Tokyo has decently affordable rent relative to its size/level of prosperity. Compare it to NYC or the SF bay area and it's no contest.
Vienna can be cheap to live in because a large percentage of the housing is the social/public kind.
Vienna can be cheap to live in because a large percentage of the housing is the social/public kind.
And there is choice! I could live 15 min away from where I live and save 30% of my rent. But I love the place where I live! (and I don't need to travel anywhere, just walk. So worth the money).
One can vary the size / location / age of the building and fight something. Tokyo is so amazing due to mixed-use zoning. Apartments, restaurants, shops, office buildings. All tastefully mixed together.
Also the food is so much cheaper. I can get a great, tasty and healthy (-enough) lunch in Tokyo for $10. Same food/quality would cost me $20 in US.
Bay Area is terrible. Pay through the roof to live in the middle of nowhere and spend hours every day in traffic.
It's just the newcomers and perpetually poor who suffer the economic effects.
But, hey, the weather is nice and I don't see many "no gaijin" signs here. Would be weird since we're closing in on 40% foreign born after all.
Maybe it helps that I don't read Japanese :P
> or inherited
Sadly I failed to inherit property in major metropolitan area :( I suppose I tried?
Regarding prices I was thinking about rent actually. Owning a house in Bay Area is not something that pops into my mind in most circumstances!
Don't disagree, but it's also true that compensation at least for programmers is vastly higher in the bay area than Tokyo. Like 3x higher, maybe even more than that.