Cost of living comparison

Russia

compared to

Japan

Tokyo vs. Moscow Cost of Living Summary

Tokyo is 2.1% more expensive than Moscow.

Restaurants: pay 26.1% less in Tokyo
Groceries: pay 67.5% more in Tokyo
Transportation: pay 12.0% more in Tokyo
Housing: pay 8.6% less in Tokyo
Childcare: pay 7.0% more in Tokyo
Entertainment and Sports: pay 16.5% more in Tokyo
Clothing: pay 53.3% less in Tokyo

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

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Tokyo vs. Moscow Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 26.1% less for restaurants

	Moscow	Tokyo
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$11.70 RUB966.60	$7.59 ¥1,200	-35.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$7.02 RUB579.96	$5.06 ¥800	-27.9%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$1.62 RUB133.67	$1.64 ¥259	+1.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.84 RUB69.07	$0.89 ¥140	+6.0%
Average			-26.1%

Moscow vs. Tokyo - Cost of restaurants

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pay 67.5% more for groceries

	Moscow	Tokyo
Bread 1 loaf	$1.02 RUB84.09	$1.71 ¥270	+68.0%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.14 RUB589.78	$5.29 ¥836	-25.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.61 RUB381.19	$5.75 ¥909	+24.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.86 RUB154.04	$2.26 ¥358	+21.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.98 RUB246.54	$3.08 ¥487	+3.2%
Apples (1 lb)	$0.93 RUB77.02	$2.15 ¥340	+130.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.81 RUB67.24	$1.07 ¥170	+31.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.90 RUB74.52	$1.96 ¥309	+117.0%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$1.79 RUB147.60	$2.39 ¥377	+33.7%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.41 RUB33.58	$1.53 ¥241	+275.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.32 RUB26.73	$1.46 ¥231	+351.6%
Average			+67.5%

Moscow vs. Tokyo - Cost of groceries

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pay 12.0% more for transportation

	Moscow	Tokyo
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$3.31 RUB273.63	$4.08 ¥645	+23.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$40.65 RUB3,358.95	$63.27 ¥9,997	+55.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$38,895.19 RUB3M	$21,725.38 ¥3M	-44.1%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.06 RUB831.28	$28.47 ¥4,499	+183.0%
Average			+12.0%

Moscow vs. Tokyo - Cost of transportation

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pay 8.6% less for housing

	Moscow	Tokyo
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$9.88 RUB816.43	$30.33 ¥4,793	+207.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,454.91 RUB120K	$1,280.34 ¥202K	-12.0%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$804.40 RUB66,468.30	$692.48 ¥109K	-13.9%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$142.85 RUB11,803.57	$113.45 ¥17,926	-20.6%
Average			-8.6%

Moscow vs. Tokyo - Cost of housing

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pay 7.0% more for childcare

	Moscow	Tokyo
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$809.00 RUB66,848.36	$1,341.43 ¥212K	+65.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$26,421.03 RUB2M	$18,252.10 ¥3M	-30.9%
Average			+7.0%

Moscow vs. Tokyo - Cost of childcare

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pay 16.5% more for entertainment and sports

	Moscow	Tokyo
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$4.68 RUB386.64	$3.80 ¥600	-18.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$3.70 RUB305.66	$3.56 ¥563	-3.7%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$3.45 RUB285.15	$3.92 ¥620	+13.7%
Monthly membership at local gym	$42.01 RUB3,471.49	$66.31 ¥10,478	+57.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$9.36 RUB773.28	$12.65 ¥1,999	+35.2%
Average			+16.5%

Moscow vs. Tokyo - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 53.3% less for clothing

	Moscow	Tokyo
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$108.46 RUB8,962.59	$55.50 ¥8,770	-48.8%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$62.47 RUB5,161.67	$32.95 ¥5,207	-47.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$145.30 RUB12,006.61	$65.04 ¥10,278	-55.2%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$180.19 RUB14,889.43	$70.74 ¥11,178	-60.7%
Average			-53.3%

Moscow 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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Moscow is about 4.1 times bigger than Tokyo.

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