Cost of living comparison

United Kingdom

compared to

Japan

Tokyo vs. Edinburgh Cost of Living Summary

Tokyo is 30.7% cheaper than Edinburgh.

Restaurants: pay 59.4% less in Tokyo
Groceries: pay 10.8% more in Tokyo
Transportation: pay 37.7% less in Tokyo
Housing: pay 35.4% less in Tokyo
Childcare: pay 26.0% less in Tokyo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 28.4% less in Tokyo
Clothing: pay 35.9% less in Tokyo

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

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Tokyo vs. Edinburgh Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 59.4% less for restaurants

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$23.79 £17.96	$7.59 ¥1,202	-68.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$10.51 £7.94	$5.06 ¥801	-51.8%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.44 £1.85	$1.64 ¥260	-32.9%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.20 £1.66	$0.89 ¥140	-59.7%
Average			-59.4%

Edinburgh vs. Tokyo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 10.8% more for groceries

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Bread 1 loaf	$2.32 £1.75	$1.71 ¥271	-26.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$4.60 £3.47	$5.29 ¥838	+15.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$6.52 £4.92	$5.75 ¥911	-11.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$5.04 £3.81	$2.26 ¥358	-55.1%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$4.24 £3.21	$3.08 ¥488	-27.4%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.36 £1.03	$2.15 ¥340	+57.8%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.87 £0.66	$1.07 ¥170	+23.8%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.51 £1.14	$1.96 ¥310	+29.8%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.64 £1.24	$2.39 ¥378	+45.3%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.92 £0.69	$1.53 ¥242	+66.8%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.71 £0.53	$1.46 ¥231	+106.9%
Average			+10.8%

Edinburgh vs. Tokyo - Cost of groceries

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pay 37.7% less for transportation

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.96 £6.01	$4.08 ¥646	-48.7%
Monthly public transit pass	$96.46 £72.85	$63.27 ¥10,014	-34.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$38,182.92 £28,835.78	$21,725.38 ¥3M	-43.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$20.09 £15.17	$28.47 ¥4,506	+41.7%
Average			-37.7%

Edinburgh vs. Tokyo - Cost of transportation

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pay 35.4% less for housing

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$42.37 £32.00	$30.33 ¥4,801	-28.4%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,603.85 £1,211.23	$1,280.34 ¥203K	-20.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,179.13 £890.48	$692.48 ¥110K	-41.3%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$248.86 £187.94	$113.45 ¥17,957	-54.4%
Average			-35.4%

Edinburgh vs. Tokyo - Cost of housing

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pay 26.0% less for childcare

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,774.03 £1,339.75	$1,341.43 ¥212K	-24.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$25,173.70 £19,011.21	$18,252.10 ¥3M	-27.5%
Average			-26.0%

Edinburgh vs. Tokyo - Cost of childcare

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pay 28.4% less for entertainment and sports

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$7.93 £5.99	$3.80 ¥601	-52.1%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.10 £3.85	$3.56 ¥564	-30.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$23.46 £17.71	$3.92 ¥621	-83.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$44.82 £33.85	$66.31 ¥10,495	+47.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$14.54 £10.98	$12.65 ¥2,003	-13.0%
Average			-28.4%

Edinburgh vs. Tokyo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 35.9% less for clothing

	Edinburgh	Tokyo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$81.16 £61.29	$55.50 ¥8,785	-31.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$49.62 £37.47	$32.95 ¥5,216	-33.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$106.48 £80.41	$65.04 ¥10,296	-38.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$116.01 £87.61	$70.74 ¥11,197	-39.0%
Average			-35.9%

Edinburgh 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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