Welcome to Furusato Firsthand - Daily Living in Japan!

Welcome to the daily living blog! During our research and very meticulous chats, reading and watching (mostly YouTube), the one thing we never found was a real world on-the-ground accounting of daily living in Japan. A lot of people blog or make videos about paying bills at the konbini, dealing with everyday interactions or just walking around a typical Japanese neighborhood, however, only one time did I ever find someone that spoke to the cost of living in Japan. The real-world cost. What all of those trips to the konbini add up to, doing a grocery shopping trip here to cook meals for x number of days, fast food prices,  restaurants, everyday utilities, gas, owning a vehicle. What does that actually look like for a family? Especially for a family not living in Tokyo.

We jumped in with very rough estimates gathered from the above mentioned sources and now we’ll be here to tell you just how accurate or inaccurate we came up. Over the coming weeks, months and planned years, real-world costs and challenges will be documented here. Being that our family already uses budget tracking apps and the like, the plan is to do the same here, but instead summarize it for the world to see. One thing I never really understood about society is why money is such a taboo. We all need it to live and most of us have no idea just how much we need and where that money actually goes. As this blog gets going I’d love to see comparison shops and budgets from around the world! We will do our own posts comparing American last known prices in the zip code we were in (people from the U.S. know how much a zip code can change the price!)- but other than that older data we won’t have an excellent comparison. Likewise, a few things to note about us.

  • Family of 3 - We are in our early 40’s with a teenage daughter
  • We are not HUGE eaters - I love eating, but keep watch of the calories and intake on a daily basis (nevermind this fact when we travel)
  • We were a multi-car family in the U.S. and will own a car, several bicycles and possibly a smaller motorized means to get around in the future here in Japan
  • We are a suburban family- always have been and likely always will be. Put us 30-40 minutes outside a city. Not IN a major city, not in the true countryside
  • I believe we are considered “middle-class” - both when we were in the U.S. and here in Japan and our lifestyles reflect this. Not bare-bones and not luxury.
  • We focus spending on activities, good food and entertainment/media/electronics. Some other large categories others spend in, we simply don’t (like fashion, name brands or high-end travel)
  • Referenced USD will be as of the day of posting, this can vary widely, so take with a grain of salt!

Welcome to Furusato Daily Life. I hope this turns out to be everything you hoped for when researching, entertaining yourself or simply answering the question “what is it REALLY like to live in Japan?” and maybe, even, is it for you?


Washoku Sato - Grilled Salmon Lunch Set - Y1,400 ($8.83)

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