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Originally Posted by El Diablo
I knew that japanese dvd's were expensive, but not THAT expensive. How can you afford it?
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Somethings that I judge (but if anyone in America can confirm, please do so_
In our country, the company that you workd for provides for "transportation fees." I take it that in America, your company doesn't pay for gas for the cars that you use to commute, right? In Japan, we all take the train. The company pays for the commuting fee between your house and the company that you work for bi-annually (but if you lose the train pass, it's your fault, so we keep extra care in not losing that pass). On average, that saves us 80,000 - 100,000yen (approx USD$800 to USD$1,000)annually on commuting.
It has taken to my surprise that America, being the richest nation in the world, doesn't have a national health care system. Japan, and most European nations, have a national health care system. So we probably don't have to pay as much for going to doctors and medicine as in America (on average, a typical Japanese family would spend less than $300 on health care).
In Japan, our companies are obliged to give two annual bonuses (one in the summer and one in the winter) in addition to the monthly salary. Usually, these bonuses are 2-3 months worth of your salary. For example, I get paid around 500,000 yen (USD$5000) a month from my company. Every August and December, I get a bonus of three months worth of my salary IN ADDITION to my salary.
So every August and December, I get:
(bonus)+actual salary
(500,000 yen x three months) + 500,000 = 2,000,000 yen (USD$20,000)
Living in Japan is expensive. But our companies know that since our cost of living is high, they are obliged to give us salaries that gives us a normal standard of living.