How expensive is Tokyo?
It's a more or less annual event: the publication of statistics once again confirming Tokyo as the most expensive city on earth (see the Times).
I spent only three days there so have very little to go on. Train fares seemed much the same while beer was considerably more expensive. But what really did it for me was when I met up with a friend in Shinagawa, to the south of the city.
She had promised to take me to a noodle bar but obviously the plans had, at some point, changed and she had decided to book us a table at the hotel - housed in one of the tallest buildings in Tokyo, next door to one of its busiest stations. It was a very good restaurant she informed me.
I must have turned white. Plush restaurant, landmark building, expensive city. There was nowhere to turn. If I was lucky I was going to get taken to the cleaners. If I was unlucky my card was going to max out. I decided the only way out was to enjoy myself and hope the judge showed leniency.
In the end I was only half right. We had a great meal and the bill came to the princely sum of £15 a head. And the tip? This was Japan - there are no tips.
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Tokyo is like London. It is an expensive city. But also like London, there are relatively few rich people and rather more poorer people, and these people need somewhere to eat. Therefore it is not difficult to eat cheaply, particularly given that Japanese people eat out rather more than British people do. Similarly, transport fares have to be affordable by the bulk of the population, et cetera. Sure, there are plenty of very expensive places frequented by people on expense accounts, and it is possible to be charged an immense amount of money if you go into the wrong place but no more so than in London. (These types of places are more expensive than in many cities, and the Times' survey tends to be for the sorts of people who frequent these types of places)
As for the cost of a beer, it depends where you buy it. Go into a fairly ordinary sushi bar in a railway station, and ask for a glass of beer with your sushi. It will likely cost a couple of hundred yen. (Every eating establishment of any kind in Japan sells beer). If you go into an actual bar, it will obviously be more, and sometimes a lot more.
Tokyo is like London. It is an expensive city. But also like London, there are relatively few rich people and rather more poorer people, and these people need somewhere to eat. Therefore it is not difficult to eat cheaply, particularly given that Japanese people eat out rather more than British people do. Similarly, transport fares have to be affordable by the bulk of the population, et cetera. Sure, there are plenty of very expensive places frequented by people on expense accounts, and it is possible to be charged an immense amount of money if you go into the wrong place but no more so than in London. (These types of places are more expensive than in many cities, and the Times' survey tends to be for the sorts of people who frequent these types of places)
As for the cost of a beer, it depends where you buy it. Go into a fairly ordinary sushi bar in a railway station, and ask for a glass of beer with your sushi. It will likely cost a couple of hundred yen. (Every eating establishment of any kind in Japan sells beer). If you go into an actual bar, it will obviously be more, and sometimes a lot more.
Posted by Michael Jennings on June 18, 2003