Japan and America's Costs: Utilities and Food

a.t.kumagai
Jun 15
4 min read

Updated: 4 hours ago

Before going down the rabbit hole of the cost for utilities, let's go over the breakdown of salary. Please keep it in mind as we go through everything. I know you're going to be saying "that's so cheap" or "that's much lower" and so on. Also, please keep in mind this is the national average meaning that certain areas will have higher or lower salaries and also higher or lower cost of utilities.

According to GaijinPot's article, "Data from Japan’s National Tax Agency and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare suggest that, in 2025, the average salary in Japan is ¥4.60 million, approximately $29,374. However, the median is likely closer to ¥3.96 million, equivalent to $25,313." That gives you about a $2000-2,500 per month.

According to SoFi Learn a financial site, "The average annual average salary in the U.S. is $66,622. The median annual salary, which is often less skewed by outlying numbers, is $61,984." That gives you about $5,000-5,500 per month.

Before moving on from salary, I'd like to add some cultural notes. In America, salaries are meant to reflect a person's experience. I know this isn't always the case. But should a person have six years of experience in marketing and they change companies, they're usually offered a higher salary.

However, that's not the case in Japan. Your salary is meant to reflect the number of years you've served the company. Meaning, should you get hired by Company A and find their work ethic questionable, and you switch to Company B, your salary will be lower. Company B will not offer you a higher salary, even with years of field experience.

Utilities:

Below I broke down the cost of a single person household.

	America	Japan
Electric	$56	6,726円($46.66)
Gas/Propane	$26	3,331円($23.11)
Water	$24	2,116円($14.68)
Trash	$8	*
Internet	$30	4,800円($33.30)

*Trash in Japan is basically taken care of by the city through tax collection. Yay! However, if you need to throw certain items away, you must take it to a designated trash site and pay for it to be disposed of. It's not very expensive and it's a onetime free. In other words, you can save up your trash and throw it all away in one trip for one fee.

Let's go into some major reasons behind the lower costs of electricity and water in Japan. Because, let's be honest, culture plays a huge factor in this.

Culture

In Japan, very few houses have a dryer or dishwasher. This is a major appliance that sucks up a lot of energy so most people in Japan prefer to wash their dishes by hand. They also hang their laundry out to dry on the balcony to cut costs.

In Japan, people place air conditioners in a designated room and never use them to cool or heat the whole house. They also don't use the air conditioner during the day when they're not home. In order to save money, most don't use the air conditioner until the temperature outside reaches a certain degree. Which means that during certain months of the year, people are more likely to spend higher costs on electricity and vice versa.

Now, let's talk about water. Dishwashers might not play such a huge role in this. I don't even want to think about how much a dishwasher would use compared to washing by hand. Instead, let's talk about shower and bath culture here. To save money and water, people in Japan turn off their shower while they're washing off. They also tend to share bath water or reuse bath water since there is a reheating function in many homes and apartment.

Food

Citing the USDA, a single person household can spend around $300-400 a month on food.

In Japan, a single person household can spend around 38,000-43,000円 ($263.63-298.32).

Now, of course, this number can change drastically depending on how much a person eats out, their shopping habits, what kind of food they eat every week. It can also depend majorly on where a person lives, as food in the city can be more expensive than the countryside. I can't account for all factors. These are simply the average.

Breaking It All Down

These are your monthly expenses on utilities and food.

America: $144 + $300 = $444

Japan: 16,973円($117.75) + 38,000円($263.63) = 54973円($381.38)

Now, let's go back to the overall average salary each country makes. I'm choosing the lower of the two options just to make the math easier.

America: $5000

Japan: 288,285円($2000)

The overall expenses are almost the same. There's less an hundred dollar difference. However, when you take a look at the amount of money a person has coming in every month, it paints a different picture. A Japanese salary is less than half of an American salary and yet the expenses are generally similar.

Which is why the culture in Japan is incredibly focused on saving money. They dry their clothes using the literal sun. They frown upon dishwasher because of the water and electric use. They conserve water by turning off the tap and sharing baths. Culture plays a huge factor and if an America were to move to Japan and continue their American lifestyle they might soon realize they're spending more money than they save.

Transportation is a big part of our lives. I'll try to find some time to dig deeper into and collect data to compare everything. Since we use transportation daily, I need to consider work factors, etc.

Sources:

I didn't add many American-based English resources. (Also, I think it's easy for people to research in English since many Americans might read this) Most of my time and energy went to reading Japanese articles and finding the common average.