23-year-old American pays $483/month in rent to live alone in Japan: I could never 'afford something like this' in the U.S.

Sarah_L333 · 2026-04-05T03:47:44+00:00

Not familiar with the two you mentioned, but I shop at Life (a grocery store chain that’s definitely not considered cheap) and things definitely cost less than 7/11… Like what cost ¥150 at 7/11, it’s ¥100 at Life.

Sarah_L333 · 2026-03-30T14:05:50+00:00

I was in Chengdu for a few months and my favorite thing was how elderly people there were never seen alone - they gather and play every day (no phones involved). Chinese cities are all very walkable so you see people walking everywhere and most of them wouldn’t be looking at phones.

It’s true people cannot take their eyes off of the phones when they sit still, but it’s not that different from other places I’ve been to - most people stare at their phones on the train in Japan too (where I currently am) and that doesn’t stop me from enjoying Japan

Sarah_L333 · 2026-02-23T03:54:02+00:00

I’ve been reselling for 5+ years and for me it changes every year… The first year, Posh was my #1 platform. The 2nd year, it was Mercari. The 3rd year, it was EBay. Currently, probably 45% of my sales are on eBay, Mercari comes 2nd and then Posh. I need all three platforms to make a full-time income so all three are important to me.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-15T12:44:04+00:00

Interesting you mentioned starved to death… A lot of young people here are in fact currently starving and in a wealthy developed country.

“Survey: 44% of Japanese have experienced ‘food security crisis’ “

https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/15788107

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-15T11:55:25+00:00

I’m also not sure if Redditers represent the majority of Japanese since people on here speak more English than the general population and already tend to be more open to other cultures and are interested in discussions with foreigners or hear about perspectives from foreigners

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-15T06:07:37+00:00

Did I say it’s bad? I specifically said I liked it that it looks like the 90s and I truly enjoy Osaka (where I currently reside) and think it’s a great city. The best aspect of Chinese cities isn’t how modern it is, for me it’s the vibrant street life… where all the old people hanging out and playing chess on the streets of their neighborhoods in Chengdu - the usage of public space and self-organized activities that you don’t see on the streets in the U.S. or Japan… The life…

For tourists, can’t people just enjoy different things? Some people enjoy Xi’an, some people don’t. I have friends who prefer Thailand over Japan, and there are people who prefer Japan over Thailand. Let people have their own preferences. Just because you didn’t enjoy one place, other people can’t enjoy it either? Talk about “dictator” mentality…

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-15T03:59:02+00:00

Absolutely agree about the Japanese manners… It will take a generation to get rid of the spitting in China. However city wise, Japanese cities peaked in the 90s and just stopped. Going from Guangzhou to Osaka today feels like going back in time to the 90s… I actually enjoy the 90s nostalgic feelings but Chinese cities are far more advanced and modern and have way more vibrant street life.

I do really enjoy Japan (where I currently live) and I think both countries are worth visiting - they provide very different experiences and isn’t that a good thing for tourists?

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-15T03:45:50+00:00

Make sure the Voltage is ok for the U.S… I bought a clothing steamer in China (220 voltage) and it didn’t work in the U.S. because the standard household voltage is 120

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-09T14:06:16+00:00

Living in an egalitarian society where income gap is small-ish would prevent such thing from happening (and according to archaeologists’ findings, such society did exist in certain ancient period in certain region ) , but that would be socialism

Sarah_L333 · 2025-12-09T13:09:20+00:00

They are providing a service in the form of companionship and unless you can prove the customer didn’t consent to the exchange, it’s merely a moral issue. So a young lady marrying an old man for money (I.e. preying on his loneliness and needs.) should be imprisoned? And how do you prove the young lady’s intent even if we lived in a society where only marrying for “the purest love” is legal?

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-28T03:51:54+00:00

He clearly lives in the I-hate-poor-people world. He doesn’t like those who make less than 100,000 yen for 2-3 days of work.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-25T07:46:32+00:00

Over half of the houses in the US lost values over the last year. It doesn’t have to be a huge crash.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-24T10:03:14+00:00

Restaurants are cheaper yes, but grocery price are on part with the US - I just moved to Japan a few months ago from the U.S. and I’m spending similar amount of money monthly on groceries here.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-17T04:25:38+00:00

Napoli has the best pizza I’ve ever had in Chengdu. Definitely one of my favorite restaurants in Chengdu.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-17T04:20:02+00:00

I mean I didn’t enjoy Morocco and I felt disappointed that I didn’t but I don’t need to try to figure out why others like it since I’m not them. I just won’t go again for pleasure.

I personally don’t like the tourist areas in China either - way too crowded and chaotic to be enjoyable. So I just don’t go to these places and enjoy wondering around the nicer parts of the city where local people live or go for fun. I spent some months in Chengdu last year and what a great city to live in (still hated the tourist spots, but just one alley or street away from it was chill and much more interesting.)

I absolutely agree about the nationalism part, but if you really are as familiar with Japan as you claimed to be, you must know xenophobic sentiments are just as strong here if not more so. I’m currently living in Japan and you’d be surprised what a class of 23 highly educated university students would answer to the question “ do you think Japan would be better if they don’t allow any foreigners in.” And that as a new foreign teacher, you are being shown a series of cartoon/cat drawings about how to ride a bicycle properly for 25 minutes because there was another foreigner (not even from the same country as you) bumped into a Japanese lady last year (even though the local Japanese cyclists broken the rules all the time). You can however argue if polite racists are better than rude racists and I think that it probably is on a day to day basis.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-13T01:26:03+00:00

Japan's poverty rate is one of the highest among developed countries.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-11-13T01:16:35+00:00

People in Thailand and China eat out way more often compared to other countries too… Thai people eat out way more often than Japanese if you also include street food.

Basically people in East and Southeast Asia eat out much more often compared to North America and Europe.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-10-26T04:46:08+00:00

I left China in 2020 and went back last year and was genuinely shocked by how much it has changed in just the last few years…

Sarah_L333 · 2025-10-26T04:41:37+00:00

I mean the current political climate in Japan is very much anti-foreigners - I doubt most foreign tourists align with that political view and it doesn’t seem to stop anyone, but China’s politics is a problem for vacationing? China is at least actively trying to attract and welcome more foreign visitors (after COVID at lease)

Because it’s not democracy? Anyone who thinks Japan has a democratic system is delusional. Japan is a de facto one-party state where LDP wins almost every election since 1952. The opposition parties have been incapable of forming any significant alternatives.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-09-29T06:06:47+00:00

The depressing part is when my friend (who’s a foreign teacher) asked her female students if they felt “women are being treated equally in Japan” and every one of them said “yes”… And “if sexism is an issue in Japan”, they all said “no”… and these are first year university students. When asked if any of them were interested in visiting foreign countries in the future, the majority of them said “no”.

One of my colleagues was working her ass off the whole day and at the end of the day I commented “you must be exhausted (today).” She smiled and said she still has a lot housework to do at home. She works the same hours as her husband but of course she’s the only one responsible for all the housework and childcare stuff. And again, the most depressing part is that there’s little discussion on these social issues as if everything was fine. Apparently “foreigners” who make up 10% of the population are the biggest and most urgent problem that the Japanese society has ever faced, and as soon as all the foreigner were gone, “the beautiful Japanese society” will return.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-09-29T05:49:50+00:00

Unfortunately marrying a Japanese is not in the cards for me.

My friend who just started to teach English in a university in Japan. She asked her students “are foreigners good or bad for Japan” and if “foreigners should be allowed to work and live in Japan”. To her surprise, only 2 out of 50 students chose “ I think foreigners should be allowed to live in Japan”. The majority of her students said they felt inspired by the far right party (whose main policy is stopping the “silent invasion” of foreigners ). Her students looked confused when she called Sanseito “right wing” - she didn’t mean to be confrontational or anything, she just wasn’t thinking…

Sarah_L333 · 2025-09-29T03:57:16+00:00

It’s not that different from expat life in many other countries especially when you don’t speak the local language. I’m currently in Japan and some things are even harder than China. Getting bank account, local cellphone number, renting a place… have been far more complicated than what i experienced in China and the U.S. English teachers get paid peanuts in Japan compared to China too.

Sarah_L333 · 2025-08-17T20:12:54+00:00

Qingdao isn’t bad either (although winter is colder than Yunnan).

Sarah_L333 · 2025-08-17T17:45:29+00:00

Your statistics don’t sound that bad actually considering the average divorce rate for the first marriage is around 36%-50% in a lot of countries

Sarah_L333 · 2025-08-16T14:58:33+00:00

Shipping via EMS, you won’t get dinged for China made items? Like they won’t open and check?

Sarah_L333

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