Somehow or another, this channel hit my YouTubes feed:
For whatever reason, I find a thirty-something Japanese woman’s day to day activities interesting.
I like seeing the stores and restaurants. Every so often she does one of these, where she itemizes her pay and how she spends her money.
She said in an earlier video that she used to be in the “Hands-on Medical field”, whatever that was. She bailed from that and now does data entry remotely, with one day in the office. She lives in Takarazuka, around Osaka, but grew up in Hokkaido. She travels back there a few times a year. Those videos are even more interesting.
One thing that contrasts with here in the US is the cities are spotlessly clean and safe. She leaves the office for the commute home later at night without fear whatsoever that she’ll be messed with. The city where she lives isn’t packed ass and elbows like Tokyo. Even though she blurs bystanders, they are all reasonably dressed and behaved. But what I find striking is her burn rate on cash compared to even here in the DFW exurbs.
From what I see, she’s paid monthly and gets a bit of overtime pay. She appears to make a hair under $30k a year, roughly $15/hour. A rather low wage here, but typical for a data entry job. She notes, on one video I’ve seen, this isn’t bad for a 30 year old woman in Japan. She lives in a very nice, but simple, one bedroom place. Rent, utilities, internet, etc costs her $637/month. No shit. A one bedroom near me in a hiptser habitrail complex is $1500/mo or so, and isn’t anywhere near as nice or safe. For what she pays here, you are in the hood, for sure, mingling with the indigenous mostly subsidized population.
When she eats out, the restaurants are a fraction of the cost here. When she went to the office one day, she stopped in a 7-11 for breakfast, bought a drink, a salmon rice ball, another item, I forget which, and a smoothie for around $5. Lunch she said she likes coffee and bread. She bought a coffee and two sweetbreads, less than $5. Going home late, she stopped for ramen. A ramen meal cost her in the area of $10, if I recall. I had that the other day here, and I spent around $25. More with tip. So she got away with a full days meals for what I’d have to drop for lunch alone.
At the grocery, I was amazed that nearly all the staples are affordable, if not cheap. For much of what she bought, the prices were way lower, with a few around what I’d spend here. True, fruit can be pricey. I think an apple cost more than a pound of them here. But even the small wagyu steak was about what I’d spend for one that size at HEB. It was maybe 1/4 lb? She picked up an end-piece salmon filet to look it over. It was $8 and change. That piece would be nearly $20 here. In this video, she bought a weeks worth of food and dropped $38 or so. And the food looked to be far better quality. A weeks food here sets me back between $75 and $100. That said, they eat more simply there. She typically makes 4-5 small dishes for dinner, one of them always rice, the other miso soup. For instance, she bought what looked like 6 sprigs of asparagus for around a dollar. That would be less than what I’d cook at one meal for myself. She made two meals and only used one sprig for each, sautéed with other veggies and mushrooms, roughly 1/4 cup serving.
At the end, she itemizes all her expenses. So she’s got a nice place, food to eat, eats out, meets friends for drinks, pursues hobbies, travels home a few times a year, and still can save/invest money. Not living a fat life, but living reasonably well.
This makes me think that maybe these Gen Z and Millennial whiners may have a point. Why can’t they live a decent life on $15 here? You used to be able to. When I first moved in with my roommates, I was only making like $7/hr. Granted, I was making nearly three times that by the time I got married. You could probably swing it here, only not as well, if you lived in a dumpy apartment. But we don’t have the transit systems. You need wheels. Restaurants are over the top expensive. Food is nuts, although if you shopped like her and ate simply, your costs would be similar.
I’m thinking a lot of this is culture. The other part greed. Everyone here wants top dollar for everything. Maybe the market fixes that. Japan has been in a malaise for decades.
Notice the one thing missing from her budget? Debt. No cards to pay off, No student loans. No car loan. She clearly lives within her means, which is rare here. The market here is full of those with champagne tastes and Pepsi wallets. Doesn’t stop them. That’s probably a cause as well for the price of everything rising. Not to mention our gubmint debasing the dollar.
No telling. But it’s interesting to see and compare.
Inspected By Pat 