JJapan Finance

Ideas for money savings in Japan

  • October 5, 2025

Hi there

So we are a family of 3 French citizen, 41 years old, with one young child 3 years old.

Been in Japan for 5 years now and planning to stay for the time being. I never thought about saving money for the future, but reality is kicking in… We earn approx 5 million per year each. I think we can easily spare 100k yens each per month for now before our child attending international school.

I'm wondering what I could do to save money for the future. I have heard about Ideco as a pension funds where contributions can be tax deducted, so quite interesting.

What else would you recommend ?

Thanks !

by bobo696

16 comments

  3. Start keeping a 家計簿 to get a better visual of your current situation.

    Store emergency fund → Put monthly surplus into NISA (emaxis slim being the usually recommended), is likely the go-to after that.

  5. Put absolutely as much money as you can into investments. Honestly I’d be a little scared if I was 40 with no savings because half of your investible lifespan is spent…you can still be fine but you’ll have to get aggressive with putting money away into diversified ETFs.

  6. Edit ur post to put these detail, so other can help better. 
    Citizenship, monthly surplus funds u expect to invest, Whether u have emergency fund or not, investment experience on a scale of 10, etc. 

  8. One way you can do something:
    1. Set up a NISA using Rakuten (they seem to be easiest for foreigners to set up), for you and your partner, 1 each. Nisa is traded and the income is not taxed.
    2. Set up for automatic payments to go into the Rakuten Nisa every month
    3. You will be eligible for monetary support for having children if you are in Tokyo. Set up an account to receive it and talk to city hall if you are not sure what you are eligible for.
    3. Use the Pairs card and app to share one budgetable account for daily expenses with your partner.
    4.Use the app Moneytree and link your Japanese bank accounts, train pass and electronic money to it, to track your spending. Add budgets in the app and it will let you know if you are approaching your limit.
    5. Many work places allow you to have separate accounts. Put some of your wages into a second account each month, for savings or utilities (but put the “savings” money should mostly go into Nisa or Ideco).
    6. Go over your finances with your partner at the end of each month.
    7. It goes without saying but make bento as much as you can, bring coffee from home etc.

    I’m not good with money and do lose track a lot, but automating the process and making it easier to do things cheaply, has helped a lot.

    Edit: a couple of words

  9. You have 3 years left if you wait until CP and your kid starts at the Lycée Français and you need to pay 1.5M¥ a year (probably more since they plan on continuing the 10% annual price hikes for the foreseeable future), add 500k per year if you need to use the school bus.

  10. If u you have a small change of leaving Japan then go for nisa , buy emaxis sp500 and some vti.

    Ideco u can’t take money out until certain age so I don’t recommend it for foreigner. 

    Putting 100,000 each month , in one year u will have more than many people here . 

    Start asap!

  12. Two points:
    1. You may be set on an international school, but sending your kid to a regular Japanese school would enable you to save much more, and is the major factor to focus on.
    2. iDeCo that surely is advantageous also locks in your money, in Japan, until retirement age. The flexibility of NISA may be of higher value depending on your future plans.

  13. Some of your answers tell me you really really need to read the wiki investment page, especially the boglehead link, and browse through a few personal finance sub including your own country’s one.

    Stuff like being afraid the stock market can go down for example. It is true the yearly return vary between -50% and +60%, but the long term trend is +11% year (s o8% after inflation), and your % of not loosing money after 20 years is 99%. Read the boglehead page twice and align with your partner.

    Once you have properly absorbed the concept mentioned above, come back to read this thread answers and it is highly likely ideco+nisa for both adults, filling them a low cost passive global equity fund like emaxis slim and holding for the long term is likely your answer – this is what most of us do.

  14. 1. Consider grocery shopping at a discount store like Gyomu Super, Big A etc.
    2. Consider migrate your mobile plan to Rakuten Mobile or MVNO(Mineo etc.).

  16. Why set on international school? Especially when you say that you’re here for the foreseeable future.

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