Japan vs. United Kingdom Cost of Living Summary
Japan vs. United Kingdom Cost Breakdown

If you lived in Japan instead of United Kingdom, you would:

pay 55.5% less for restaurants

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant $18.70
£13.90
$6.44
¥941
Fast food combo meal
McDonalds, or similar
$9.25
£6.88
$4.94
¥722
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz) $2.23
£1.66
$0.97
¥142

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pay 28.9% more for groceries

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Bread
1 loaf
$1.53
£1.14
$1.52
¥223
Local cheese (8 oz) $4.35
£3.23
$5.72
¥836
Milk (1 gallon) $5.92
£4.40
$5.46
¥797

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pay 17.5% less for transportation

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon) $7.07
£5.26
$4.22
¥617
Monthly public transit pass $98.23
£73.00
$57.82
¥8,447
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition) $34,832.80
£25,886.45
$22,042.19
¥3,220,474

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pay 49.9% less for housing

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Internet connection
50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl
$39.40
£29.28
$31.09
¥4,542
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area $1,243.58
£924.18
$500.38
¥73,108
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center $1,020.84
£758.65
$325.42
¥47,545

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pay 60.6% less for childcare

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly $1,497.56
£1,112.93
$288.10
¥42,093
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters $18,629.32
£13,844.62
$11,095.30
¥1,621,079

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pay 28.3% less for entertainment and sports

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint) $5.63
£4.18
$2.71
¥396
Cappuccino in mid-range area $4.12
£3.06
$2.78
¥406
Pack of cigarettes
Marlboro or similar
$17.47
£12.98
$3.98
¥582

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pay 34.3% less for clothing

 
United Kingdom
Japan
Regular jeans
Levi's brand
$78.43
£58.29
$40.54
¥5,924
Regular dress
from H&M or similar store
$40.13
£29.82
$26.82
¥3,918
Running shoes
Nike or Adidas
$90.36
£67.15
$54.08
¥7,901

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The statistics used to build this comparison are calculated using data from users just like you. We average the price of thousands of data points entered by users across the world. Learn more about our data sources. Page last updated: June 2025
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