Japan vs. Iceland Cost of Living Summary

Japan vs. Iceland Cost Breakdown

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

pay 72.2% less for restaurants

 
Iceland
Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $26.52
ISK3,296
$6.60
¥1,052
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$21.32
ISK2,649
$5.10
¥812
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $3.11
ISK386
$1.07
¥170

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pay 22.4% less for groceries

 
Iceland
Japan
Bread
1 loaf
$3.80
ISK473
$1.50
¥239
Local cheese (8 oz) $9.44
ISK1,173
$5.07
¥807
Milk (1 gallon) $7.78
ISK967
$5.67
¥902

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pay 33.8% less for transportation

 
Iceland
Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon) $9.65
ISK1,200
$4.39
¥699
Monthly public transit pass $79.56
ISK9,887
$59.14
¥9,418
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $49,144.25
ISK6M
$22,599.51
¥4M

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pay 34.8% less for housing

 
Iceland
Japan
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$95.65
ISK11,886
$33.91
¥5,400
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $2,289.17
ISK284K
$543.18
¥86,494
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,830.04
ISK227K
$353.61
¥56,308

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pay 34.2% less for childcare

 
Iceland
Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $334.67
ISK41,589
$296.89
¥47,275
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $30,711.08
ISK4M
$13,159.48
¥2M

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pay 48.8% less for entertainment and sports

 
Iceland
Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $11.14
ISK1,385
$2.60
¥415
Cappuccino in mid-range area $5.62
ISK699
$3.03
¥482
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$13.90
ISK1,727
$3.89
¥619

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pay 60.5% less for clothing

 
Iceland
Japan
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$130.91
ISK16,268
$44.79
¥7,133
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$61.83
ISK7,684
$32.04
¥5,102
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$163.81
ISK20,357
$57.37
¥9,135

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: March 2026
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