Cost of living comparison

Australia

compared to

Japan

Tokyo vs. Canberra Cost of Living Summary

Tokyo is 33.3% cheaper than Canberra.

Restaurants: pay 54.9% less in Tokyo
Groceries: pay 14.5% less in Tokyo
Transportation: pay 16.7% less in Tokyo
Housing: pay 38.6% less in Tokyo
Childcare: pay 28.6% less in Tokyo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 41.4% less in Tokyo
Clothing: pay 40.2% less in Tokyo

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

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Tokyo vs. Canberra Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 54.9% less for restaurants

	Canberra	Tokyo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$17.41 A$24.92	$7.59 ¥1,202	-56.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.44 A$14.95	$5.06 ¥801	-51.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$3.09 A$4.43	$1.64 ¥260	-46.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.55 A$3.66	$0.89 ¥140	-65.3%
Average			-54.9%

Canberra vs. Tokyo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 14.5% less for groceries

	Canberra	Tokyo
Bread 1 loaf	$3.25 A$4.66	$1.71 ¥271	-47.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$6.48 A$9.28	$5.29 ¥838	-18.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.82 A$8.33	$5.75 ¥911	-1.2%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.26 A$7.53	$2.26 ¥358	-56.9%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.47 A$6.41	$3.08 ¥488	-31.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.80 A$2.57	$2.15 ¥340	+19.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$1.43 A$2.05	$1.07 ¥170	-25.0%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.59 A$2.27	$1.96 ¥310	+23.4%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.36 A$3.38	$2.39 ¥378	+1.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.41 A$2.02	$1.53 ¥242	+8.4%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.26 A$1.81	$1.46 ¥231	+15.8%
Average			-14.5%

Canberra vs. Tokyo - Cost of groceries

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pay 16.7% less for transportation

	Canberra	Tokyo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.07 A$7.26	$4.08 ¥646	-19.5%
Monthly public transit pass	$92.46 A$132.39	$63.27 ¥10,014	-31.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,937.53 A$38,570.34	$21,725.38 ¥3M	-19.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$16.79 A$24.05	$28.47 ¥4,506	+69.5%
Average			-16.7%

Canberra vs. Tokyo - Cost of transportation

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pay 38.6% less for housing

	Canberra	Tokyo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$55.39 A$79.32	$30.33 ¥4,801	-45.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,743.39 A$2,496.26	$1,280.34 ¥203K	-26.6%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,478.12 A$2,116.43	$692.48 ¥110K	-53.2%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$139.13 A$199.21	$113.45 ¥17,957	-18.5%
Average			-38.6%

Canberra vs. Tokyo - Cost of housing

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pay 28.6% less for childcare

	Canberra	Tokyo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$2,367.60 A$3,390.04	$1,341.43 ¥212K	-43.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$20,280.48 A$29,038.49	$18,252.10 ¥3M	-10.0%
Average			-28.6%

Canberra vs. Tokyo - Cost of childcare

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pay 41.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Canberra	Tokyo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$8.35 A$11.96	$3.80 ¥601	-54.6%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.03 A$5.77	$3.56 ¥564	-11.5%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$44.55 A$63.79	$3.92 ¥621	-91.2%
Monthly membership at local gym	$82.62 A$118.30	$66.31 ¥10,495	-19.7%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$15.67 A$22.43	$12.65 ¥2,003	-19.2%
Average			-41.4%

Canberra vs. Tokyo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 40.2% less for clothing

	Canberra	Tokyo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$76.36 A$109.34	$55.50 ¥8,785	-27.3%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$56.12 A$80.36	$32.95 ¥5,216	-41.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$116.35 A$166.60	$65.04 ¥10,296	-44.1%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$131.92 A$188.89	$70.74 ¥11,197	-46.4%
Average			-40.2%

Canberra 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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Canberra is about 1.3 times bigger than Tokyo.

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