Where to live in Japan
We track 13 cities in Japan, including Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka. Average temperatures run from 9°C to 17°C. We estimate a couple needs €3,207 to €3,651 a month to live centrally. Japan sits in our high tax tier. For foreigners, long-term residency is possible, with conditions.
12 questions, about 4 minutes, no account needed. Taking the quiz is free, and so is seeing your #1 city. Full results for both of you are a one-time US$12 (€12 in Europe).
- Tax tier
- High
- High personal income tax
- Languages
- Japanese
- Limited English
- Safety
- 80/100
- country-level
- Healthcare
- 80/100
- country-level
- Internet
- ~160 Mbps
- median fixed broadband
The 13 cities we track
| City | Size | Setting | Avg temp | Rain a year | Est. cost a month |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chiba | large | coastal | 16°C | 1,374 mm | €3,322 |
| Fukuoka | large | coastal | 17°C | 1,614 mm | €3,387 |
| Hiroshima | large | coastal | 15°C | 1,857 mm | €3,349 |
| Kitakyushu | mid-sized | coastal | 16°C | 1,682 mm | €3,317 |
| Kobe | large | coastal | 16°C | 1,265 mm | €3,380 |
| Kyoto | large | near the coast | 15°C | 1,562 mm | €3,375 |
| Nagasaki | mid-sized | coastal | 17°C | 2,067 mm | €3,207 |
| Nagoya | large | coastal | 16°C | 1,865 mm | €3,436 |
| Osaka | large | coastal | 16°C | 1,323 mm | €3,457 |
| Sapporo | large | coastal | 9°C | 1,234 mm | €3,414 |
| Sendai | large | coastal | 13°C | 1,258 mm | €3,337 |
| Tokyo | major | coastal | 16°C | 1,494 mm | €3,651 |
| Yokohama | major | coastal | 16°C | 1,633 mm | €3,544 |
Source: City size from GeoNames, temperature from the Open-Meteo archive (2019 to 2023 averages), rainfall from TerraClimate (1991 to 2020 normals), coast distance from Natural Earth. Cost is our model estimate for a couple living centrally.
Taxes
Japan sits in our high tax tier: high personal income tax. The tier applies to every city here, and couples who cap tax below it will not see these cities in their results.
Source: OurNextCity tax tiers, assigned by hand from each country's top marginal personal income tax rate and overall tax reputation, with no fixed rate cut-offs. Coarse by design; not tax advice.
Residency and visas
Possible, with conditions. Realistic long-term residency runs through employer-sponsored work visas and the points-based Highly Skilled Professional track (which can fast-track permanent residence), or the self-funded Business Manager route for entrepreneurs; Japan has no passive-income or retirement visa, since its means-based Long Stay status is capped at twelve months, is non-renewable, and does not count toward residency.
The cheapest self-funded routes we track for Japan:
- Investment: about $188k (Japan Business Manager visa, JPY 30,000,000 paid-in capital (raised six-fold from JPY 5M effective 16 Oct 2025); converted at JPY/USD 0.006253 (Wise, Jun 2026); as of June 2026)
For short visits, 71 of 198 passports can enter visa-free, 7 can get an e-visa or visa on arrival and 120 need a visa in advance.
Source: OurNextCity residency dataset, hand-reviewed approximations researched against published immigration rules, figures as of June 2026. Not legal advice: check the official source before you apply. Short-stay entry from the passport-index dataset (ilyankou, MIT).