Introduction: Regarding our close neighbor, Japan, in my previous impression, apart from visiting shrines, the economy was stagnant and so on. Is the real Japan like this? What is the real living standard of the Japanese? Let’s take a look at what people who have been to and lived in Japan have to say.
I have lived in Japan for more than ten years. The income after graduating with a PhD is basically the same as that of ordinary Japanese people. It can objectively introduce the food, education, housing, and medical care of ordinary Japanese people, that is, the real life, education, housing, and medical affairs of Japanese people. First of all, there are two points to make. First, people who have worked in Japan for several years and saved money and returned home do not live the lives of ordinary Japanese. Their perceptions are somewhat one-sided. Second, please read this introduction calmly. Know yourself and your enemy, and think about how to learn to change.
1. Income and purchasing power: Japanese people’s fixed monthly salary can generally be calculated simply. Approximately how many years old can you earn per month? Ten thousand yen, plus two bonuses of 2-5 months in the summer and at the end of the year.
Therefore, the annual income at the age of 30 is generally 4.5 million yen, and the annual income at the age of 40 is 6 million yen. The above is the after-tax income. Those below this number are not doing well, and those above this number are not doing well. It is a successful career. Taxes, insurance, etc. generally account for 10-20%, and are deducted from wages and paid directly to the relevant departments by the company or bank. This summer bonus and year-end bonus are very important. Temporary workers do not have them, only regular employees have them. The longer you work in a company, the higher you get. Buying a house or a car basically depends on it. The salary of temporary workers is generally 700-1,000 yen/hour, and working 26 days a month for eight hours a day is 166,400 yen/month.
In addition to fresh vegetables, the whole family goes shopping by car. Fruits, beer, snacks, etc. come in boxes of various kinds. Even a large basket at a 100-yen store only costs a few thousand yen. Things are too cheap. When we move, we have to get rid of several boxes of stuff. We often receive material donations from senior overseas students or Japanese friends. After graduation and working, we often give away things, including color TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, electronic keyboards, cars, computers, etc. This is basically the same in other countries. When you first go there, others give you things, and a few years later you give things to others.
2. Education: My child was born and raised in Japan, and I graduated with a doctorate there, so I have personal experience with all the costs in the entire process from the birth of a child to the graduation of a doctorate.
When you are pregnant with a child, the Japanese government will start paying nutrition subsidies and delivering milk to your home every day. When the baby was born, he went directly to the city hall to receive 300,000 yen. After paying hospital fees and buying all the baby supplies, he still had tens of thousands left. Kindergarten can be sent in one month. The cost of government-run kindergartens is about 10,000-30,000 yen per month, and the cost of private kindergartens is about twice that of public schools. Kindergarten is part of social welfare, and those with low incomes can apply to pay less or no payment.
The tuition fee for elementary school to junior high school is zero, and the cost is about 3,000 yen/month for lunch every day. The total payment to the school for a year is about 30,000 yen, which is equivalent to 3 days' salary. Once I moved from one city to another, because the textbooks were different, I got another set of all the textbooks for that school year. Education is not compulsory starting from high school, and the tuition is about 100,000 yen. It costs 200,000 yen a year, which is less than one month's salary.
Private university tuition is about 1 million yen/year, and national university tuition is about 500,000 yen/year. There are various scholarships, student loans, etc. Almost everyone from kindergarten to university can apply for fee exemption. As an international student, I applied for half-fee exemption for my children and myself.
3. Housing: Housing in Japan is very expensive, but except for Tokyo, which is particularly expensive, housing prices in other cities can be less than 1/2 of Tokyo’s.
An ordinary family of three lives in an old house for 30,000-50,000 yen per month. I live in a two-story villa in a medium-sized city with a garden in front and a vegetable garden in the back. The monthly rent is 70,000 yen. Ordinary workers can afford a mortgage of 30,000 to 50,000 yen per month for 20 years to buy a house. In other words, after living and working for decades, the house is theirs. An ordinary 30-year-old white-collar worker can buy a house with a ten-year salary of 300,000 yuan/month or 4.5 million yuan/year. However, because there are tax exemption benefits for mortgage consumption, most of them take out mortgages. Tax deducting means that after all your expenses for buying a house, buying a car, medical treatment, etc. are deducted, you only have to pay taxes on the remaining income.
Let’s talk about the car by the way.
Generally, college students buy a used car for 50,000 to 100,000 yen after finishing their driving studies during the summer vacation of their first year of college. My Honda car was given by a classmate for zero yuan. When he was admitted to graduate school, his family spent more than 1.2 million yen to buy a new Corolla. The cars that college students buy just after graduation and work are generally of this grade (Corolla, Vios) and price (80-80- 1.5 million yen). In other words, college students can buy a used car after working for a month, and they can buy a new car by borrowing their parents’ bonus (2-5 months’ salary) after working. My Honda was sold to a recycling plant in the 11th year for a loss of 5,000 yuan. A Nissan Bluebird that has been around for 8 years was sold for 20,000 yen.
4. Medical care: The biggest feature of Japanese medical care is that everyone joins the National Health Insurance.
National health insurance is divided into three levels, namely boss level, ordinary level and dependent level. Those who open their own companies or have extremely high incomes are boss level, and most people are ordinary level and unemployed family members. Children's contributions are paid from their parents' wages and must be paid independently from adulthood. I pay about several thousand to tens of thousands of yen a month, mainly based on my income. I have never worried about paying it directly from my salary. I forgot that the specific amount may be about 5%. You must bring your National Health Insurance Card to see a doctor. You must pay 10-20% of the medical expenses personally, and 80-90% will be paid by the insurance. If it is too high, for example, if it exceeds several times your salary, you can apply for a reduction or exemption.
This is the real life of the Japanese.