Cost-of-living ranges never feel real, so here are three concrete ledgers instead: a language-school student on the 28-hour work limit earns about ¥110,000 and ends the month at roughly zero — part-time work covers living, never tuition; an SSW factory worker in a company dorm nets ¥170,000, sends ¥60,000 home and still saves ¥26,000; an IT engineer taking home ¥320,000 spends ¥200,000 and banks ¥120,000. All three are Path2Japan estimates — calibration, not promises.
Key facts
- Student (28h part-time)
- Income ≈ ¥110,000, month ends ≈ ±0
- Factory worker (dorm + night shifts)
- Net ≈ ¥170,000; ¥60,000 remitted + ¥26,000 saved
- IT engineer (Tokyo 1R)
- Net ≈ ¥320,000, ≈ ¥120,000 left over
- The shared law
- Housing is the big variable — dorm/share/solo decides the balance
- Basis
- All P2J estimated ledgers, not official statistics
How to read these three ledgers
A cost range like “¥180,000–280,000” never becomes real, no matter how often you read it. Below are three line-by-line accounts — the people are fictional, every price is the going rate: a language-school student in Takadanobaba working at a konbini; an SSW worker at a Higashiosaka metal shop living in the company dorm; an IT engineer working in Toyosu renting a 1R in Koto. They are cross-sections of the three canonical routes.
Ledger 1: Nguyen, student, Takadanobaba — ¥110,000 in
Konbini evening shifts plus weekends, at the full 28-hour cap on Tokyo’s ¥1,226 floor:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Part-time income (28h × 4.3 weeks) | +¥110,000 |
| Share-house rent (walkable to Takadanobaba, utilities in) | −¥65,000 |
| Food (cooking + half-price bento) | −¥30,000 |
| Commuter pass | −¥5,000 |
| Phone (LINEMO) | −¥1,000 |
| National health insurance (student reduction) | −¥2,000 |
| Social and sundry | −¥10,000 |
| Month end | ≈ −¥3,000 |
The conclusion sits in the last row: part-time work feeds you; it does not pay tuition. The ¥700,000–900,000 yearly fee must come from somewhere else — family, savings or a scholarship. That is exactly why immigration screens the financial sponsor.
Ledger 2: Minh, factory worker, Higashiosaka — ¥170,000 net
SSW-1, ¥210,000 gross plus night-shift premiums, about ¥170,000 after deductions, company dorm:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net pay (incl. night premiums) | +¥170,000 |
| Dorm fee (deducted from pay) | −¥25,000 |
| Utilities | −¥8,000 |
| Food (canteen + cooking) | −¥35,000 |
| Phone | −¥1,000 |
| Commute (10-minute walk) | ¥0 |
| Remittance home | −¥60,000 |
| Sundries (daily goods, occasional dinner) | −¥15,000 |
| Month end | ≈ +¥26,000 |
Sixty thousand home plus ¥26,000 saved is a family cash flow on the order of a million yen a year — and it runs on two lines: the ¥0 commute and the ¥25,000 dorm. Move the same wage into a solo city apartment and this ledger flips negative at once.
Ledger 3: Kobayashi, IT engineer, Koto — ¥320,000 net
Gijinkoku visa, ¥400,000 gross (year one, no resident tax yet), about ¥320,000 net, 1R on the Tozai line:
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Net pay | +¥320,000 |
| Rent (Koto 1R) | −¥90,000 |
| Utilities + internet | −¥15,000 |
| Food (weekday eating out) | −¥55,000 |
| Phone (ahamo) | −¥3,000 |
| Commuter pass (fully reimbursed) | ¥0 |
| Social and hobbies | −¥30,000 |
| Subscriptions and sundry | −¥7,000 |
| Month end | ≈ +¥120,000 |
¥120,000 a month saved — with two caveats: resident tax arrives in year two and turns this into ¥100,000, and the two most elastic rows are food plus social at ¥85,000 combined, where a committed home cook claws back another ¥30,000.
Turning these into your ledger
The shared skeleton: the income side is set by visa and occupation, the spending side by housing — each step between dorm, share and solo moves the month-end figure by ¥30,000–60,000. Take your target city’s rent from the city database, feed it into the savings calculator, and cross-check the part-time wage page or your occupation’s salary page — five minutes gets you your own version. Every figure is a P2J estimate; city, year and habits will move it, but the order of magnitude will not lie to you.
Japanese you will use on this page (tap ▶)
| お会計は八百円になります。 O-kaikei wa happyaku-en ni narimasu. That will be 800 yen. | |
| 一万三千五百円です。 Ichiman sanzen gohyaku-en desu. That is 13,500 yen. | |
| 午後六時半に予約したいです。 Gogo roku-ji han ni yoyaku shitai desu. I would like a reservation for 6:30 p.m. | |
| ICカードにチャージしたいです。 IC kādo ni chāji shitai desu. I would like to charge my IC card. | |
| 支払いはコンビニ払いにできますか。 Shiharai wa konbini barai ni dekimasu ka. Can I pay at a convenience store? | |
| 手数料はいくらですか。 Tesūryō wa ikura desu ka. How much is the fee? |
Audio synthesized with VOICEVOX:Meimei Himari at standard pace for shadowing; real conversations run faster and carry accents.
Common mistakes & warnings
- These are typified ledgers, not anyone's actual bank statement — your city, wage and rent will move each line 10–20% either way. Use them to calibrate the order of magnitude, not as a promise.
- The engineer's ledger uses the year-one basis (no resident tax); from year two, take-home drops about 6%, so mentally cut that balance by around ¥20,000 — that is resident tax arriving, not an error.
- The student ledger deliberately excludes tuition — language school costs ¥700,000–900,000 a year, and 28 hours of part-time work mathematically cannot cover it. Anyone promising you can "easily pay tuition while working" is lying to you.
Frequently asked questions
How does a student turn that ±0 into a plus?
Three levers, in order of effect — cut rent from ¥65,000 to ¥50,000 by moving to a share in Itabashi or Kita; work the late-night band (25% premium after 10pm); and fill long school holidays at the relaxed 8-hours-a-day cap. All three together free up ¥30,000–40,000 a month.
Where does the ¥60,000 remittance figure come from?
It is the common tier in Vietnamese, Nepali and Burmese worker communities — roughly a third of net pay. The amount is yours to set, but one hard rule first — build an emergency fund of three months of living costs before fixing the remittance, or a single illness or line stoppage will punch straight through the plan.
What happens to these numbers in Osaka or Nagoya?
The income side barely moves (minimum wages differ by about 10%) while rent falls 30–40% — so the same working hours let a student save ¥20,000 a month in Osaka, and the factory worker's balance grows by about ¥10,000. Chain the city database to the savings calculator to run your own version.
Official sources
- MHLW — regional minimum wages (FY2025) (2026-07-18) — Basis for the student income line at Tokyo's ¥1,226 hourly floor
- SUUMO — Tokyo and Osaka rent market (2026-07-18) — Rent lines drawn from typical ward-level listing ranges
This page provides general information only and is not legal advice. Immigration rules change; always confirm details with the official sources listed above before making decisions.