Relocating to Japan.. What you should know?

One of my friend from India with whom I use to work called me to ask one important question. “I may relocate to Tokyo how much should be my salary?”
Difficult question for me to answer or for that matter for anyone I suppose. Generally, Salaries are defined as per company structure, policy, role and based on business size of the company. Also whether I am part of the same company or not I should not create wrong expectations which may put him into some kind of conflict with existing employer. I could have referred him to certain online document where standard salaries based on role is available as information however I tried to understand why he is asking such question. After discussing, came to know, his objective is to understand cost of living and make a judgement if the salary provided may work or not for him. Should he consider to relocate or stay where he is. Do his planning to know initial cost of relocation verses living cost etc.

So I thought I can help him by providing information that may help to make certain judgement.

And this is what I shared based on his family structure. He is father of two, one kid is small and other one in the early primary. His wife is housewife.

For family with kids always start point is from School, it’s fees and accommodation around. So I started sharing with him information, however I had to ask him few questions.

What type of School you will prefer, I mean Indian or International?

His response was “Indian” as he wants his kid to opt for CBSE pattern.  I told him that Tokyo has few good international schools which he might think of for his kid’s exposure and experience. But he told me that he is unsure about his stay duration, may be two years or three years or even longer. He is not clear and also depends on his family if they like to stay long or want to go back.

Well, that makes sense I thought

Schools:

Many options available for schools, Indian and International.

• ·        India International School in Japan ( IISJ – https://iisjapan.com/ )
• ·        Global Indian International School Tokyo ( GIIS Tokyo – https://jp.globalindianschool.org/tokyo)
• ·        TATHVA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL (www.tathva.ed.jp)

Other than these three famous Indian schools there are many new schools started like Sai Sishya International School (SSIS), Global Wisdom international school etc.

Other than this below link is having list of international schools

https://www.realestate-tokyo.com/living-in-tokyo/international-schools

As his inclination was for Indian school he asked me about fees, so I said it depends and I can provide range. General is 60,000 JPY to 120,000 JPY monthly for Indian Schools (may or may not include commutation services like School Bus). For International school’s fees are high ranging from 1.5MJPY to 2.5MJPY yearly.

There are few small schools who charge less around 30,000 JPY to 50,000 JPY monthly just to keep the kid engaged and play with other kids.

Below link provides more information on “The cost of educating a child in Japan”

https://educationinjapan.wordpress.com/parenting-potpourri/the-cost-of-educating-a-child-in-japan/

Certain schools provide discount for second child like Tsukuba International School (tis.ac.jp)

Now the next question was about accommodation.
I think it depends on individual’s lifestyle. There are various options available from low cost to high cost rent and also varies as per your area of selection.

Accommodation:

Most of the Indians prefer to stay near school in UR apartments (called Danchi)

UR Housing / Apartments in Tokyo, Kawasaki, Yokohama, Saitama (www.ur-housing.com) UR provide various type of apartments from 1LDK (One living dining kitchen) to 3LDK. Rent varies as per the location. UR apartments may charge between 80,000 JPY to 140,000 JPY monthly in general however few UR apartments which are much close to the station and are recently built can charge more. Here important note is about monthly maintenance and car parking in case you want to opt for one. You need to pay additional monthly maintenance charges which may vary between 4,000 JPY to 10,000 JPY as well as for car parking it may vary between 18,000 JPY to 30,000 JPY on monthly basis. In addition to monthly rent, you need to pay two-month deposit in one go or cover yearly. There are agents who can help to find UR apartments as well as help all the documentation and process. Depending on which area you want to stay you can ask your colleagues or even to the School for agents.

But there are people who also go for private apartments which are little costly in monthly rent than UR apartments. In addition to that there is gifting culture to the neighbors which you need to follow especially if you go for private apartments. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fp6Uk_QVedQ)

Whether you go for UR or Private apartments, these apartments are empty and you need to buy everything depending on your lifestyle. But there are people who don`t want to buy at first place and want to move to ready to stay apartments or rooms. For such people there are services from Anton (http://tokyoroominfo.com/node/2) and Arie. These apartments are most suitable for bachelors who don’t want to spend money in buying stuff for house.

More details here https://livejapan.com/en/article-a0002347/

https://www.tokyo-monthly.jp/en/

Now the next question is what are food options? are there Indian groceries available?

Food Options:

And my answer was YES but I could sense he wanted to know more.  He wanted to know monthly food expense. To this my answer would be, it all depends on your food habits. It means it depends on if you eat only veg, or non veg, prefer to go out, look for healthier food, like to party, drink etc. Your expenses may vary accordingly. One should know Tokyo is costly, those who like Japanese food are more comfortable than those who like to eat Indian food, especially vegetarian food. It`s not that options are not there, but initial period after relocation may be little harder. For the cost of food though it depends, but for a family it may be around 100,000 JPY average.

Commutation:

Metro and JR are the most efficient and convenient means of transport. Railway monthly pass is the best option if your commutation route is fixed. Bus services are available in your areas. If you miss the train late evening you still can travel by taxi. If you want to drive, you need driving licenses which you can apply locally after going through proper course or you can transfer your Indian car license after driving test. There is process you need to follow

Useful links: http://www.jaf.or.jp/e/translation/switch.htm

https://www.kikidrive.com/en/service.html

http://www.ogikubo-ds.com/english/index.html

Rental car options are the best in Japan https://www.rentalcars.com/

Communication:

There are various options available from different mobile providers for voice and data services. Most famous are Softbank, DoCoMo and KDDI – AU. At Japan most of the phones are under contract with sim card locked however nowadays SIM free phones are also available from providers like Rakuten.

For Wifi you can look for different options from the said providers as fixed line or portable (pocket wifi). If you want to bring your India phone and use SIM from japan, always ensure bandwidth support. It`s 4G LTE network in Japan and now 5G may come soon. You can keep your India phone in case you want services like Banking OTP, but then you need to opt for respective plan else you may end up paying much higher money than expected.

Thus for two phones you may spend from 10,000 JPY to 25,000 JPY monthly depending on which services, usage, operator and plan you opt for. For internet monthly charges are around 4,000 JPY per connection.

These are some essential considerations and expenses one need to consider while relocating to Japan. I am not sure how did my friend ended up finalizing/negotiating his salary with his employer but this information certainly helped him as per his feedback. After his positive feedback I thought I should write this down to help others. Hope you find this information useful.

— Editor IndoJapanPulse

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