The Real Cost of Living in Kyoto

I’ve been living in Kyoto since 2021. Before that I was in Shimane (very rural) and Tokyo for a while. Kyoto is where I’ve stuck around the longest, and it’s also where I plan to stay for the foreseeable future.

Of course, Kyoto is famous for tourism. Millions of people visit every year, and I hope they all have an amazing time here, because it really is an awesome city to visit. But not many people stop to think about what it’s actually like to live here day to day. So that’s what this post is: a full breakdown of what my life costs in Kyoto.

Quick intro in case you’re new here: I’m Alex, and I’ve been living in Japan for 11 years now. I came here on the JET Program, later worked at a tech company, then a university, and now I’m doing my own thing. Some part-time work, some freelance writing, and building Mugi, my Japanese-learning app.

Let’s get into it!

Rent: ¥50,000/month (my share)

Like most people, my biggest expense is rent. I live in a two-bedroom apartment, also known as a “2LDK” here. That means 2 bedrooms plus a Living/Dining/Kitchen room. I live with my wife and my dog, Mugi (who inspired the app!)

Total rent for the place is ¥90,000/month, which is pretty cheap for an apartment this size in Kyoto. The catch is the location, as we’re not in central Kyoto. We’re out in the suburbs, where it’s mostly families, not much in the way of entertainment, and it’s a solid 15–20 minute walk to the nearest station, which is further than average. That’s basically what brings the price down.

I pay ¥50,000/month, which is a bit more than half. I think it’s fair since I work from home a lot, so I’m using more electricity and utilities and stuff than my wife.

Utilities: ~¥10,000/month (my share)

Utilities include electricity, gas, water, and internet, and they vary a lot depending on the season.

Electricity — In the nicer months (spring, autumn) it’s usually around ¥2,000–3,000/month. But in summer when it’s stupidly hot, or winter when it’s freezing, it can go over ¥10,000/month. Part of that is because the apartment’s a bit old and the insulation isn’t great. Averaged across the year it’s about ¥9,500/month, split evenly, so I pay ¥4,750/month.

Gas: Mainly for cooking and heating water, so it can also vary by season. Averages around ¥5,500/month, so my half is ¥2,750/month.

Water: Averages about ¥5,000/month, so my share is ¥2,500/month. It’s a little higher than average because we use the bathtub a lot, because hot baths are awesome!

Internet: About ¥4,700/month, and I pay this one entirely myself since I’m home more and use the internet way more (I’m addicted to the internet, send help). I use Rakuten Hikari, but most providers cost about the same.

Phone — I also use Rakuten Mobile, mainly because they had a good sign-up deal a few years back. Their pricing is data-tiered: under 3GB is about ¥1,000, 3–20GB is about ¥2,000, and over 20GB is ¥3,000 flat with unlimited data after that. I use somewhere around 5–10GB a month, so my bill lands around ¥2,000/month.

Haircuts: ¥2,000/month

I’m lazy about this. I let my hair grow out for a couple of months and then get it all cut at once, which usually costs around ¥3,500 for a proper cut every 2–3 months. A more disciplined person might go monthly for a cheaper ¥2,000 cut. Averaging it out, I’d put this at about ¥2,000/month.

Dog: ¥2,000/month

Food, vet visits, treats, toys. She’s a small dog and doesn’t eat a huge amount, so we buy a 5kg bag of food and it lasts a while. Japan also does pretty great, cheap dog toys. Vet visits are occasional since she’s young and thankfully healthy, so it’s mostly just vaccinations or the occasional checkup. Dog-related costs run about ¥2,000/month.

Groceries: ¥12,000/month

I don’t buy anything fancy. I just go to my neighborhood supermarket and get whatever’s cheap or on sale that day: meat, vegetables, and the usual staples like rice and pasta. I don’t overthink it too much. This comes out to about ¥12,000/month.

Dining Out: under ¥20,000/month

Dining out is a real wildcard. I don’t go out much these days (I’m a bit of a shut-in) but my wife and I try to get dinner out once or twice a week, nothing fancy. Prices in Japan have been creeping up lately, but it’s still pretty reasonable compared to wages. A decent sit-down meal runs about ¥1,000–2,000 per person. Add in the occasional lunch or dinner I buy on days when I go to work, and I’d say my average dining-out cost is under ¥20,000/month. That’s a rough but fairly generous estimate, as the real number’s probably a bit lower.

Transportation: ¥2,500/month

I don’t go out a ton, and when I do it’s usually just within Kyoto city. A train ride to downtown Kyoto costs about ¥200. Maybe once a month I’ll head over to Osaka, which runs about ¥400. My commute to work is covered by my employer, which is pretty standard here. Overall, transportation costs me around ¥2,500/month, not too much.

Entertainment: ¥5,000/month

Another wildcard. Once every couple of months we might catch a concert or a movie. Movies aren’t cheap in Japan these days, but it’s just an occasional thing. Averaging out concerts, movies, and the occasional event, I’d put entertainment at about ¥5,000/month.

Subscriptions: ¥2,000/month

We don’t use a ton of these. Netflix standard plan is about ¥1,500/month. Apple Music and iCloud, which I share with my wife, adds roughly ¥500/month. Total: ¥2,000/month.

Medical: ¥1,500/month

This one’s hard to predict. But because I’m in Japan (and not a certain other country… 🇺🇸) healthcare is very affordable. If I’m feeling a little off, I’ll usually just go see a doctor because why not? I’d estimate this at around ¥1,500/month.

What I’m not including

One thing I’ve left out of these numbers is the cost of travel. I do like to take smaller trips a couple times a year: maybe a night or two in Tokyo, or heading over to somewhere like South Korea, Taiwan, or Hong Kong. And then there’s the big one: since I’m from the US, once a year I fly back home to see family, and that costs… a lot. Like a ridiculous amount, especially given the weak yen. But that’s specific to me, so to keep this a useful reference for you, I’ll leave it out of the total budget.

So, what’s the total?

Adding it all up:

I think my lifestyle is pretty modest, especially since I don’t go out a huge amount. If you’re more social than me (not hard to do lol) you’d probably go a bit higher on dining out and entertainment. If you’re living solo in Kyoto rather than splitting rent, you can still expect to pay closer around ¥50,000/month on your own. That’s roughly the average here, and thanks to Kyoto’s huge student population, there’s no shortage of studio and one-bedroom apartments in pretty central neighborhoods at that price.

How does this compare to what I make?

Wages in Kyoto are lower than Tokyo, but so is the cost of living, so I think most people working “normal” full-time jobs can get by comfortably here. If you’re a digital nomad earning in a stronger currency than yen, you’ll do especially well.

As for me, my income right now is probably the lowest it’s been since I moved to Japan, because I’ve stepped away from full-time work. I do a part-time job that pays ¥1,500/hour for around 20 hours a week, which works out to about ¥125,000/month after tax and insurance. I also pick up freelance writing work occasionally, which brings in roughly ¥25,000/month. All together, my monthly income lands around ¥150,000/month.

It’s enough to get by. I’m not exactly living luxuriously or saving much at all, but I guess that’s the price of trying to do my own thing instead of grinding a full-time job. Speaking of which, Mugi is a big project right now - it’s a language learning app I made using everything I’ve discovered from studying Japanese and living in Japan for the past decade. If you’re also learning Japanese and you’re interested, I hope you’ll give it a try!

Wrapping up

I hope this was a useful reference for anyone curious about real living costs in Japan. Keep in mind that this is just one living situation: over the past 11 years I’ve lived in a handful of different cities and apartments, each with pretty different costs and lifestyles, so I might do more posts like this down the line.

If there’s anything else you’d want me to break down, feel free to contact me any time. Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you in the next one.