Is 4-5 million yen a good salary in Tokyo?

[simplylovely]

@wallflower1 Yum!

 

[resjudicata]

@simplylovely boo booopppppp (buzzer sound)

 

[deeptikamat]

@msulli But the average Japanese person doesn't have the costs foreigners have like going home sometimes, imported food etc. It's a low offer. One thing you should consider is despite your job performance double digit raises are rare here and pay is still age based at most companies so you are probably going to be stuck in that salary range for a long time.

 

[simplylovely]

@deeptikamat

But the average Japanese person doesn't have the costs foreigners have like going home sometimes, imported food etc.

Japanese people impose other optional costs on themselves. Or not. You can choose not to impose them on yourself either.

 

[deeptikamat]

@simplylovely That's true but I know people here on those salary levels who weren't able to go home to see dying relatives nor introduce their kids to their grandparents because they couldn't afford it and that was before the yen crashed. OP can survive on that salary but should be aware of the limitations that will put on their lifestyle.

 

[renejceternity]

@msulli It varies by gender and age a lot. But for 30 years old male 5M per year might be very close to average for his gender/age.

 

[faithfound]

@msulli That was not his question: he asked what a good salary is. 4M is not a “good” salary in Tokyo by any standard.

 

[msulli]

@faithfound If you know the average you can judge for yourself whether something is good, or?

 

[faithfound]

@msulli Then the average should not be mentioned. “Average” by definition is not “good.” The take-home salary of 4M in year 2 is not “good” by most any measure.

 

[scottynewman]

@faithfound Well if it is above average, it can't be considered bad can it

 

[jblanco]

@scottynewman no but it's not good either. It's depressingly mediocre for an engineer.

 

[scottynewman]

@jblanco Agree there. Being in Tokyo, even more so.

 

[deeptikamat]

@faithfound Don't understand the down votes especially considering foreigners have additional costs locals don't have.

 

[faithfound]

@deeptikamat Agreed, unless the down voters are making 4M or 5M, which is better than the “average.” I wonder if the down voters would post their approximate salary, living conditions, job, etc., on this post so everyone, especially OP, can understand their viewpoint

 

[deeptikamat]

@faithfound Plus while you can indeed live on that salary OP may not know that many if not most Japanese women prefer not to work for the first few years after having children hence the question could easily be can 3 or even 4 people live on 4-5m yen in Tokyo? I've seen many foreigners fall into this trap and it's led to some nasty divorces.

 

[albinoguitman]

@pilgrim23 "Mechanical Engineer" there lies the problem, that this is pretty much a local market and the salaries are not gonna match at all across countries. 4-5M feels a bit on the low side, specially for Tokyo, but you didn't say your experience. As a fresh graduate? That should be good actually. If you have 8 years of experience (finished studying at 22), it feels on the low side.

I studied Industrial Engineering (which is virtually the same as Mechanical Engineering in my country, just a bit more generalist) but moved to work in software already at uni. If you want a good salary, I'd recommend trying to search for Mechanical Engineer remote jobs, I know it's really tricky but there might be some niches where they are hiring remotely (I'm thinking 3D design, stress calculus, simulations, etc.).

 

[prabakaran]

@pilgrim23 I think it is OK, but not great.

https://mynavi-agent.jp/knowledge/maker/1329.html

 

[sunimex2003]

@pilgrim23 Its decent, not bad and not good, as many people pointed out.

However, IMO, it is pure stupidity to compare salary between the US and Japan.

Things like
1. People from Japan go to the US or Australia to earn more money, aka. 出稼ぎ.
2. There are many aspects that are different in Japan, like we dont tip people, medical related things are much cheaper etc.

So, in conclusion, can you live comfortably with that income, hell yeah. But is it the best yoi can get? Not at all.

Last thing you need to remember, you are competing with thousands of other people from other asian countries, like China, Vietnam, India etc. If you dont like the job, they'll just find someone else.

 

[followinghim681]

@pilgrim23 Salaries here are quite a lot lower than the US not even including the atrocious exchange rate recently which hurts even more. 5 million you can live off of if you live outside the 23 wards and get cheaper rent so it's not terribly low compared to the average Japanese.

For example software engineers only sometimes only being offered 3.5-5 million yen salaries for domestic companies are not unusual which explains the lack of interest in programing from young Japanese.

You might need to take a crap job for a year or two and take that time to plan your next career move to a better paying company, for me I had to do this with a laughable initial salary of 3.5m with my first job and since the boss decided not to give me a raise I found a much better paying company after 2 years.

 

[lifeabundant]

@pilgrim23 It's scammy low. Especially you're an experienced engineer, with N2 and English speaking.

I'm actually hiring, it's for Automotive engineering related and if you're interested DM me. Even if you're not, please look for other options.

FYI I'm also mech eng/aerospace from US and my first salary in Japan was 6M fresh grad and I barely speak any Japanese then. Oh and this is when 1 usd was around 100 jpy.