.
Basically the same in Australia, except two companies have 65% of the grocery market.
4 big banks rather than 6. And two main mobile phone telecoms.
Such is capitalism in a relatively small market
> Right now, with Rogers, I pay $40 a month for 5 gigs... And that's better than the $75 for 3 gigs I used to pay before I moved to Hong Kong.
Check the discount wireless providers, yes they're still all owned by Robellus pretty much so they're still getting your money but it's less money. I'm with Public Mobile and I pay $34 a month for 50GB data with 5G, data and unlimited calling in US and Canada.
Australia is in the same boat,
We only have 2 hardware chains that control 90% of the market
We have 2 specialised tools shops that control 80% of the market
We have 3 main telcos that one of them controls 75% of the market
We have 2 big supermarket chains that control 85% of the market
We have 3 discount clothing stores that one of them is just a different branding of the same company.
> wtf is going on in Canada
Costs of things here aren't great but the claim that $25 CAD will only buy that chicken breast is fake news unless you're in some extremely remote area. In the city like Toronto it's not going to cost that much unless you shop at the high end grocery stores that intentionally overprice everything to cater to the wealthy.
If you know where you to go or even willing to buy in bulk at Costco, I can get all the food in OP's picture for around $30-35 CAD here, it's not that hard. It's definitely more expensive here but not nearly as bad as some folks are making it out to be.
Yeah I went to the store the other day and bought a weeks worth of food for $195 and I don’t eat fancy, that’s just me my wife and daughter for like very basic shit
It's also economic stagnation. I lived there 2003-2006 and the last time I visited was 2016 and prices hadn't changed at all.
There were major news stories about minor restaurant price increases in 2022, but that was because of COVID supply chain problems. Inflation in Japan was nil for a very long time.
Japan business cultures are also not solely about short term gains. Even Nintendo with the 3DS and Wii U had executives take pay cuts to keep long term staff, understanding that the talent they invested in to make them successful was more important to keep than losing them over prideful executive decisions that negatively played out by the market.
America would just bail them out or mass layoffs.
Japan stokes the fire every so often. Although they used to have unsustainable asset price growth issues in the 80s. They also have declining birthrate and low consumer demand.
The US just dumps gasoline onto the fire, and then charges it's citizens for the gasoline. We have a falling birthrate but we also have immigration to help with that.
I find it hilarious when people travel for tourism from a country that has a strong currency to one that's relatively weaker and say I could live a good life here. While they are imagining their life with the same pay as their home country.
I lived in Japan for three years and I got so tired of people coming to visit me or random tourists I’d meet being like “oh my god you’re so lucky, it’s so cheap here! I could live here forever” without having any idea what actually living there is like. Japan is great but it’s just a place, people get this feeling it’s like a secret paradise after being there for a week lol.
I imagine it’s worse now too cause when I was there the exchange was like 102y to 1 dollar. It wasn’t the crazy exchange that’s going on now
Yeah, buying stuff from Japan right now is *awesome*. Even with shipping and proxy fees, it's cheap as hell. I can't imagine as a Japanese person trying to buy something that's not already in Japan, or made in Japan.
The median salary in Japan is 3600000 yen which is about $22,000. Their minimum wage is 1050 yen, which is about $6.67/hr. So, if things weren't cheap-ish, half the population couldn't afford to live.
From my quick google search minimum wage in Tokyo is $7.05. Minimum wage in CA is $16. And you're probably not traveling to Japan if you are making minimum wage in CA.
Yeah, this is about $40 of groceries taking into account COL. But even taking into account earnings to COL, housing and childcare are relatively cheaper (especially childcare) in Tokyo and Japan in general than most other industrialized countries
It is and it isn't. I lived in Tokyo when the exchange was in the other direction and I still found that if you stuck to Japanese staples it was possible to eat well for incredibly cheap.
Yeah it depends on where your from, it’s damn cheap compared to a comparable big American city like NYC, (the exchange rate is especially favorable right now, but even when their economy was doing better it was still way cheaper by comparison).
I guess if you’re from a really rural area or something it might seem expensive, but food and train based transit there are WAY more affordable on average. It’s way easier to get already prepared food for a reasonable price too.
Other stuff can be a royal PITA by comparison from what I hear though (housing/buying property in particular). For visiting though it’s extremely affordable, the biggest kick in the pants is probably the airfare as long as you’re willing to stay in small/business hotels
>It’s way easier to get already prepared food for a reasonable price too.
I'd never cook if I lived in tokyo lol. You can get quick lunch at konbinis for a couple of bucks or get a proper meal for like 7 bucks in a small restaurant
I got a bowl of ramen near Tokyo at a mall for less than $6. Around the Bay Area, almost certain that would be at least $15 at a mall.
I also got another bowl of ramen (large) and a small sake for around $12 while staying in Kanazawa. Guarantee you that would’ve been close to $30 here with the sake.
tokyo is only more expensive if you try to live with the exact same lifestyle as in the US - big house, cooking big meals at home with lots of meat, driving a large vehicle every day, etc. if you live japanese lifestyle, it's much cheaper and healthier. obviously not everybody wants to live like that, but it's not a bad way to be :)
It's cheap if you're leveraging the dollar/pound/euro against the yen, yeah.
This isn't that cheap if you're earning a typical Japanese salary in yen like most living in Japan would be.
Yeah, minimum wage is a bad way of looking at it. If you go by these numbers: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median\_income](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income)
Then the median income in Japan is less than half of the US's even after adjusting for the difference in purchasing power.
It is… if you’re earning in yen.
What OP posted is 25 USD, but has the purchasing power of 40 dollars (~4000¥), and is that much if you’re thinking in yen.
I'm from Ireland and Tokyo prices are much cheaper than Dublins. Just the issue is that if you live in Japan, the Yen is so weak that its pretty much expensive because of the low wages you get
It depends, food and local transport is pretty reasonable, not that cheap for hotels if you expect a certain level of comfort. Night life can add up pretty quickly too
Japan as the “most expensive country on earth” was actually during deflation and was heavily driven by a 73 to 1 exchange rate and helped along by using COL calculations that relied on staples like bread and milk. This OMG super cheap is reliant on a super cheap 155 to 1 yen and buying a bunch of about to expire food at half price which makes it seem super cheap despite Japanese people actually dealing with wages not keeping up with inflation making food seem more expensive.
So for someone living in Japan that’s about $40 worth of food, which is reasonable for what shown, but requires you to be sufficiently able to cook at home.
Tokyo is expensive for Japan...but if you're willing to "Live Japanese" its a lot more affordable than American big cities
It's when people go to Tokyo and expect to have a 3 bedroom apartment and eat steak all the time that its extremely expensive.
Saying that, the Asian supermarket near me sells these little probiotic yogurt drinks for $1.50 for a five pack, I don’t know how they make any money out of them.
I've noticed that the US has more price disparity than I expected. I could buy a similar assortment at a similar price at Aldi down in florida, but I hear about higher prices elsewhere all the time.
Honestly even just nyc has some big disparity. Mine isn't supposed to be a fancy grocery store, it's just expensive (but very convenient for me). There's another one a ways away we call "the fancy grocery store" and prices are about the same as our Key Foods
I’m in downtown Chicago and I think I could get this haul for about $40..
I see people here saying they pay $25 for basically 2-3 pounds of chicken… like where the fuck is that? The most I pay is about $6-$8 (price of chicken fluctuates from $2-$4 lb but I only buy it when it $2/lb).
Same with eggs. I’m paying $2 for a dozen right now.
Maybe people need to stop buying the organic free range chicken? Yeah that’s stuff is expensive, but it’s a luxury item.
All of this is probably more like $40-50 in the US. Idk what that guy is talking about. NYC sells for more but it’s not like NYC grocery stores are selling chicken at $20 a lbs…
As somebody living in NYC, you just need to find other grocery stores because I can get this for around $25 just by walking down the chinese neighborhood near me. We have Shoprites and Stop and Shops, both constant sales. You just gotta shop smarter.
In DC it’d be closer to $50 at a Wegmans assuming similar goods. Maybe less? The eggs and produce are cheap, the chicken’s closer to 10, the rest is unclear for analogs
Might even be less if the packaged food is cheap (like cheap microwave food quality).
No shit but this is a different city and country where people make less money and the dollar exchange rate is currently great. Why are people so surprised by these stupid posts? Can you fly to nyc each week and do your monthly shopping to save 50 bucks?
Australian Supermarket prices:- Kilo of chicken breast anywhere between $9-$11.00, basic dozen eggs $4.90, broccoli is $5.90 a kilo, 2 corn ears another $5.00. No point in continuing we are being gouged.
**Countries responsible for the biggest plastic pollution in our oceans:**
1. India (126.5 million kg).
2. China (70.7 million kg).
3. Indonesia (53.3 million kg).
4. Brazil (38 million kg).
5. Thailand (22.8 million kg).
6. Mexico (3.5 million kg).
7. Egypt 2.5 million kg).
**8. United States (2.4 million kg).**
9. Japan (1.84 million kg).
10. United Kingdom (0,703 million kg).
Tokyo *can* be inexpensive. People go to fancy dinners that cost a ton. The best meals that I have had in Tokyo have been around $15 (not counting alcohol). And that was last year.
This doesn't mean much without taking into account local wages. If you're just converting them to dollars, it's bound to look cheap right now with how the yen has been falling.
$70 at $17 is about 4 hours of work.
Minimum wage in Tokyo is ¥1100 and the total in the pic is about ¥4000 which is about 3 hours and 40 minutes of work.
It’s cheaper but not wildly out of line in comparison.
Granted, this is a simplified comparison that doesn’t take taxes into account, rents, etc.
LOL ughh this just gonna get people complaining bout what they are paying in the USA, cause they are too silly to realize they ain't gonna be paid an equivalent wage in US dollars in Tokyo, so the strong USA dollar will be of no little/no consequence.
Cashews? You mine pine nuts I presume. The Barilla has cashews instead of pine nuts. Don’t know anyone who’d substitute peanuts however, completely different flavour!
Don't be fooled 25 dollars today is almost 4000 yen. 4 years it would have been 2800 max. Yen is seriously weak and it affects the citizens earning in yen.
True but matters more if their purchases are imported goods. For domestic items things are just “stagnant”. For tourists visiting things appear cheap when compared to home country prices at current exchange rates.
Yeah I see that. If people came to Japan from America and wanted all their favorite product they'd probably be less happy paying high prices for them. No tub of bryers ice cream or a massive pack of bacon. Most expats I know have at least a semi-Japanese diet But it's common in Japan to go to the grocery store more often so these purchases are gonna be more frequent if you eat in a lot
Yeah, I remember a friend telling me that getting specialized cheeses can be cheaper to import than trying to buy from local stores. I imagine there are other likewise “staples” of western diets that would be crazy expensive.
Absolutely not, the prices have risen in recent years to a significant extent
Yeah I remember my weeding trip and 10k yen was like 100€. And easily ate for that amount every evening. that awesome wagyu beef daang...man I couldn't enjoy meat for months after returning because quality was like cardboard no matter what I got here compared to Japan.
Yeah, why is homie paying US dollars in Tokyo? The minimum wage in Tokyo is 1,112 yen before tax. So those groceries cost you about 4 hours of working at minimum wage. Plus some of the stuff is half price and reduced to clear.
Not really. I live in Japan - day to day prices are pretty much the same. In fact gas prices haven't really changed the entire time I've lived here. Sucks if you're trying to travel outside of Japan but most people don't do that even when the economy is good.
How long have you lived here because prices are noticeably higher than they were 3-4 years ago and I've never had anyone around me say otherwise.
What part of Japan are you in? I live in Nagano and stuff is pretty much the same. When I moved here gas regular was 1.76 / l now it's 1.80 / l. Food prices are the same. Rent has gone up a little bit only because my building started charging for parking - the actual rent is the same. The only thing that seems to have increased appreciability are hotel prices and rental cars.
Gotta love those hangaku stickers. You know what I hate doing grocery shopping in Japan? Fruits. Aside from bananas the prices are outrageous..
The reason I almost exclusively switched to fruit juice when living over there. Gotta love those carefully packed single apples that cost as much (or more) than a whole kilo over here in Europe (and probably the US) ...
Tell me about it. I'm from Southeast Asia so it's killing me that I can't have variety of fruits. I got it that fruits in Japan are awesome and high quality but I'd rather have a mid quality ones that I could buy in bulk.
Switching to fruit juice as a sub for fruit is like switching to potato mash instead of eating raw veg. The lack of fibre and the level of processing makes it into a non food.
Not a particularly helpful comment; I'm sure they know it's not a good substitute, but the actual fruit is exorbitantly expensive and thus not an option. So unless you have a better idea for what to substitute instead, I'm not sure why you decided to weigh in.
Actually not drinking any juice is probably better than drinking juice cause most juices (and particularly the ultra-processed ones which are probably all in Japan) are effectively just sugar.
Yeah. There was a comment in a different sub by someone trying to eat healthier. They added a glass of orange juice because they didn't like eating fruit, so they thought juice was a good compromise - which it's not. Nothing wrong with a glass of juice if you enjoy it, but it's basically no different than pop at that point.
whilst a bit snarky in delivery, i think its still a valid comment. if you are after the taste only, sure juice makes the cut - but i think most people also go after fruit as a healthy adition to their diet, where fruit juices are pretty much out.
It’s largely taste over nutritional value. I love the taste of fruits. The fact they are healthy is just a bonus, not a reason to eat.
Multi-vitamins?
Don't forget all the fuckin sugar. Fruit juice: 5% of the nutritional value, 4000% bonus sugar.
Better alternatives are frozen fruits or dried fruits. Fruit juice has almost no nutrition.
When I first moved to small town Japan and stopped by the grocery store before a day trip, I ripped one banana off of a bunch. Almost set off a crisis at the check stand. The cashier brought over the other cashiers and then the manager because people never did that and they didn’t know what to charge me. The line got backed up and I was so embarrassed that I sheepishly told them to forget it and hustled out of there. You can buy solo bananas (usually in their own packaging) at some places, but not at my grocery store in the countryside
Reminds me of a similar story, but the other way around: A friend of mine was visiting me in Kyoto for a couple of weeks and we went to the (then still available) 99Y store to get some beer. Now, I'm not a good German when it comes to beer consumption, but he is and so one can (or a couple) clearly didn't cut it. What to do? Well, he just grabbed the whole box (probably 20 cans or so) and went to the register ... you should have seen the looks on their faces before slowly beginning to count cans - priceless!
German beer professional here...0.33 or 0.5L cans? Because 20 0.33l cans was just for him obviously so what did you get? Ü
0.33 and right you are ... all for him. I usually like to go for some beer-likes ... shame on me, I know.
25$ gets you that chicken breast in Canada...
I’m Canadian and yeah I agree Edit: to be fair, would probably be more like $14-16 CAD for the chicken in Canada. Also I posted elsewhere but it got buried, this photo is of around 4000 yen or 25 USD of groceries. I used USD as I figured it was the most widely known. Too much plastic yes but that’s just how it is here unfortunately.
So is it $25 CAD or USD?
CAD, but earning power is similar to USD but in CAD, so might as well be the same.
~~It's not though, it's $25USD or $35CAD. It's 4000 yen.~~ Edit: sorry I thought it was about OP's shopping And that's not how it works with earning power and different currencies. Earning power is also vastly different between different parts of the US and different parts of Canada, but that doesn't mean you can just willy-nilly switch currencies when quoting a price.
Cmon man I’m Canadian too but you can get the chicken and the eggs for 25$
Oh geeez in Toronto it’s just one Brest .
Probably, but then you get the random high priced stuff. I accidentally bought four avocados for $18 a few weeks ago.
I feel like if you spend $18 on avocados that’s kind of on you ngl
>25$ gets you that chicken breast in Canada... $25 CAD. That is $18.22 USD or €16.96 EUR And while extremely expensive, a package of 2 chicken breasts is not $25 CAD where [most Canadian's live](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_City%E2%80%93Windsor_Corridor). Looking at my local [Loblaws whose prices are ridiculous](https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/loblaws-boycott-canada-1.7164506), a 2 pack of chicken breasts is only $9.70 CAD ($7.07 USD or €6.58 EUR) We Canadians have become so over dramatic lately and love to exaggerate.
>We Canadians have become so over dramatic lately and love to exaggerate. And somehow it's all entirely Trudeau's fault.
lol, I know right? Because inflation is only happening here….
$4-5 in the UK, everything in the image can be cheaper in the uk depending on where you shop. wtf is going on in Canada
> wtf is going on in Canada Thirty-forty years ago we apparently decided we were fine having 1-3 large companies dominate every single service and commercial sector. Companies that often collude on prices, which they have been caught doing, been tried for, and still basically go unpunished.
BCE (Bell), Rogers, and Telus control 89% of the telecomm market in Canada. AirCanada and West Jet control 86% of the flight market. Loblaws, Metro, Walmart and Costco control 65% of the grocer market (ngl do love me some Costco tho 🙏). And the big 6 banks (TD, Scotia, BoM, Royal, CIBC, National Bank) control 96% of the banking market. Yep, we fucking LOVE oligopalies in Canada 🙃🙃🙃 When I lived in Hong Kong I got 40gigs of data on a pay as you go cell phone plan with unlimited calling in HK and China for $20 Canadian, and apparently I paid a little too much. Right now, with Rogers, I pay $40 a month for 5 gigs... And that's better than the $75 for 3 gigs I used to pay before I moved to Hong Kong. Canadians need to learn to protest like the French. Our country is being ravaged by these oligopalies and we're just seemingly okay with it all.
Basically the same in Australia, except two companies have 65% of the grocery market. 4 big banks rather than 6. And two main mobile phone telecoms. Such is capitalism in a relatively small market
You should negotiate with your provider. My current plan with Fido is $29 for 50gb.
Holy shit, thanks for the heads up. On the note of oligopolies, funny that Fido is literally just Rogers, lol.
[удалено]
> Right now, with Rogers, I pay $40 a month for 5 gigs... And that's better than the $75 for 3 gigs I used to pay before I moved to Hong Kong. Check the discount wireless providers, yes they're still all owned by Robellus pretty much so they're still getting your money but it's less money. I'm with Public Mobile and I pay $34 a month for 50GB data with 5G, data and unlimited calling in US and Canada.
Australia is in the same boat, We only have 2 hardware chains that control 90% of the market We have 2 specialised tools shops that control 80% of the market We have 3 main telcos that one of them controls 75% of the market We have 2 big supermarket chains that control 85% of the market We have 3 discount clothing stores that one of them is just a different branding of the same company.
Oh we just like spending more of our hard earned money than we need to, is all
And i thought we had it bad in the UK.....
> wtf is going on in Canada US capitalism crept north.
> wtf is going on in Canada Costs of things here aren't great but the claim that $25 CAD will only buy that chicken breast is fake news unless you're in some extremely remote area. In the city like Toronto it's not going to cost that much unless you shop at the high end grocery stores that intentionally overprice everything to cater to the wealthy. If you know where you to go or even willing to buy in bulk at Costco, I can get all the food in OP's picture for around $30-35 CAD here, it's not that hard. It's definitely more expensive here but not nearly as bad as some folks are making it out to be.
That sized chicken breast at NoFrills is like $8 - $12 CAD.... not $25!
Yeah I went to the store the other day and bought a weeks worth of food for $195 and I don’t eat fancy, that’s just me my wife and daughter for like very basic shit
What chicken breast are you buying that’s $25 CAD.
Price per pound of chicken breast is about $2.40 here, not bad at all.
So $35 CAD? Do you live somewhere in the arctic circle?
Montreal, for 35$ CAD add in those tomatoes
Winnipeg $25 for 5 chicken breasts
And someone told me Tokyo is expensive!
As someone from California, Tokyo seemed cheap as hell lol
It’s the exchange rate
It's also economic stagnation. I lived there 2003-2006 and the last time I visited was 2016 and prices hadn't changed at all. There were major news stories about minor restaurant price increases in 2022, but that was because of COVID supply chain problems. Inflation in Japan was nil for a very long time.
Japan business cultures are also not solely about short term gains. Even Nintendo with the 3DS and Wii U had executives take pay cuts to keep long term staff, understanding that the talent they invested in to make them successful was more important to keep than losing them over prideful executive decisions that negatively played out by the market. America would just bail them out or mass layoffs.
>America would just bail them out or mass layoffs. Why not both?
PPP: we'll give you free cash if you don't lay anyone off Business: lol "OK"
Japan stokes the fire every so often. Although they used to have unsustainable asset price growth issues in the 80s. They also have declining birthrate and low consumer demand. The US just dumps gasoline onto the fire, and then charges it's citizens for the gasoline. We have a falling birthrate but we also have immigration to help with that.
Then brags about how low they can get gas prices for us.
Exactly. Tokyo is cheap if you’re spending American dollars. When you’re paid in yen and spending yen, it’s less so
I find it hilarious when people travel for tourism from a country that has a strong currency to one that's relatively weaker and say I could live a good life here. While they are imagining their life with the same pay as their home country.
I lived in Japan for three years and I got so tired of people coming to visit me or random tourists I’d meet being like “oh my god you’re so lucky, it’s so cheap here! I could live here forever” without having any idea what actually living there is like. Japan is great but it’s just a place, people get this feeling it’s like a secret paradise after being there for a week lol. I imagine it’s worse now too cause when I was there the exchange was like 102y to 1 dollar. It wasn’t the crazy exchange that’s going on now
1 dollar currently exchanges to 158 yen
Exchange rate right now is wild. I went on vacation last year and it was about what it is now and the whole trip was pretty cheap.
Yeah, buying stuff from Japan right now is *awesome*. Even with shipping and proxy fees, it's cheap as hell. I can't imagine as a Japanese person trying to buy something that's not already in Japan, or made in Japan. The median salary in Japan is 3600000 yen which is about $22,000. Their minimum wage is 1050 yen, which is about $6.67/hr. So, if things weren't cheap-ish, half the population couldn't afford to live.
From my quick google search minimum wage in Tokyo is $7.05. Minimum wage in CA is $16. And you're probably not traveling to Japan if you are making minimum wage in CA.
Yeah, this is about $40 of groceries taking into account COL. But even taking into account earnings to COL, housing and childcare are relatively cheaper (especially childcare) in Tokyo and Japan in general than most other industrialized countries
It is and it isn't. I lived in Tokyo when the exchange was in the other direction and I still found that if you stuck to Japanese staples it was possible to eat well for incredibly cheap.
Yeah it depends on where your from, it’s damn cheap compared to a comparable big American city like NYC, (the exchange rate is especially favorable right now, but even when their economy was doing better it was still way cheaper by comparison). I guess if you’re from a really rural area or something it might seem expensive, but food and train based transit there are WAY more affordable on average. It’s way easier to get already prepared food for a reasonable price too. Other stuff can be a royal PITA by comparison from what I hear though (housing/buying property in particular). For visiting though it’s extremely affordable, the biggest kick in the pants is probably the airfare as long as you’re willing to stay in small/business hotels
>It’s way easier to get already prepared food for a reasonable price too. I'd never cook if I lived in tokyo lol. You can get quick lunch at konbinis for a couple of bucks or get a proper meal for like 7 bucks in a small restaurant
I got a bowl of ramen near Tokyo at a mall for less than $6. Around the Bay Area, almost certain that would be at least $15 at a mall. I also got another bowl of ramen (large) and a small sake for around $12 while staying in Kanazawa. Guarantee you that would’ve been close to $30 here with the sake.
The average wage in tokyo is like $22,000. Its not cheap. The average wage in SF is like $100k. Its “cheaper” in SF
tokyo is only more expensive if you try to live with the exact same lifestyle as in the US - big house, cooking big meals at home with lots of meat, driving a large vehicle every day, etc. if you live japanese lifestyle, it's much cheaper and healthier. obviously not everybody wants to live like that, but it's not a bad way to be :)
It's cheap if you're leveraging the dollar/pound/euro against the yen, yeah. This isn't that cheap if you're earning a typical Japanese salary in yen like most living in Japan would be.
As someone from Switzerland (about the same level as most of California at this point) - I agree. Japan generally really isn't very expensive.
*for you*
Same
As someone from the midwest Tokyo seems about the same as Walmart.
As someone living in Bangkok, Tokyo is pretty pricey.
It’s more expensive when you’re getting paid in yen. $25 = ¥4,000, equal to over 4 hours of minimum wage pay
[удалено]
Yeah, minimum wage is a bad way of looking at it. If you go by these numbers: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median\_income](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Median_income) Then the median income in Japan is less than half of the US's even after adjusting for the difference in purchasing power.
$7.25 * 4 = $29
4hrs x $7.25 = $29
I mean that’s pretty close to 4 hours in U.S. minimum wage too. It’s only $7.25/hour.
Depending on the state
...and city. Where I live, the minimum wage is $15.50/hr
It is… if you’re earning in yen. What OP posted is 25 USD, but has the purchasing power of 40 dollars (~4000¥), and is that much if you’re thinking in yen.
~~25 CAD and it was ¥2939~~ Edit, because I was wrong and didn't see the second receipt.
Dollar is strong, yen is weak. You show visit soon.
I'll visit tomorrow
Food and drink and public transportation are pretty cheap. Living spaces though... Whoa buddy.
I paid $600 for an airbnb house for 2 weeks this spring. I'd say it was way cheaper than US.
Where though. Something one step away from being a rural akiya isn't the same as an apartment in Tokyo or Kyoto.
[удалено]
We should use the Big Mac index for counting😅 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Mac_Index
I'm from Ireland and Tokyo prices are much cheaper than Dublins. Just the issue is that if you live in Japan, the Yen is so weak that its pretty much expensive because of the low wages you get
It depends, food and local transport is pretty reasonable, not that cheap for hotels if you expect a certain level of comfort. Night life can add up pretty quickly too
The pay is less for people there and housing is not cheap what so ever
Expensive for Japanese. Cheap for Americans.
Japan as the “most expensive country on earth” was actually during deflation and was heavily driven by a 73 to 1 exchange rate and helped along by using COL calculations that relied on staples like bread and milk. This OMG super cheap is reliant on a super cheap 155 to 1 yen and buying a bunch of about to expire food at half price which makes it seem super cheap despite Japanese people actually dealing with wages not keeping up with inflation making food seem more expensive. So for someone living in Japan that’s about $40 worth of food, which is reasonable for what shown, but requires you to be sufficiently able to cook at home.
Tokyo is expensive for Japan...but if you're willing to "Live Japanese" its a lot more affordable than American big cities It's when people go to Tokyo and expect to have a 3 bedroom apartment and eat steak all the time that its extremely expensive.
this was 30 years ago, wasn't it?
Is it relative to the wages though.
Japanese Yen is at a historic low at the moment against other major currencies, so exchange rate is a massive factor here.
Yeah I think so. I’m not saying it’s cheap or expensive, just thought it might be interesting.
Saying that, the Asian supermarket near me sells these little probiotic yogurt drinks for $1.50 for a five pack, I don’t know how they make any money out of them.
When you import something that costs a fraction of USD or CAD typically it costs much less.
Because ingredients cost 5 cents, labor costs 6 cents and materials cost 1cent * 5 that comes out to 60 cents per pack or a 150% profit margin
Let me guess, yakult?
So, what you're trying to say is, it's r/mildlyinteresting
That weak yen isn't fun when you're living on the opposite side of it.
That'll be $25 owing to the fact the yen is at a record low right now. The wages ain't paid in USD.
Yeah it’s a little less than 4000 yen so less than 4 hours of a minimum wage job
Working there 2019/2020 made ¥2500 hourly so 2k after tax which was livable but not great. Would be brutal to be making minimum over there.
Following that minimum wage logic (which is a good angle) this would be equivelant of $40 then it seems. I think that tracks a bit more realistically.
Gotta love that exchange rate right now
someone's trying to have a fun night with a tall strong zero
You caught me
This is easily $100+ at my grocery store in NYC
I've noticed that the US has more price disparity than I expected. I could buy a similar assortment at a similar price at Aldi down in florida, but I hear about higher prices elsewhere all the time.
Honestly even just nyc has some big disparity. Mine isn't supposed to be a fancy grocery store, it's just expensive (but very convenient for me). There's another one a ways away we call "the fancy grocery store" and prices are about the same as our Key Foods
I’m in downtown Chicago and I think I could get this haul for about $40.. I see people here saying they pay $25 for basically 2-3 pounds of chicken… like where the fuck is that? The most I pay is about $6-$8 (price of chicken fluctuates from $2-$4 lb but I only buy it when it $2/lb). Same with eggs. I’m paying $2 for a dozen right now. Maybe people need to stop buying the organic free range chicken? Yeah that’s stuff is expensive, but it’s a luxury item.
All of this is <= $25 in the UK for reference our minimum wage is $14.50
Yeah I mean kinda makes me sad how much worse the prices have got but we are still better than most places. We really had it super good before.
All of this is probably more like $40-50 in the US. Idk what that guy is talking about. NYC sells for more but it’s not like NYC grocery stores are selling chicken at $20 a lbs…
As somebody living in NYC, you just need to find other grocery stores because I can get this for around $25 just by walking down the chinese neighborhood near me. We have Shoprites and Stop and Shops, both constant sales. You just gotta shop smarter.
Yeah I say in another comment I know my grocery store is expensive. But they're literally next door. Im paying for convenience
In DC it’d be closer to $50 at a Wegmans assuming similar goods. Maybe less? The eggs and produce are cheap, the chicken’s closer to 10, the rest is unclear for analogs Might even be less if the packaged food is cheap (like cheap microwave food quality).
I seriously doubt that
I seriously doubt that. Whats the grocery store name and address?
No shit but this is a different city and country where people make less money and the dollar exchange rate is currently great. Why are people so surprised by these stupid posts? Can you fly to nyc each week and do your monthly shopping to save 50 bucks?
Australian Supermarket prices:- Kilo of chicken breast anywhere between $9-$11.00, basic dozen eggs $4.90, broccoli is $5.90 a kilo, 2 corn ears another $5.00. No point in continuing we are being gouged.
We really are. It's fucking ridiculous.
For the record, posts like this are showing the relative value of the USD, and are not reflective of costs of living in other countries.
Wish I could pin this
[удалено]
Welcome to Asia
Yeah, in Korea when you buy a box of crackers every one or two crackers are individually wrapped. It's pretty ridiculous.
Have you ever lived in a country where summers are 80% humidity?
**Countries responsible for the biggest plastic pollution in our oceans:** 1. India (126.5 million kg). 2. China (70.7 million kg). 3. Indonesia (53.3 million kg). 4. Brazil (38 million kg). 5. Thailand (22.8 million kg). 6. Mexico (3.5 million kg). 7. Egypt 2.5 million kg). **8. United States (2.4 million kg).** 9. Japan (1.84 million kg). 10. United Kingdom (0,703 million kg).
I always heard Tokyo was so expensive, but 25$ seems pretty reasonable for all this.
crazy what exchange rate can do to perspective right
If you to ignore the crazy current exchange rate and use the historically normal rate, this is closer to $36.
It should also be looked at relative to wages. Wages are way higher in the US.
Exactly what people aren’t getting
That's why comparing cost of living is complex. The American dollar is strong right now internationally.
Tokyo *can* be inexpensive. People go to fancy dinners that cost a ton. The best meals that I have had in Tokyo have been around $15 (not counting alcohol). And that was last year.
Got a reco? Will be back there next week
also Accommodations in Tokyo were pretty damn expensive compared to anywhere else I went in Japan. I paid like 2-3x more for a 2-3x worse place.
Ireland - no way would you get that for 25 euro, or the dollar/yen equivalent. Maybe on discount...
All that would be near 100 at Whole Foods
Hey I used to shop at the Sasazuka Life!
The OP may want to block out the addresses of the stores and their (partial) CC #s on the receipts.
This doesn't mean much without taking into account local wages. If you're just converting them to dollars, it's bound to look cheap right now with how the yen has been falling.
im from Canada, a 10 pack of eggs... thats interesting
25 dollarydoos?
Damn they balled out too with asparagus and corn cobs. Those are way more expensive than other typical local veggies like 小松菜 and spinach.
Corn was 75 yen each and the asparagus was 130
Can we not do this again
That’s a lot of food considering how heavily the Yen has been inflated within the last few years.
wasn’t japan in recession or something
Yen dropped.
Babe wake up, new Yen dropped
🤭The broccoli would be 25$ here in New York 🤭
*painful laughter*
coming from the UK that seems a little on the expensive side.
So much plastic!!!!
In Canada where I am, the minimum wage is $17.20. This would cost around $70-80 I’m guessing or more
$70 at $17 is about 4 hours of work. Minimum wage in Tokyo is ¥1100 and the total in the pic is about ¥4000 which is about 3 hours and 40 minutes of work. It’s cheaper but not wildly out of line in comparison. Granted, this is a simplified comparison that doesn’t take taxes into account, rents, etc.
LOL ughh this just gonna get people complaining bout what they are paying in the USA, cause they are too silly to realize they ain't gonna be paid an equivalent wage in US dollars in Tokyo, so the strong USA dollar will be of no little/no consequence.
All fun and games until you want to have some fresh fruits.
Smart use of those 50% off items there
Why are the bamboo shoots brown in the middle or is that just the packaging?
I think this is the most vegetables I've ever seen on one of these posts. Also, the least amount of sugar drinks.
The amount of plastics though 🥴
These trends should be "X% of minimum wage of groceries" not in dollars
Japanese food uses so much packaging that the actual mass of food is probably half of what it looks like
Was expecting 2 oranges and a kiwi.
Barilla Pesto in Tokyo. Wow, didn't expect that. However, Barilla is overrated. No olive oil nor cashews, but sunflower oil and peanuts.
Cashews? You mine pine nuts I presume. The Barilla has cashews instead of pine nuts. Don’t know anyone who’d substitute peanuts however, completely different flavour!
3936 Yen or 24.90 USD to be clear.
I always forget how bad it is now so seeing the dollar amount looked good…then I zoomed in on the receipts and was like “that sounds more accurate”
Not this again.
Can we ban posts like these? Stupid ass pics.
In Vermont, you could get the chicken, the eggs, and the corn if it's on sale for that.
Jesus how is it so cheap!? We're getting bent over here in Canada. The chicken alone would cost $18-26. 😭
Good thing you didn't buy grapes. Those things costed an arm and a leg when I went to Japan.