Cost of living comparison

North Korea

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. North Korea Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 95.7% more expensive than North Korea overall.

Restaurants: pay 37.3% less in Japan
Groceries: pay 1.5% more in Japan
Housing: pay 5.0 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 28.2% less in Japan

The cost of housing and groceries in Japan are more expensive than in North Korea. Expenses including restaurants and entertainment and sports are lower in Japan. Notably, housing is significantly more expensive in Japan.

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Japan vs. North Korea Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of North Korea, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 37.3% less for restaurants

	North Korea	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$4.81 KPW4,327	$6.75 ¥1,066	+40.4%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$21.26 KPW19,136	$5.10 ¥805	-76.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.21 KPW1,985	$1.13 ¥179	-48.5%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$1.28 KPW1,153	$0.76 ¥120	-40.9%
Average			-37.3%

North Korea vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 1.5% more for groceries

	North Korea	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$2.30 KPW2,071	$1.53 ¥241	-33.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	??	$5.55 ¥877
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.55 KPW3,195	$5.56 ¥879	+56.7%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.00 KPW1,798	$2.01 ¥318	+0.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	??	$2.85 ¥450
Apples (1 lb)	??	$2.16 ¥342
Bananas (1 lb)	??	$1.08 ¥171
Oranges (1 lb)	??	$1.54 ¥243
Tomatoes (1 lb)	??	$1.92 ¥303
Potatoes (1 lb)	??	$1.10 ¥174
Onions (1 lb)	??	$1.08 ¥170
Average			+1.5%

North Korea vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay (unknown) more for transportation

	North Korea	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	??	$4.11 ¥649
Monthly public transit pass	??	$63.20 ¥9,986
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	??	$21,047.50 ¥3M
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	??	$24.65 ¥3,895

North Korea vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 5.0 times more for housing

	North Korea	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	??	$33.54 ¥5,300
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$89.58 KPW80,621	$546.58 ¥86,367	+510.2%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$89.58 KPW80,621	$360.78 ¥57,008	+302.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	??	$113.26 ¥17,897
Average			+395.7%

North Korea vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay (unknown) more for childcare

	North Korea	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	??	$417.01 ¥65,893
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	??	$11,300.14 ¥2M

North Korea vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 28.2% less for entertainment and sports

	North Korea	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$13.44 KPW12,093	$2.57 ¥406	-80.9%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$1.12 KPW1,008	$3.06 ¥483	+172.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	??	$3.83 ¥605
Monthly membership at local gym	$75.02 KPW67,520	$53.31 ¥8,424	-28.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$11.73 ¥1,853
Average			-28.2%

North Korea vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay (unknown) more for clothing

	North Korea	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	??	$46.32 ¥7,320
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	??	$31.33 ¥4,950
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	??	$59.45 ¥9,394
Men's business shoes (leather)	??	$81.04 ¥12,805

North Korea vs. Japan - 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

Compare further: North Korea vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 14 statistics

Be 73.9% more likely to have access to electricity in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

North Korea is about 3.1 times smaller than Japan.

Moving from North Korea to Japan · Cost, visas & climate

Compare cost of living, salary and climate.

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