Does it cost money to be poor in Japan

14 comments

1. Having to waste time to execute combini payments if you can’t get a credit card? They also have higher commission

   Not much I can think about honestly

2. I think all jobs require you to have a bank account here or pay in cash, they tend to not do checks. And as long as you have at least 1 yen I dont think they can close your account, so as least for those two qualifiers, from my experience, no?

3. [removed]

4. They don’t charge monthly fees on bank accounts in Japan just to have it. 

5. Not being eligible for a credit card is a huge thing.

   Bank transfers or paying at the konbini is more expensive than CC payment. For your utilities, mobile, etc this add up. Especially if you are poor.
   Most banks nowadays have limited amount of free transfers per month (which go higher, the more money you have in your account ironically), but to my knowledge that’s online only.

   So if you don’t have to PC with internet, you have to use the atm.

6. I have an example from.my own experience as a broke PhD student:

   1) Students with scholarships (let’s say MEXT) that cover their living costs and tuition
   – negligible health insurance of roughly 20,000 yen (around 20k, but I don’t remember the exact number)
   – no city tax – if I am not mistaken, they are exempt or have to pay retrospectively once they graduate before leaving Japan, but the majority doesn’t do it

   * Can some double-check? I don’t remember exactly. The point is, even if they have to pay, it’s peanuts

   2) Students without scholarships or low-paying scholarship opt to do a part-time job or labs hire them.

   I was paid by a lab 110,000 a month.

   Now, because of this “salary”, annual health insurance jumped to around 250,000 yen.

   Residence tax – there’s a limit of 1 million yen cap for not paying the residence tax (or making it peanuts, I don’t remember exactly). As my “salary” would go above this 1M yen cap, I had to pay around 240k residence tax.

   So, in summary:
   1) “rich” student on a full scholarship – 20k health insurance + 0/minimal residence tax
   2) poor student on “salary” – 250k health insurance + 240k residence tax

   So yes, it cost me a lot to be a poor student.

7. Keep using Docomo after there is Rakuten mobile or a lot of MVNOs….

8. Compared to the US, it’s pretty negligible. That said, if people get trapped in high APR predatory loans or things like that, they’re quite horrible here too.

9. Being poor is universally expensive in many ways, regardless of the country in question. Cheaper housing is farther from city centers so transportation costs are higher. More cheaply built housing also means heating and cooling cost are greater. Poor people are less able to buy higher quality, long-lasting goods and must therefore replace their inferior purchases more frequently (see Terry Pratchett’s “Boots Theory”). Poorer areas typically suffer from greater pollution which leads to greater healthcare costs. All these things are true no matter the locale.

   That being said, in some aspects Japan is less troubled by “poor penalties” than is the US. For example, financial institutions are generally less predatory of poorer clients. Moreover, the financial landscape of Japan is not pervaded by “credit scores” in the same way as the US. Japan also evades some of the geographic issues of the US that lead undue burdens on the poor. A good example of this is the notion of “food deserts.” Even poor areas or remote, small towns are relatively well connected to more developed areas, so lack of access to nutritious food (and associated health costs) is not usually a problem in Japan like it is in much of the US. The same is true for access to government offices and services and basic utilities.

   It’s certainly hard to be poor in Japan, but on balance, being poor in Japan may be less financially punitive than it is in the US in some ways.

   Edit: I failed to mention that payday type loans (ACCM, Aiful and that ilk) are extremely predatory, but in fairness, these companies are no more predatory than their US counterparts.

10. This is mostly toward the (nearly-/occasionally-)unhoused side of things, but:

    Anything that no longer accepts cash (cashless societies are very bad for the disadvantaged often). This can completely lock people out of things

    Anything requiring a phone number can be a challenge, but there are affordable phone plans. Anything requiring it can have issues.

    Anything requiring a fixed address.

    Anything requiring a an ID document (especially if it must match that fixed address) can be a huge issue to deal with.

    Transportation costs can also be a difference between something to eat and not eating.

    Laundry, cleaning, and even finding a place to shower are issues.

11. You get about .00002 percent interest on your bank accounts, but they don’t charge a minimum fee. Many Japanese are sinking from middle class to poor class. When I moved here, nearly everybody was happily middle class with only the husband working. Now, both parents work and people are really struggling. The pensions for people who paid into the national pension instead of an employer pension receive about ¥60,000 per month paid as ¥120,000 every other month. So many employees work full time for ¥2,500,000-¥3,000,000 per year. An average family of 4 income is ¥6,000,000. These are reasons why Japanese are angry at tourists. They come here cause of the really cheap yen while residents can’t afford to go anywhere or are barely surviving. You must pay health insurance and old age insurance out of your pensions. It is really, really bad for so many people.

12. I would like to move in to a cheaper place, but I don’t have the money for the initial payment so I stay and pay the same that my friends are paying for a place twice/thrice as big because I cannot save up

13. If you can only afford to pay for a room in a doss house in cash each day, you may end up paying more per day than the cheapest rented accommodation.

14. Yes. Just look at how many bank accounts offer tiered stuff. You have the basic tier where you’re probably paying for every bank transfer, cash withdrawal, and earn little to no interest. Then if you have more money in your account you start getting free cash withdrawals, free transfers, more interest and so on.

    The ridiculousness of the rental industry here. If you have money you can afford to buy a place. If not, you’re stuck paying renewal fees, guarantor fees, key money, gift money, bug spraying fees, lock change fees, and so on. And of course the exorbitant cost of a moving company if you decide you don’t want to pay extra money to your current landlord too.

    Perhaps commuter passes too? If you don’t have the money to pay the cost of a commuter pass up front then you’d be forced to pay as you go, thus paying more over the long term.

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