Cost of living comparison

Australia

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Australia Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 43.9% cheaper than Australia overall.

Restaurants: pay 59.3% less in Japan
Groceries: pay 14.0% less in Japan
Transportation: pay 18.1% less in Japan
Housing: pay 57.3% less in Japan
Childcare: pay 63.8% less in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 42.2% less in Japan
Clothing: pay 40.4% less in Japan

Expenses including childcare, restaurants, housing, entertainment and sports, clothing, and transportation are lower in Japan.

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Japan vs. Australia Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of Australia, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 59.3% less for restaurants

	Australia	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$18.42 A$26.38	$6.75 ¥1,068	-63.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.19 A$14.59	$5.10 ¥807	-50.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.88 A$4.12	$1.13 ¥180	-60.6%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.33 A$3.33	$0.76 ¥120	-67.5%
Average			-59.3%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 14.0% less for groceries

	Australia	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$2.64 A$3.78	$1.53 ¥242	-42.2%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.67 A$6.69	$5.55 ¥879	+18.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.28 A$8.99	$5.56 ¥881	-11.4%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.79 A$6.86	$2.01 ¥318	-58.0%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.19 A$6.00	$2.85 ¥451	-32.0%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.62 A$2.31	$2.16 ¥342	+33.9%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.32 A$1.89	$1.08 ¥171	-18.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.35 A$1.94	$1.54 ¥244	+13.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.06 A$2.95	$1.92 ¥304	-6.9%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.19 A$1.70	$1.10 ¥174	-7.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.05 A$1.50	$1.08 ¥170	+2.6%
Average			-14.0%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 18.1% less for transportation

	Australia	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.98 A$7.13	$4.11 ¥650	-17.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$91.09 A$130.43	$63.20 ¥10,004	-30.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$27,191.77 A$38,934.37	$21,047.50 ¥3M	-22.6%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.22 A$24.66	$24.65 ¥3,901	+43.1%
Average			-18.1%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 57.3% less for housing

	Australia	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$57.16 A$81.84	$33.54 ¥5,309	-41.3%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,309.09 A$1,874.41	$546.58 ¥86,515	-58.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,073.97 A$1,537.75	$360.78 ¥57,105	-66.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$146.37 A$209.58	$113.26 ¥17,928	-22.6%
Average			-57.3%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 63.8% less for childcare

	Australia	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,957.92 A$2,803.44	$417.01 ¥66,006	-78.7%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$18,377.12 A$26,313.16	$11,300.14 ¥2M	-38.5%
Average			-63.8%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 42.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Australia	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$7.20 A$10.31	$2.57 ¥407	-64.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.95 A$5.65	$3.06 ¥484	-22.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$36.89 A$52.82	$3.83 ¥606	-89.6%
Monthly membership at local gym	$56.05 A$80.26	$53.31 ¥8,438	-4.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$14.44 A$20.67	$11.73 ¥1,856	-18.8%
Average			-42.2%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 40.4% less for clothing

	Australia	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$77.86 A$111.48	$46.32 ¥7,332	-40.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$53.33 A$76.36	$31.33 ¥4,959	-41.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$112.59 A$161.21	$59.45 ¥9,410	-47.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$118.82 A$170.13	$81.04 ¥12,827	-31.8%
Average			-40.4%

Australia vs. Japan - Cost of clothing

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We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Sources: MyLifeElsewhere's cost-of-living dataset (prices updated October 2026). How we calculate this

Compare further: Australia vs. Japan

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