Cost of living comparison

Vanuatu

compared to

Japan

Japan vs. Vanuatu Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 50.3% cheaper than Vanuatu overall.

Restaurants: pay 56.3% less in Japan
Groceries: pay 43.8% less in Japan
Transportation: pay 11.6% less in Japan
Housing: pay 70.4% less in Japan
Childcare: pay 4.7% more in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 36.8% less in Japan
Clothing: pay 26.3% less in Japan

Expenses including housing, restaurants, groceries, entertainment and sports, clothing, and transportation are lower in Japan.

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Japan vs. Vanuatu Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 56.3% less for restaurants

	Vanuatu	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$12.67 VUV1,500	$6.75 ¥1,066	-46.7%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$14.35 VUV1,700	$5.10 ¥805	-64.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.28 VUV270	$1.13 ¥179	-50.2%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.36 VUV279	$0.76 ¥120	-67.9%
Average			-56.3%

Vanuatu vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 43.8% less for groceries

	Vanuatu	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$1.94 VUV230	$1.53 ¥241	-21.4%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$8.86 VUV1,050	$5.55 ¥877	-37.4%
Milk (1 gallon)	$10.63 VUV1,259	$5.56 ¥879	-47.6%
Eggs 1 dozen	$6.23 VUV737	$2.01 ¥318	-67.7%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$7.40 VUV877	$2.85 ¥450	-61.5%
Apples (1 lb)	$3.24 VUV384	$2.16 ¥342	-33.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.96 VUV113	$1.08 ¥171	+12.9%
Oranges (1 lb)	$1.78 VUV211	$1.54 ¥243	-13.6%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$4.21 VUV499	$1.92 ¥303	-54.5%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$4.02 VUV476	$1.10 ¥174	-72.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.57 VUV186	$1.08 ¥170	-31.5%
Average			-43.8%

Vanuatu vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay 11.6% less for transportation

	Vanuatu	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$6.78 VUV803	$4.11 ¥649	-39.4%
Monthly public transit pass	$67.55 VUV8,000	$63.20 ¥9,986	-6.4%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$23,220.47 VUV3M	$21,047.50 ¥3M	-9.4%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$9.29 VUV1,100	$24.65 ¥3,895	+165.4%
Average			-11.6%

Vanuatu vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 70.4% less for housing

	Vanuatu	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$363.08 VUV43,000	$33.54 ¥5,300	-90.8%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,579.90 VUV187K	$546.58 ¥86,367	-65.4%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,131.05 VUV134K	$360.78 ¥57,008	-68.1%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$484.28 VUV57,353	$113.26 ¥17,897	-76.6%
Average			-70.4%

Vanuatu vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 4.7% more for childcare

	Vanuatu	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$624.84 VUV74,000	$417.01 ¥65,893	-33.3%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$6,873.26 VUV814K	$11,300.14 ¥2M	+64.4%
Average			+4.7%

Vanuatu vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 36.8% less for entertainment and sports

	Vanuatu	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$5.07 VUV600	$2.57 ¥406	-49.3%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$4.08 VUV483	$3.06 ¥483	-25.1%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$9.29 VUV1,100	$3.83 ¥605	-58.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$68.29 VUV8,088	$53.31 ¥8,424	-21.9%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	??	$11.73 ¥1,853
Average			-36.8%

Vanuatu vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 26.3% less for clothing

	Vanuatu	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$40.99 VUV4,854	$46.32 ¥7,320	+13.0%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$67.55 VUV8,000	$31.33 ¥4,950	-53.6%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$84.40 VUV9,995	$59.45 ¥9,394	-29.6%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$101.28 VUV11,995	$81.04 ¥12,805	-20.0%
Average			-26.3%

Vanuatu 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: Vanuatu vs. Japan

Salary Calculator · Free tool

What salary would you need in Japan?

Quality of Life Comparison · 22 statistics

Make 8.9 times more money in Japan

Size Comparison · See true size

Vanuatu is about 31 times smaller than Japan.

Moving from Vanuatu to Japan · OECD 2023

75 people moved from Vanuatu to Japan.

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