Cost of living comparison

compared to

Japan vs. Washington Cost of Living Summary

Japan is 42.1% cheaper than Washington.

Restaurants: pay 61.8% less in Japan
Groceries: pay 14.3% less in Japan
Housing: pay 53.6% less in Japan
Childcare: pay 65.5% less in Japan
Entertainment and Sports: pay 35.2% less in Japan
Clothing: pay 21.9% less in Japan

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

Japan vs. Washington Cost Breakdown

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

Display currency: USD

pay 61.8% less for restaurants

	Washington	Japan
Basic meal with drink at inexpensive restaurant	$20.22	$6.60 ¥1,026	-67.3%
Fast food combo meal McDonalds, or similar	$12.00	$5.10 ¥792	-57.5%
Bottle of Coca-Cola (11 fl. oz)	$2.63	$1.07 ¥166	-59.4%
Bottle of water (11 fl. oz)	$2.05	$0.76 ¥118	-62.9%
Average			-61.8%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of restaurants

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pay 14.3% less for groceries

	Washington	Japan
Bread 1 loaf	$3.94	$1.50 ¥233	-61.9%
Local cheese (8 oz)	$7.07	$5.07 ¥787	-28.3%
Milk (1 gallon)	$4.20	$5.67 ¥880	+35.0%
Eggs 1 dozen	$4.68	$2.08 ¥323	-55.6%
Boneless chicken breast (1 lb)	$5.75	$2.93 ¥455	-49.1%
Apples (1 lb)	$2.30	$2.14 ¥332	-7.3%
Bananas (1 lb)	$0.86	$1.12 ¥174	+29.6%
Oranges (1 lb)	$2.02	$1.69 ¥263	-16.1%
Tomatoes (1 lb)	$2.09	$2.13 ¥331	+2.0%
Potatoes (1 lb)	$1.20	$1.22 ¥189	+1.6%
Onions (1 lb)	$1.24	$1.15 ¥179	-6.7%
Average			-14.3%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of groceries

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pay (unknown) more for transportation

	Washington	Japan
Gasoline (1 gallon)	$4.20	$4.39 ¥682	+4.6%
Monthly public transit pass	$67.70	$59.14 ¥9,189	-12.6%
New Volkswagen Golf 1.4 (standard edition)	$34,322.93	$22,599.51 ¥3,511,060	-34.2%
Taxi trip in downtown area (5 miles)	$17.81	$25.32 ¥3,934	+42.2%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of transportation

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pay 53.6% less for housing

	Washington	Japan
Internet connection 50 mbps or faster, cable/dsl	$72.42	$33.91 ¥5,269	-53.2%
1-Bedroom apartment in downtown area	$1,724.04	$543.18 ¥84,389	-68.5%
1-Bedroom apartment outside city center	$1,522.88	$353.61 ¥54,937	-76.8%
Utilities for two (700 sq ft apartment) including electric, gas, water, heating	$141.51	$118.72 ¥18,444	-16.1%
Average			-53.6%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of housing

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pay 65.5% less for childcare

	Washington	Japan
Private preschool for 1 child, monthly	$1,634.82	$296.89 ¥46,124	-81.8%
Middle school for 1 child, two semesters	$25,866.06	$13,159.48 ¥2,044,457	-49.1%
Average			-65.5%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of childcare

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pay 35.2% less for entertainment and sports

	Washington	Japan
Domestic/local beer (1 pint)	$6.54	$2.60 ¥405	-60.2%
Cappuccino in mid-range area	$5.33	$3.03 ¥470	-43.2%
Pack of cigarettes Marlboro or similar	$11.03	$3.89 ¥604	-64.8%
Monthly membership at local gym	$56.25	$59.54 ¥9,250	+5.8%
Movie ticket to theater/cinema	$14.46	$12.46 ¥1,936	-13.8%
Average			-35.2%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of entertainment and sports

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pay 21.9% less for clothing

	Washington	Japan
Regular jeans Levi's brand	$49.71	$44.79 ¥6,959	-9.9%
Regular dress from H&M or similar store	$41.67	$32.04 ¥4,978	-23.1%
Running shoes Nike or Adidas	$88.77	$57.37 ¥8,913	-35.4%
Men's business shoes (leather)	$108.22	$87.37 ¥13,574	-19.3%
Average			-21.9%

Washington vs. Japan - Cost of clothing

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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: December 2025

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