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Money Saving Audit

お金の節約診断

💰 Discover how much you could be saving!

Answer 8 quick questions to get your personalized savings report.

Question 1 of 813%

What is your annual income?

Frequently Asked Questions

A single foreigner living in Tokyo typically spends ¥200,000 to ¥300,000 per month in total: rent ¥70,000 to ¥100,000 for a 1K apartment in the 23 wards, food ¥40,000 to ¥60,000 (mix of home cooking and eating out), transportation ¥10,000 to ¥25,000, utilities ¥10,000 to ¥15,000, and phone ¥1,000 to ¥8,000. Monthly expenses are significantly lower in regional cities like Fukuoka or Sapporo where rent can be 30% to 50% cheaper than Tokyo.
Top money-saving strategies for foreigners in Japan: use furusato nozei to get free food worth far more than the ¥2,000 self-pay, switch your phone plan to an MVNO carrier like IIJmio or LINEMO to cut phone costs from ¥5,000 to ¥1,000 per month, shop at supermarkets after 7PM when bento boxes are discounted 30% to 50%, maximize credit card points by using a Rakuten Card for all daily spending, and switch electricity providers through a comparison tool to save ¥5,000 to ¥15,000 annually.
Legally, NHK's Broadcast Law requires anyone who owns a device capable of receiving NHK broadcasts — including TVs, some car radios, and certain internet-connected devices — to sign a receiving contract and pay the fee of approximately ¥13,650 per year (satellite contract is higher). Enforcement relies on door-to-door collectors and social pressure rather than criminal penalties, and many foreigners dispute the obligation, but the NHK receiving fee remains a legal obligation under Japan's broadcasting law.
The single most effective way to reduce your phone bill in Japan is to switch from a major carrier (docomo, au, or SoftBank charging ¥5,000 to ¥8,000 per month) to an MVNO or sub-brand carrier. Budget options include povo2.0 (base plan at ¥0/month plus topups), LINEMO (¥990/month for 3GB), and IIJmio (from ¥850/month). You can transfer your existing phone number using the MNP (Mobile Number Portability) process, which completes in 1 to 2 days with no service interruption.
Common subscription money leaks for foreigners in Japan include overlapping streaming services (Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, and Japanese services like U-NEXT simultaneously), unused gym memberships that Japan's social contract makes awkward to cancel, unnecessary insurance riders bundled into mobile phone contracts, premium bank account tiers that offer little benefit over free accounts, and English-language news subscriptions that can be replaced with free resources. A quarterly money audit of all automatic payments can reveal thousands of yen in easy savings.

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