Cost of living comparison

Rwanda

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Rwanda Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 42.9% more expensive than Rwanda overall.

Restaurants: pay 46.1% more in Japan
Groceries: pay 2.3 times more in Japan
Transportation: pay 0.3% more in Japan
Housing: pay 2.5% less in Japan
Childcare: pay 2.1 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.2 times more in Japan
Clothing: pay 2.4 times more in Japan

The cost of clothing, groceries, entertainment and sports, childcare, restaurants, and transportation in Japan are more expensive than in Rwanda. Notably, clothing, groceries, and entertainment and sports are significantly more expensive in Japan.

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Japan vs. Rwanda Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 46.1% more for restaurants

	Rwanda	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.71 RWF4,005	$6.75 ¥1,066	+149.1%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.77 RWF10,013	$5.10 ¥805	-24.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.78 RWF1,155	$1.13 ¥179	+45.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.56 RWF826	$0.76 ¥120	+35.5%
Average			+46.1%

Rwanda vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 2.3 times more for groceries

	Rwanda	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$1.05 RWF1,548	$1.53 ¥241	+45.7%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$2.11 RWF3,115	$5.55 ¥877	+163.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$3.16 RWF4,675	$5.56 ¥879	+75.9%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.63 RWF2,412	$2.01 ¥318	+23.2%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$2.08 RWF3,078	$2.85 ¥450	+36.7%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.09 RWF1,618	$2.16 ¥342	+97.7%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.35 RWF522	$1.08 ¥171	+205.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.69 RWF1,019	$1.54 ¥243	+123.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.48 RWF707	$1.92 ¥303	+301.2%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.23 RWF333	$1.10 ¥174	+388.7%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 RWF499	$1.08 ¥170	+218.5%
Average			+130.1%

Rwanda vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 0.3% more for transportation

	Rwanda	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$7.00 RWF10,345	$4.11 ¥649	-41.3%
Monthly public transit pass	$25.40 RWF37,550	$63.20 ¥9,986	+148.8%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$26,080.15 RWF39M	$21,047.50 ¥3M	-19.3%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$18.97 RWF28,037	$24.65 ¥3,895	+29.9%
Average			+0.3%

Rwanda vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.5% less for housing

	Rwanda	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$21.00 RWF31,041	$33.54 ¥5,300	+59.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$666.07 RWF985K	$546.58 ¥86,367	-17.9%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$413.79 RWF612K	$360.78 ¥57,008	-12.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$64.32 RWF95,077	$113.26 ¥17,897	+76.1%
Average			-2.5%

Rwanda vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 2.1 times more for childcare

	Rwanda	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$112.90 RWF167K	$417.01 ¥65,893	+269.4%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$9,510.48 RWF14M	$11,300.14 ¥2M	+18.8%
Average			+109.5%

Rwanda vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.2 times more for entertainment and sports

	Rwanda	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$1.02 RWF1,502	$2.57 ¥406	+153.0%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.42 RWF3,578	$3.06 ¥483	+26.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$2.03 RWF3,004	$3.83 ¥605	+88.3%
Monthly membership at local gym	$26.72 RWF39,497	$53.31 ¥8,424	+99.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.39 RWF5,007	$11.73 ¥1,853	+246.2%
Average			+117.9%

Rwanda vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 2.4 times more for clothing

	Rwanda	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$17.39 RWF25,701	$46.32 ¥7,320	+166.4%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$15.58 RWF23,031	$31.33 ¥4,950	+101.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$22.24 RWF32,877	$59.45 ¥9,394	+167.3%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.87 RWF50,067	$81.04 ¥12,805	+139.3%
Average			+141.9%

Rwanda 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: Rwanda vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 32.0 times more money in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

Rwanda is about 14 times smaller than Japan.

Moving from Rwanda to Japan · OECD 2023

105 people moved from Rwanda to Japan.

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