Cost of living comparison

Thailand

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Thailand Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 29.1% more expensive than Thailand overall.

Restaurants: pay 47.2% more in Japan
Groceries: pay 40.6% more in Japan
Transportation: pay 7.8% more in Japan
Housing: pay 42.9% more in Japan
Childcare: pay 11.0% less in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 34.8% more in Japan
Clothing: pay 7.3% less in Japan

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

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Japan vs. Thailand Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 47.2% more for restaurants

	Thailand	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$2.89 THB96.05	$6.75 ¥1,066	+133.8%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$6.99 THB232.42	$5.10 ¥805	-27.0%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$0.75 THB24.81	$1.13 ¥179	+52.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$0.37 THB12.19	$0.76 ¥120	+106.7%
Average			+47.2%

Thailand vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 40.6% more for groceries

	Thailand	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$1.34 THB44.43	$1.53 ¥241	+14.3%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.95 THB264.36	$5.55 ¥877	-30.1%
Milk (1 gallon)	$7.12 THB236.74	$5.56 ¥879	-21.8%
Eggs 1 dozen	$2.06 THB68.55	$2.01 ¥318	-2.4%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$1.37 THB45.52	$2.85 ¥450	+108.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$1.35 THB44.98	$2.16 ¥342	+60.0%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.57 THB18.99	$1.08 ¥171	+89.3%
Oranges (1 lb)	$0.93 THB31.07	$1.54 ¥243	+64.7%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$0.82 THB27.38	$1.92 ¥303	+133.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$0.72 THB24.01	$1.10 ¥174	+52.5%
Onions (1 lb)	$0.57 THB18.88	$1.08 ¥170	+89.5%
Average			+40.6%

Thailand vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 7.8% more for transportation

	Thailand	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$5.07 THB168.49	$4.11 ¥649	-18.9%
Monthly public transit pass	$32.87 THB1,093.53	$63.20 ¥9,986	+92.3%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$29,201.01 THB971K	$21,047.50 ¥3M	-27.9%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$10.77 THB358.41	$24.65 ¥3,895	+128.8%
Average			+7.8%

Thailand vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 42.9% more for housing

	Thailand	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$19.17 THB637.71	$33.54 ¥5,300	+75.0%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$407.64 THB13,560.34	$546.58 ¥86,367	+34.1%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$268.13 THB8,919.39	$360.78 ¥57,008	+34.6%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$60.86 THB2,024.59	$113.26 ¥17,897	+86.1%
Average			+42.9%

Thailand vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 11.0% less for childcare

	Thailand	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$515.68 THB17,154.28	$417.01 ¥65,893	-19.1%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$11,528.28 THB383K	$11,300.14 ¥2M	-2.0%
Average			-11.0%

Thailand vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 34.8% more for entertainment and sports

	Thailand	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$2.10 THB69.86	$2.57 ¥406	+22.4%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$2.00 THB66.47	$3.06 ¥483	+52.9%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$4.15 THB138.07	$3.83 ¥605	-7.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$50.07 THB1,665.52	$53.31 ¥8,424	+6.5%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$6.05 THB201.30	$11.73 ¥1,853	+93.8%
Average			+34.8%

Thailand vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 7.3% less for clothing

	Thailand	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$44.30 THB1,473.73	$46.32 ¥7,320	+4.6%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$32.84 THB1,092.57	$31.33 ¥4,950	-4.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$83.65 THB2,782.57	$59.45 ¥9,394	-28.9%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$77.91 THB2,591.55	$81.04 ¥12,805	+4.0%
Average			-7.3%

Thailand 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: Thailand vs. Japan

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Size Comparison · See true size

Thailand is about 1.4 times bigger than Japan.

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