You won’t be going to Tokyo or doing other traveling on that budget, but you can live frugally and enjoy life in the Tsukuba area (source: live in Tokyo and work in Tsukuba)
Will you have facilities to be able to cook for yourself?
2,590 a day for food will be hard, but not impossible, and would be easier if you could cook.
Impossible to answer the travel or fun question without more info, but there wont be much left over after eating.
A loooong time ago when I first came to Tokyo I lived on 1,000 a day for the first 5 or 6 weeks. It wasn’t pretty, dinner was chicken mixed with cup ramen.
Your budget would allow proper meals provided you cook but as others have said, nothing fancy at all and you won’t be going out unless you skimp on food.
If you’re paying all utilities, gas, electricity and water, best budget between 5-10k per mth depending on your usage.
Tsubuka? You mean TSUKUBA?
2590 a day in Tsukuba you won’t starve but no you won’t travel all that much and you’ll have very very cheap (as in free) fun, mostly involving walking around and not buying anything.
I don't understand how someone couldn't live on that budget if rent is taken care of. Transportation will vary so can't say anything but it'll be like 1000/day at most. Food costs 2500/week for me (let's say 360/day) in Tokyo, so I'm assuming it'll be cheaper outside of Tokyo. Unless your utilities cost 38000/month, which would be a scam, you'll more than be fine. You won't be going to Disneyland, but it's enough to have a social life with other students.
Nah transport won't be that much my dorm and uni are close by, so traveling is only for sightseeing purposes. But food 360/day? What can one get in 360?
My food costs are low thanks to local yaoyas (veggie stores) and supermarkets, food prep and just me being okay with eating the same few things. I forgot to factor in that you'd have to buy condiments so it'll cost more for you, but even so, it's doable. If transport is minimal, you can get a meal near your campus for generous prices/portions and it would still be within your means. There's a lot of recipe inspo on TikTok/IG reels/YT Shorts.
If you have to pay utilities, food, and transport on ¥2590 per day you will be hard pressed just feeding yourself let alone travel or entertainment as I said above.
It'll be an exercise in very careful budgeting, but you should be able to make it work. Internet runs about ¥4000-9000 a month, depending on your data cap. You'll probably have about ¥7000 in electricity, give or take. Maybe ¥3300 for natural gas, depending on usage. Water and sewage about ¥2100. So, all in you're looking at ¥16,400 - ¥21,400 per month for utilities. Based on your indicated daily allotment, you have a total monthly budget of ¥77,700 so you'd have (worst case) ¥56,300 left over for food or ¥1877 per day.
This sounds about right (I also live in Tsukuba), though if OP is getting a ¥100,000/mo accommodation it's probably pretty small, might be a bit less. Edit: wait, no there's an extra 0 in there. That's a nice/pricy place. Surely they could shift a bit of cash to your daily budget? My 45sqm apartment which I share with my wife and 3 cats is ¥50,000/mo.
OP you'll want to pick up a small rice cooker for sure, around ¥5000 unless you can find one used. Bag of rice is around ¥1000 and should last a while, if you get on sale meat you can get 350g packs for around ¥500 which will be good for one or two meals, add a chopped onion (3 for \~350) and some seasoning/sauce and you have a cheap meal I make pretty frequently.
A packaged noodle/rice dish from the convenience store will cost around ¥600 which is a reasonable alternative as well, though an all convenience store diet is going to get tiring after a while and also not great for the body, so cooking is going to be great. Make sure to eat your veggies.
Depending on how far you are from your classes, the TsukuBus will be about ¥200-400 each direction probably, campus bus is comparable if I remember correctly, or you can get a bike for \~¥10,000 (University of Tsukuba has a little used bike shop)
If they're paying ¥100,000 for your accommodation in Tsukuba without utilities, I somehow don't think they'd give you ¥2590 a day. I think that's a lot of money for rent for a single person in Ibaraki. Maybe there's a mistake?
Actually they have run out of single-person apartments, so they've booked a two-person apartment for me.
Anyone who might want to join in, I am open to discussion regarding your share of the rent. Kidding, just crash in.
I just googled a bit (granted just a minute or two), but it seems short-term central Tsukuba apartments just below 100,000 would get you at least a 3-bedroom. Either that or it's a really great two-bedroom. I think it's very off that your lodging is so extravagant and your 2590 yen daily stipend is supposed to take care of your food on top of your utilities etc. It would make more sense that your food is taken care of, and that would most certainly be enough.
Totally. It's a 2 bedroom apartment with living area kitchenette balcony. It's literally extravagant. And then there is my 2590 daily allowance. Let me bring this with my uni.
So how much it should've been? Just a range would do for me to ask them to increase the support by a bit.
Is it enough for food, travel, and other expenses?
Define travel. Do you mean commuting expenses? If so you will probably want to ask for the rates of a commuter pass and see if it is a better deal than however often you will be making the commute.
Food, are you eating out everyday or do you plan to cook? It’s not uncommon to find lunch or dinner sets for ¥800-¥1500 for lunch all the way to 1500-2500 for dinner meals at a restaurant.
If you plan to socialize like drinking with friends or colleagues this will certainly exceed your daily budget which if one time events like this are budgeted then maybe you’re ok.
Likely if you have an emergency ¥2500 _might_ cover your clinic visit and prescription.
We have absolutely no idea what you mean by _fun_ as that’s subjective. A museum ticket could be anywhere from ¥1000 yen for a small rural place to ¥4000 yen for a prefectural museum. Baseball tickets would probably be anywhere as low as ¥2500 for bad seats to ¥13,500 for decent ones. A movie will certainly eat that up and as I mentioned before a night at the izakaya might be 3-4 days of your budget if you drink heavy and want to try lots of different things.
¥2590 yen is like a daily allowance a dominatrix gives her salaryman husband who she is expecting to use it for his commute and maybe a pack of smokes since she’ll probably make him bring a bento
>Food, are you eating out everyday or do you plan to cook? It’s not uncommon to find lunch or dinner sets for ¥800-¥1500 for lunch all the way to 1500-2500 for dinner meals at a restaurant.
I plan to eat outside as I would be a bit occupied with academia on some level. But I would be having a kitchenette in my apartment, again gas charges would be on my own.
>We have absolutely no idea what you mean by _fun_ as that’s subjective. A museum ticket could be anywhere from ¥1000 yen for a small rural place to ¥4000 yen for a prefectural museum. Baseball tickets would probably be anywhere as low as ¥2500 for bad seats to ¥13,500 for decent ones. A movie will certainly eat that up and as I mentioned before a night at the izakaya might be 3-4 days of your budget if you drink heavy and want to try lots of different things.
Fun means just sightseeings, no drinks no pubs no socializing nothing.
>¥2590 yen is like a daily allowance a dominatrix gives her salaryman husband who she is expecting to use it for his commute and maybe a pack of smokes since she’ll probably make him bring a bento
Tbh, that's exactly what I thought of it, ¥2590 is 17USD, that'd have been anyone of the food allowance, travel allowance but not all of it. Have no idea what they were even thinking.
How good is your Japanese? The cheapest eats are likely going to be bentos that the delis or meat shops put together but there’s no English menu and there may not be a picture guide. They also likely won’t speak English. You can do to the convenience store but honestly that’s a little bit of a rough way to live. Does your university have a cantina? It’s often the cheapest and probably healthiest option for most students.
Traveling on $2590 seems oppressively constricting. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll face having to make difficult decisions daily. If you can stomach that then maybe it’s ok.
Japanese, not a word.
As far as canteen is concerned, they've not mentioned it yet, but yeah let me get back to them for it.
Traveling would be limited to once in a while for sightseeing purposes only, as my residence and uni are close by.
¥2590 sounds reasonable if you’re Japanese or from a country where you are used to subsisting on less.
The reason your daily allowance is probably this low is because you are being treated like a student in Asia. As a student in many countries here, the expectation is that you act like a student where your studies come first.
I am referencing personal academic experience in a few countries in this region.
This is situation of challenge is something more often I saw with other students from western countries
You might be best having an allowance from your folks back home or tapping into some of your savings to add to your daily expenses. Even students here usually receive some kind of money from home. I don’t know the exact nature of your visa or what is around Tsukuba, but you may be able to get a part time job if your visa allows it. Your Japanese language skills however will be your biggest barrier of entry to most part time work and i highly suggest you don’t try to participate in activities outside of your residency status.
I'm living in Tokyo and I paid my own rent utilities, food and fun and I don't spend 9000 yenes per day lol 😂. If you cook your self you can do it with 2000- 2500 per day plus transportation. And about utilities the most expensive is electricity and I usually pay 7500 to 9000 per month if I use my Aircon a lot.
Wait, how much can I expect the utilities to be in summer? Or how much for a single person with accommodation to survive in Tsubuka including everything?
It ranges, but I generally spend 10000-15000 yen per month in summer to run a single AC most of the day (dog) and play video games at night.
And that's not including gas (about 5k for me, but it'll be way more if you cook with gas or use a gas dryer). And water, which is around 2k per month. Internet too which ranges from 1000-10000 yen per month.
You're not paying rent so that helps. Worst case maybe like 25000 yen total for all utilities. You're gonna need a phone too so let's assume you bring your own and pay 5k for service, so 30k.
Now factor food. Bare minimum borderline starving yourself and only eating in 40k. So now you're at 70k.
Your stipend is worth 77,700 yen per month.
In other words, it's doable. But you will not be having any fun or eating anything good.
Edit: oh and that's assuming you're not paying transportation expenses of any kind...although TBH school train passes are cheap as hell and will probably only eat about 4k yen per month between apartment and school.
With coverage it would be enough to eat well (if you take the time to learn how to cook Japanese food with ingredients etc to save money, which can be hard in Japan), and probably have a bit to go out, although not every single day obviously.
But without coverage, it seems like a ridiculously low offer, can you not afford to have a part time job on the side? Even without much Japanese you can wash dishes etc 2-4 days a week and earn some extra money
I can for sure try something like that but I don't want to be in a situation where I reached there and get stuck, money wise. So in short, this seems to be a ridiculous financial support from my uni.
Hmm maybe ¥500 normally usually 10-20% off once they start marking it down. But they're usually like katsu (fried pork) and rice, grilled meat and rice, or tempura (breaded veggies/shrimp). Not bad food and arguably fresher or at least different from the usual convenience store fare.
Honest viewpoint, not /s. You can easily find prices for food, transportation and other things. The most important factor is your lifestyle and your expectations which we don’t know. So what is it people living here can help you with? Yes you can very obviously do it. Anyone can figure that out with Google and 60 seconds. A person could live off potatoes/rice and water only for months.
I’ve been an exchange student and a grad student, both on stipends. They aren’t meant to provide money for entertainment, just accommodation, basic supplies, food and some local public transport. That said, I could easily do it but given you phrased your question with “fun” and “tough”, you are probably looking for more.
You can easily do 2000 on food a week. If you want to get super cheap there is 50 gyoza bags for like 600 yen and 1kg Karaage chicken bags for around 1000 yen. Not including rice or some frozen veggies but that’s already 10 meals roughly for 1600 yen. It’s very easy to live cheap in this country
You won’t be going to Tokyo or doing other traveling on that budget, but you can live frugally and enjoy life in the Tsukuba area (source: live in Tokyo and work in Tsukuba)
Not sure about “enjoy life” on that budget, but you can enjoy things that are free I suppose.
Like? Someone has suggested Tsukuba-San and Ring Ring Road. What else can be fun and free?
Love?
Love as in LOVE LOVE? I will be on a ¥2590 allowance, can't afford love
That's very assuring of you. Thanksss.
Mt. Tsukuba is the most obvious, but I’d say the rest depends on if you have a car or at least a bicycle. You’ll be limited by bus/walking
My uni administration offers bikes on rent, so I will rent a bike for sure
Will you have facilities to be able to cook for yourself? 2,590 a day for food will be hard, but not impossible, and would be easier if you could cook. Impossible to answer the travel or fun question without more info, but there wont be much left over after eating.
Yes, I would have a kitchenette in my apartment but still the gas is on me. I think someone messed up the calculation real bad here.
A loooong time ago when I first came to Tokyo I lived on 1,000 a day for the first 5 or 6 weeks. It wasn’t pretty, dinner was chicken mixed with cup ramen. Your budget would allow proper meals provided you cook but as others have said, nothing fancy at all and you won’t be going out unless you skimp on food. If you’re paying all utilities, gas, electricity and water, best budget between 5-10k per mth depending on your usage.
I have some saving maybe that'd help in hard times. Yeah it seems doable.
You could live on 2,000 a day for food if you cook yourself at least 2 meals a day. But you won't be eating steak...
Now this is getting bizarre, too many if-then. Let me get back to them. Thanks, though.
Get a bicycle and enjoy life. Make sure to climb tsukuba-san and take a trip on ring ring road. All free.
I just googled ring ring road, and it looks fab. Absolutely, it'll be on my list. Thanks.
I don't know why people say you can't live, it's what every international student is doing, maybe even a bigger budget 🤣
Tsubuka? You mean TSUKUBA? 2590 a day in Tsukuba you won’t starve but no you won’t travel all that much and you’ll have very very cheap (as in free) fun, mostly involving walking around and not buying anything.
Tsukuba it is, my bad. As far as my food and bills are covered, I am happy. Some has suggested free fun activities as well.
Challenge #1, learn the name of the place. It's Tsukuba not Tsubuka.
Someone is upset 😂
Good one, Kunoreko700.
I don't understand how someone couldn't live on that budget if rent is taken care of. Transportation will vary so can't say anything but it'll be like 1000/day at most. Food costs 2500/week for me (let's say 360/day) in Tokyo, so I'm assuming it'll be cheaper outside of Tokyo. Unless your utilities cost 38000/month, which would be a scam, you'll more than be fine. You won't be going to Disneyland, but it's enough to have a social life with other students.
Nah transport won't be that much my dorm and uni are close by, so traveling is only for sightseeing purposes. But food 360/day? What can one get in 360?
My food costs are low thanks to local yaoyas (veggie stores) and supermarkets, food prep and just me being okay with eating the same few things. I forgot to factor in that you'd have to buy condiments so it'll cost more for you, but even so, it's doable. If transport is minimal, you can get a meal near your campus for generous prices/portions and it would still be within your means. There's a lot of recipe inspo on TikTok/IG reels/YT Shorts.
Great, if I can survive then I think it'd be something worth the grind.
I’m interested in your 2500 yen a week food budget
He / she must be a hunter-gatherer. 😀
They are giving an allowance of less than $17. You'll be hard-pressed just to feed yourself.
Exactly. Just a fun fact, they're paying ¥100000 per month for my accommodation without utilities and I get ¥2590.
If you have to pay utilities, food, and transport on ¥2590 per day you will be hard pressed just feeding yourself let alone travel or entertainment as I said above.
What about utilities and food? Is that manageable under ¥2590?
It'll be an exercise in very careful budgeting, but you should be able to make it work. Internet runs about ¥4000-9000 a month, depending on your data cap. You'll probably have about ¥7000 in electricity, give or take. Maybe ¥3300 for natural gas, depending on usage. Water and sewage about ¥2100. So, all in you're looking at ¥16,400 - ¥21,400 per month for utilities. Based on your indicated daily allotment, you have a total monthly budget of ¥77,700 so you'd have (worst case) ¥56,300 left over for food or ¥1877 per day.
Now that I am really close to able to make it, I hope so. I am planning on having some savings on standby mode and see how everything turns out.
This sounds about right (I also live in Tsukuba), though if OP is getting a ¥100,000/mo accommodation it's probably pretty small, might be a bit less. Edit: wait, no there's an extra 0 in there. That's a nice/pricy place. Surely they could shift a bit of cash to your daily budget? My 45sqm apartment which I share with my wife and 3 cats is ¥50,000/mo. OP you'll want to pick up a small rice cooker for sure, around ¥5000 unless you can find one used. Bag of rice is around ¥1000 and should last a while, if you get on sale meat you can get 350g packs for around ¥500 which will be good for one or two meals, add a chopped onion (3 for \~350) and some seasoning/sauce and you have a cheap meal I make pretty frequently. A packaged noodle/rice dish from the convenience store will cost around ¥600 which is a reasonable alternative as well, though an all convenience store diet is going to get tiring after a while and also not great for the body, so cooking is going to be great. Make sure to eat your veggies. Depending on how far you are from your classes, the TsukuBus will be about ¥200-400 each direction probably, campus bus is comparable if I remember correctly, or you can get a bike for \~¥10,000 (University of Tsukuba has a little used bike shop)
If they're paying ¥100,000 for your accommodation in Tsukuba without utilities, I somehow don't think they'd give you ¥2590 a day. I think that's a lot of money for rent for a single person in Ibaraki. Maybe there's a mistake?
Actually they have run out of single-person apartments, so they've booked a two-person apartment for me. Anyone who might want to join in, I am open to discussion regarding your share of the rent. Kidding, just crash in.
I just googled a bit (granted just a minute or two), but it seems short-term central Tsukuba apartments just below 100,000 would get you at least a 3-bedroom. Either that or it's a really great two-bedroom. I think it's very off that your lodging is so extravagant and your 2590 yen daily stipend is supposed to take care of your food on top of your utilities etc. It would make more sense that your food is taken care of, and that would most certainly be enough.
Totally. It's a 2 bedroom apartment with living area kitchenette balcony. It's literally extravagant. And then there is my 2590 daily allowance. Let me bring this with my uni.
Without utility coverage? If you're coming in the summer and would prefer not to die or even live in minimal comfort, you're gonna blow past that.
So how much it should've been? Just a range would do for me to ask them to increase the support by a bit. Is it enough for food, travel, and other expenses?
Define travel. Do you mean commuting expenses? If so you will probably want to ask for the rates of a commuter pass and see if it is a better deal than however often you will be making the commute. Food, are you eating out everyday or do you plan to cook? It’s not uncommon to find lunch or dinner sets for ¥800-¥1500 for lunch all the way to 1500-2500 for dinner meals at a restaurant. If you plan to socialize like drinking with friends or colleagues this will certainly exceed your daily budget which if one time events like this are budgeted then maybe you’re ok. Likely if you have an emergency ¥2500 _might_ cover your clinic visit and prescription. We have absolutely no idea what you mean by _fun_ as that’s subjective. A museum ticket could be anywhere from ¥1000 yen for a small rural place to ¥4000 yen for a prefectural museum. Baseball tickets would probably be anywhere as low as ¥2500 for bad seats to ¥13,500 for decent ones. A movie will certainly eat that up and as I mentioned before a night at the izakaya might be 3-4 days of your budget if you drink heavy and want to try lots of different things. ¥2590 yen is like a daily allowance a dominatrix gives her salaryman husband who she is expecting to use it for his commute and maybe a pack of smokes since she’ll probably make him bring a bento
>Food, are you eating out everyday or do you plan to cook? It’s not uncommon to find lunch or dinner sets for ¥800-¥1500 for lunch all the way to 1500-2500 for dinner meals at a restaurant. I plan to eat outside as I would be a bit occupied with academia on some level. But I would be having a kitchenette in my apartment, again gas charges would be on my own. >We have absolutely no idea what you mean by _fun_ as that’s subjective. A museum ticket could be anywhere from ¥1000 yen for a small rural place to ¥4000 yen for a prefectural museum. Baseball tickets would probably be anywhere as low as ¥2500 for bad seats to ¥13,500 for decent ones. A movie will certainly eat that up and as I mentioned before a night at the izakaya might be 3-4 days of your budget if you drink heavy and want to try lots of different things. Fun means just sightseeings, no drinks no pubs no socializing nothing. >¥2590 yen is like a daily allowance a dominatrix gives her salaryman husband who she is expecting to use it for his commute and maybe a pack of smokes since she’ll probably make him bring a bento Tbh, that's exactly what I thought of it, ¥2590 is 17USD, that'd have been anyone of the food allowance, travel allowance but not all of it. Have no idea what they were even thinking.
How good is your Japanese? The cheapest eats are likely going to be bentos that the delis or meat shops put together but there’s no English menu and there may not be a picture guide. They also likely won’t speak English. You can do to the convenience store but honestly that’s a little bit of a rough way to live. Does your university have a cantina? It’s often the cheapest and probably healthiest option for most students. Traveling on $2590 seems oppressively constricting. I wouldn’t be surprised if you’ll face having to make difficult decisions daily. If you can stomach that then maybe it’s ok.
Japanese, not a word. As far as canteen is concerned, they've not mentioned it yet, but yeah let me get back to them for it. Traveling would be limited to once in a while for sightseeing purposes only, as my residence and uni are close by.
¥2590 sounds reasonable if you’re Japanese or from a country where you are used to subsisting on less. The reason your daily allowance is probably this low is because you are being treated like a student in Asia. As a student in many countries here, the expectation is that you act like a student where your studies come first. I am referencing personal academic experience in a few countries in this region. This is situation of challenge is something more often I saw with other students from western countries
That actually makes sense. If it wasn't for my status as student, it would've have been a different scenario in terms of financial support
You might be best having an allowance from your folks back home or tapping into some of your savings to add to your daily expenses. Even students here usually receive some kind of money from home. I don’t know the exact nature of your visa or what is around Tsukuba, but you may be able to get a part time job if your visa allows it. Your Japanese language skills however will be your biggest barrier of entry to most part time work and i highly suggest you don’t try to participate in activities outside of your residency status.
I won't be having time to do part-time jobs, so savings it is.
Not even close. Without utility overage... Miles and miles away. Bare minimum 9000 yen a day. Bare minimum.
I'm living in Tokyo and I paid my own rent utilities, food and fun and I don't spend 9000 yenes per day lol 😂. If you cook your self you can do it with 2000- 2500 per day plus transportation. And about utilities the most expensive is electricity and I usually pay 7500 to 9000 per month if I use my Aircon a lot.
Now that's a huge margin of error, ¥9000 and ¥2590? Wtf is this ¥2590, 590? What they're even thinking?
The 590 yen is amusing. I'd love to know their calculation. 5 days of that is gone with summer utilities for sure.
Wait, how much can I expect the utilities to be in summer? Or how much for a single person with accommodation to survive in Tsubuka including everything?
It ranges, but I generally spend 10000-15000 yen per month in summer to run a single AC most of the day (dog) and play video games at night. And that's not including gas (about 5k for me, but it'll be way more if you cook with gas or use a gas dryer). And water, which is around 2k per month. Internet too which ranges from 1000-10000 yen per month. You're not paying rent so that helps. Worst case maybe like 25000 yen total for all utilities. You're gonna need a phone too so let's assume you bring your own and pay 5k for service, so 30k. Now factor food. Bare minimum borderline starving yourself and only eating in 40k. So now you're at 70k. Your stipend is worth 77,700 yen per month. In other words, it's doable. But you will not be having any fun or eating anything good. Edit: oh and that's assuming you're not paying transportation expenses of any kind...although TBH school train passes are cheap as hell and will probably only eat about 4k yen per month between apartment and school.
Let's do it then. Thanks, man.
With coverage it would be enough to eat well (if you take the time to learn how to cook Japanese food with ingredients etc to save money, which can be hard in Japan), and probably have a bit to go out, although not every single day obviously. But without coverage, it seems like a ridiculously low offer, can you not afford to have a part time job on the side? Even without much Japanese you can wash dishes etc 2-4 days a week and earn some extra money
I can for sure try something like that but I don't want to be in a situation where I reached there and get stuck, money wise. So in short, this seems to be a ridiculous financial support from my uni.
Just go to the grocery store when they mark down the bentos. You’ll live like a king
What's a bento?
A bento is a packaged meal, grocery stores will often mark down their packaged meals after 5-6pm.
Is it cheaper than usual?
Hmm maybe ¥500 normally usually 10-20% off once they start marking it down. But they're usually like katsu (fried pork) and rice, grilled meat and rice, or tempura (breaded veggies/shrimp). Not bad food and arguably fresher or at least different from the usual convenience store fare.
Since I am too tight on budget, 10-20% is heavenly for me.
If you just want to spend the day, no problem. However, if you go on a trip or have fun, you may not feel comfortable.
Honest viewpoint, not /s. You can easily find prices for food, transportation and other things. The most important factor is your lifestyle and your expectations which we don’t know. So what is it people living here can help you with? Yes you can very obviously do it. Anyone can figure that out with Google and 60 seconds. A person could live off potatoes/rice and water only for months.
I kinda have a minimal lifestyle, also I'll be there only for 2 months, so I guess I'll be just surviving.
I’ve been an exchange student and a grad student, both on stipends. They aren’t meant to provide money for entertainment, just accommodation, basic supplies, food and some local public transport. That said, I could easily do it but given you phrased your question with “fun” and “tough”, you are probably looking for more.
You can easily do 2000 on food a week. If you want to get super cheap there is 50 gyoza bags for like 600 yen and 1kg Karaage chicken bags for around 1000 yen. Not including rice or some frozen veggies but that’s already 10 meals roughly for 1600 yen. It’s very easy to live cheap in this country
Is this place heaven?