Prices

One of the first things that everyone said to me when I told them that I was planning on moving was that everything is more expensive in Japan. I heard that from my friends, co-workers and family. Now I'd like to know where people got this misinformation from because so far everything I've bought in Japan has either been the same price, or cheaper, than it was in the United States.

Here in Japan I rent a two-bedroom apartment for the equivalent of $700.00 a month; in New Jersey I was paying $1,025.00 a month for a one-bedroom apartment. Healthcare cost me $550.00 a month in the US for me and my family; in Japan the same coverage is costing us $98.00 a month.

You can see in the picture to your right that 12 rolls of toilet paper costs less than $2.00! The price of a pack of Marlboro cigarettes is around $4.00; they are twice the price in the United States and they are made there!

The one thing that did surprise me was the price of rice. Now everyone eats rice in Japan, and I mean everyone; so I assumed that rice would be a lot cheaper here since it is a guaranteed sale for every household. But no, at the Chinese Supermarket in New Jersey, I could get a big bag of rice for $10.00; here a bag about half the size is the same price. My wife says that the rice in the US is made in California, whereas the rice in Japan is made, you guessed it, in Japan. She says that there is a big difference in quality between the two, but I don't taste it.

I guess I'm just not a rice connoisseur yet.