Is Tokyo cheaper than Bangkok?

[jaywalker2]

7 hours ago, sqwakvfr said:

I doubt the Japanese Government will. My favorite country is S. Korea and they have no long term visa’s except for marriage, employment or education visas at actual universities. At this point both Japan and S. Korea have enough wealth and income from exports of actual products that they are not in need of old foreigners to live there.  If Korea offered anything like Non Imm OA or even O Retirement I would be there fast.  I do believe both countries offer long term visa’s to certain wealthy foreigners.  My guess would be investing something like. $500,000 in real estate would be a start.  Now back to reality in LOS. 

If you want to live long-term in Japan, you have to marry a Japanese. Long-term visas are easy to get if you're married and you get 3 years. Japan is not an easy place to live, however, much harder than Thailand.

[Sumiyoshicho]

8 hours ago, HugoFastor said:

I wouldn't say the 50% devaluation of the Yen has made Tokyo cheap, but it's certainly made it more attainable for a tourist traveling to Asia for a week. 

"More attainable for a tourist" - totally agree and a much better description than Tokyo is cheap.  

[Sumiyoshicho]

7 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

If you want to live long-term in Japan, you have to marry a Japanese. Long-term visas are easy to get if you're married and you get 3 years. Japan is not an easy place to live, however, much harder than Thailand.

I have lived 20+ years in Japan without marrying a Japanese and know many others similar.  Increasingly easier to get

5-10 year visas based on your employment. Gaining permanent residency not as difficult to get as some countries. Agreed, it is harder to live than Thailand which is why i can't wait to move there. 

[sqwakvfr]

8 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

If you want to live long-term in Japan, you have to marry a Japanese. Long-term visas are easy to get if you're married and you get 3 years. Japan is not an easy place to live, however, much harder than Thailand.

Totally agree.  I spoke to a guy who was living in Japan many years ago and he said in order to rent an apartment he had to get a Japanese national to sign as a guarantor.  It sounded more like the Japanese person was like a reference. 

[jaywalker2]

2 hours ago, Sumiyoshicho said:

I have lived 20+ years in Japan without marrying a Japanese and know many others similar.  Increasingly easier to get

5-10 year visas based on your employment. Gaining permanent residency not as difficult to get as some countries. Agreed, it is harder to live than Thailand which is why i can't wait to move there. 

I was actually referring to the retirement situation. Japan doesn't offer a retirement visa, as far as I know. In fact, when I was there, it was trying to get rid of its own senior citizens by shipping them off to senior facilities in places like the Phillipines.

 

The fact that you and others like you haven't married indicates how much Japan has changed though. In the 80's and early 90's it was rare to find a long-term foreign resident who didn't end up married, even those who were supposedly confirmed bachelors.

[FritsSikkink]

12 hours ago, Celsius said:

 

no

Yes, they do. Dumb remark made without any knowledge at all. 

[Celsius]

6 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Yes, they do. Dumb remark made without any knowledge at all. 

 

no you are lying again

[FritsSikkink]

2 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

no you are lying again

You are a dumb troll, now go find something else to do muppet.

[Celsius]

1 minute ago, FritsSikkink said:

You are a dumb troll, now go find something else to do muppet.

 

My ex wife worked for Siemens BTS project. My ex worked for 3M. My current wife works in industrial manufacturing for the past 20 years supplying Honda, Toyota, Panasonic, Seagate and just about every large company in Thailand. I know what Thai salaries are like you massive liar.

[FritsSikkink]

2 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

My ex wife worked for Siemens BTS project. My ex worked for 3M. My current wife works in industrial manufacturing for the past 20 years supplying Honda, Toyota, Panasonic, Seagate and just about every large company in Thailand. I know what Thai salaries are like you massive liar.

 

You now nothing, troll

 

[FritsSikkink]

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

 

You now nothing, troll

 

 

[Celsius]

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

 

You now nothing, troll

 

 

looks like some boiler room operation 

[FritsSikkink]

3 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

looks like some boiler room operation 

Sure, just that your wife had a low paid job, doesn't mean others have. 

 

[Celsius]

2 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

Sure, just that your wife had a low paid job, doesn't mean others have. 

 

ohh.... personal attacks. Must have caught you in a lie and hit a nerve

[FritsSikkink]

Just now, Celsius said:

 

ohh.... personal attacks. Must have cought you in a lie and hit a nerve

You started calling me a liar, I proved you wrong.

Better keep quite as you seem to be a special sort of ignorant.

[retarius]

I own an apartment in Tokyo and spend a large amount to time there each year. Tokyo, living expenses are very low at the moment, food in supermarket, eating out, clothing, electronics, healthcare. The exchange rate is very low for the Japanese yen and was 150 yen to the USD just a few days ago. What is not inexpensive is apartment rental if you want to live there, nor are hotel rates cheap. Airfares are on a par with a few years back. So net, net, going for a vacation is expensive because of hotel costs and eating out expenses, while reasonable, are higher than here. If you have accommodation from a friends or relative there, now is a good time to visit and enjoy fabulous food and great shopping.

[Irish star]

23 hours ago, mfd101 said:

Haven't heard of the countryside? Isaan?

 

In my family's village there are many who earn 0฿ per day. They get by by begging, borrowing & stealing. And they're not all old people. Plenty of teenagers whose parents are incapable of supporting them ...

I’m sure it’s Grandparents raising them 

[ChaiyaTH]

Just met someone telling me the same, he said Tokyo was cheap while he expected it to be expensive as everyone who went there in years before said so. I think many people who did not go there recently, will not even know how much it changed.

 

According to him finding a room for like 20-25 a night was no issue either, that's the same I lose at least in BKK.

[ChaiyaTH]

2 minutes ago, Irish star said:

I’m sure it’s Grandparents raising them 

There is plenty where all 3 generations stay at the farm house and do nothing much at all, except when a big harvest is somewhere, they work for some weeks.

[ChaiyaTH]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

 

You now nothing, troll

 

Lol that is absolute nonsense comparable job in posts, those people can not even be found in Thailand, that is why the salaries for such jobs are extremely high. In fact most people doing those jobs in Bangkok are foreigners, just go look in one of the Booking or Agoda offices there. Also there are just some hundreds of jobs, in a country with 60+ million. Those jobs are also senior positions, even harder to find.

 

And even those in Thailand who do earn like 30-40K baht, they are usually in big long-term (20-30 year) debts with having a education debt, bad car lease, credit card loans etc + spend easily 10K on a place to live in BKK and public transport costs alone too.

But sure, you are right, there is also a good 4-5 million Thai people that do earn at least that figure, still few compared to all of them. Doubt there is more than half a million that earn salaries like the one from your linkedin screenshot, if they do they are business owners. Or police generals with side businesses etc.

 

I believe the official prime minister salary is only like 70,000-90,000 baht a month too.

[FritsSikkink]

28 minutes ago, ChaiyaTH said:

Lol that is absolute nonsense comparable job in posts, those people can not even be found in Thailand, that is why the salaries for such jobs are extremely high. In fact most people doing those jobs in Bangkok are foreigners, just go look in one of the Booking or Agoda offices there. Also there are just some hundreds of jobs, in a country with 60+ million. Those jobs are also senior positions, even harder to find.

 

And even those in Thailand who do earn like 30-40K baht, they are usually in big long-term (20-30 year) debts with having a education debt, bad car lease, credit card loans etc + spend easily 10K on a place to live in BKK and public transport costs alone too.

But sure, you are right, there is also a good 4-5 million Thai people that do earn at least that figure, still few compared to all of them. Doubt there is more than half a million that earn salaries like the one from your linkedin screenshot, if they do they are business owners. Or police generals with side businesses etc.

 

I believe the official prime minister salary is only like 70,000-90,000 baht a month too.

I work for an IT company in Bangkok and we DO have Thai people getting 100000 per month. I know quite a few businesses in Thailand where people get those amounts too. Of course there are more people who earn less but the people denying the fact that it happens are idiots.

[Sumiyoshicho]

2 hours ago, jaywalker2 said:

I was actually referring to the retirement situation. Japan doesn't offer a retirement visa, as far as I know. In fact, when I was there, it was trying to get rid of its own senior citizens by shipping them off to senior facilities in places like the Phillipines.

 

The fact that you and others like you haven't married indicates how much Japan has changed though. In the 80's and early 90's it was rare to find a long-term foreign resident who didn't end up married, even those who were supposedly confirmed bachelors.

There is no retirement visa at the moment and if there were I'd imagine the financial requirements would be unrealistic like the recent digital nomad visa. Japan has changed a lot especially with the range of jobs foreigners are now able to do. The drop in birth rate has led to an urgent need for an increase in foreign labour.