Cost of living comparison

Sri Lanka

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Sri Lanka Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 2.3 times more expensive than Sri Lanka overall.

Restaurants: pay 75.2% more in Japan
Groceries: pay 75.0% more in Japan
Transportation: pay 2.0 times more in Japan
Housing: pay 2.4 times more in Japan
Childcare: pay 15.4 times more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 2.1 times more in Japan
Clothing: pay 78.5% more in Japan

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

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Japan vs. Sri Lanka Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of Sri Lanka, you would:

Display currency: USD

pay 75.2% more for restaurants

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.19 LKR726.11	$6.75 ¥1,066	+207.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.20 LKR2,052.12	$5.10 ¥805	-17.7%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.82 LKR270.87	$1.13 ¥179	+38.7%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.31 LKR101.62	$0.76 ¥120	+146.8%
Average			+75.2%

Sri Lanka vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 75.0% more for groceries

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$0.50 LKR164.88	$1.53 ¥241	+206.5%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$5.10 LKR1,689.36	$5.55 ¥877	+8.8%
Milk (1 gallon)	$5.00 LKR1,656.35	$5.56 ¥879	+11.3%
Eggs 1 dozen	$1.59 LKR525.48	$2.01 ¥318	+26.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.92 LKR637.54	$2.85 ¥450	+47.9%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.39 LKR790.19	$2.16 ¥342	-9.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.33 LKR110.92	$1.08 ¥171	+222.7%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.65 LKR546.03	$1.54 ¥243	-6.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.59 LKR195.36	$1.92 ¥303	+225.1%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.45 LKR150.14	$1.10 ¥174	+142.9%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.34 LKR113.13	$1.08 ¥170	+214.9%
Average			+75.0%

Sri Lanka vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 2.0 times more for transportation

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.79 LKR1,585.93	$4.11 ¥649	-14.2%
Monthly public transit pass	$4.92 LKR1,628.00	$63.20 ¥9,986	+1185.7%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,619.96 LKR10M	$21,047.50 ¥3M	-28.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$2.96 LKR979.01	$24.65 ¥3,895	+733.8%
Average			+100.3%

Sri Lanka vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 2.4 times more for housing

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$16.30 LKR5,399.45	$33.54 ¥5,300	+105.7%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$251.30 LKR83,230.31	$546.58 ¥86,367	+117.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$143.93 LKR47,668.88	$360.78 ¥57,008	+150.7%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$35.77 LKR11,847.20	$113.26 ¥17,897	+216.6%
Average			+142.9%

Sri Lanka vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 15.4 times more for childcare

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$28.08 LKR9,301.28	$417.01 ¥65,893	+1384.9%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$711.79 LKR236K	$11,300.14 ¥2M	+1487.6%
Average			+1435.4%

Sri Lanka vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 2.1 times more for entertainment and sports

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.16 LKR714.17	$2.57 ¥406	+19.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.16 LKR713.82	$3.06 ¥483	+41.8%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.91 LKR3,283.39	$3.83 ¥605	-61.4%
Monthly membership at local gym	$9.67 LKR3,202.38	$53.31 ¥8,424	+451.4%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$3.64 LKR1,206.25	$11.73 ¥1,853	+222.0%
Average			+107.3%

Sri Lanka vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 78.5% more for clothing

	Sri Lanka	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$21.76 LKR7,207.45	$46.32 ¥7,320	+112.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$13.15 LKR4,354.50	$31.33 ¥4,950	+138.3%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$71.61 LKR23,716.18	$59.45 ¥9,394	-17.0%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$33.60 LKR11,128.93	$81.04 ¥12,805	+141.2%
Average			+78.5%

Sri Lanka 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: Sri Lanka vs. Japan

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Sri Lanka is about 6 times smaller than Japan.

Moving from Sri Lanka to Japan · OECD 2023

11,328 people moved from Sri Lanka to Japan.

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