Cost of living comparison

Romania

compared to

Japan

Tokyo vs. Bucharest Cost of Living Summary

Tokyo is 28.9% more expensive than Bucharest.

Restaurants: pay 42.7% less in Tokyo
Groceries: pay 77.1% more in Tokyo
Transportation: pay 15.7% more in Tokyo
Housing: pay 56.1% more in Tokyo
Childcare: pay 64.8% more in Tokyo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 14.3% more in Tokyo
Clothing: pay 23.3% less in Tokyo

The cost of groceries, childcare, housing, transportation, and entertainment and sports in Tokyo are more expensive than in Bucharest. Expenses including restaurants and clothing are lower in Tokyo. Notably, groceries is significantly more expensive in Tokyo.

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Tokyo vs. Bucharest Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Tokyo instead of Bucharest, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 42.7% less for restaurants

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$14.64 RON69.25	$7.59 ¥1,200	-48.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.32 RON34.63	$5.06 ¥800	-30.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.42 RON11.44	$1.64 ¥259	-32.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.25 RON10.65	$0.89 ¥140	-60.7%
Average			-42.7%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 77.1% more for groceries

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.32 RON6.24	$1.71 ¥270	+29.6%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.36 RON20.63	$5.29 ¥836	+21.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.22 RON29.40	$5.75 ¥909	-7.5%
Eggs 1 dozen	$3.67 RON17.35	$2.26 ¥358	-38.3%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$3.05 RON14.45	$3.08 ¥487	+0.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.57 RON2.70	$2.15 ¥340	+276.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.72 RON3.43	$1.07 ¥170	+48.2%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 RON3.25	$1.96 ¥309	+184.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.15 RON5.42	$2.39 ¥377	+108.6%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.36 RON1.73	$1.53 ¥241	+318.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RON1.62	$1.46 ¥231	+326.8%
Average			+77.1%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - Cost of groceries

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pay 15.7% more for transportation

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.45 RON35.25	$4.08 ¥645	-45.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$20.91 RON98.93	$63.27 ¥9,997	+202.5%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$28,531.98 RON135K	$21,725.38 ¥3M	-23.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$5.65 RON26.71	$28.47 ¥4,499	+404.2%
Average			+15.7%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - Cost of transportation

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pay 56.1% more for housing

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.27 RON43.83	$30.33 ¥4,793	+227.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$677.15 RON3,203.34	$1,280.34 ¥202K	+89.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$451.32 RON2,135.02	$692.48 ¥109K	+53.4%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$147.83 RON699.33	$113.45 ¥17,926	-23.3%
Average			+56.1%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - Cost of housing

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pay 64.8% more for childcare

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$627.11 RON2,966.59	$1,341.43 ¥212K	+113.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$14,371.87 RON67,987.54	$18,252.10 ¥3M	+27.0%
Average			+64.8%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - Cost of childcare

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pay 14.3% more for entertainment and sports

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$3.76 RON17.81	$3.80 ¥600	+0.8%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.51 RON16.59	$3.56 ¥563	+1.6%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$6.43 RON30.42	$3.92 ¥620	-39.0%
Monthly membership at local gym	$49.22 RON232.83	$66.31 ¥10,478	+34.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$8.37 RON39.57	$12.65 ¥1,999	+51.3%
Average			+14.3%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 23.3% less for clothing

	Bucharest	Tokyo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$88.76 RON419.90	$55.50 ¥8,770	-37.5%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$38.43 RON181.80	$32.95 ¥5,207	-14.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$77.83 RON368.20	$65.04 ¥10,278	-16.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$91.69 RON433.74	$70.74 ¥11,178	-22.8%
Average			-23.3%

Bucharest vs. Tokyo - 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

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Bucharest is about 2.7 times smaller than Tokyo.

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