Just came across two articles where it appears that 3 out of the top 10 most expensive cities to live in for expats are in Japan. I suppose that’s no real surprise for those who have traveled to Japan – the country itself is notorious for its high prices for everything from cars, rent, to even fruits. This study was originally done by the international human resources consulting firm, Mercer.
Several things that struck out to me:
- The categories for this list: one of the standards used was a “luxury two bedroom apartment”. Honestly, as a possible expat, I will most likely not be living in a luxury two bedroom apartment
- Some of these cities are in Africa – isn’t Africa still a primarily developing continent? To have some unknown city in Angola be toe to toe with Tokyo is pretty cool yet very “left field”.
- This doesn’t stop my future aspirations to travel!
Here’s the first article from News on Japan (dot) com. The second being from Yahoo!, who in turn got it from CNBC. Till next time, but for readers’ sake, here are the top 5 most expensive places to live for expats:
- Tokyo, Japan
- Luanda, Angola
- Osaka, Japan
- Moscow, Russia
- Geneva & Zurich (tied), Switzerland
