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Your family can go visit you in summer and X,'mas. There is direct flight between Newark and Singapore. About 15 hours.
Have you every traveled by yourself on a long international airplane flight with two toddlers? A 15 hour flight for the OP's wife and two little children probably would be a nightmare for them. Sheesh!
My wife had. Even longer than that. 20 hours including stopover.
Most flight attendants on foreign airline will give out toys to toddlers and kids. They also serve kid's meal before regular meal is served. And bulkhead seats are assigned without extra charge.
Yes if you are in Naha, Okinawa then maybe. But in Tokyo it's just as expensive as NYC. Assuming you'll have to work in a high priced metropolitan area for that income and support a Wife and kids (due to gender discrimination against Women and then the whole Gaijin factor) it really is a pittance.
My Wife's Sister in Ibaraki makes 150k between her and her husband and they are pretty frugal. The kids who are all grown now just turned 18 and 19 are going to local University. The equivalent of CUNY here. So yes it can be done but this is Native Japanese so there are a lot of areas where things will be cheaper for them. For a Gaijin that has no clue how local municipal ordinances and policies work you will be spending the first 5-10 years out the ass adapting on how to spend less on the daily basis.
Even though my Wife is Japanese and I know Japan it would cost me more in the beginning. There are hidden costs such as when you get into a mortgage that is not advertised just like in the U.S. etc.
Now if you are a single 18 year old kid with nothing to lose then none of this applies of course. I'm assuming OP is a bit older than that
It does sound like you're embellishing a little when you mention your wife's sister in Ibaraki, which isn't really a neighboring prefecture to Tokyo. And a foreigner could make a ton of mistakes during their first time in the country, or co-workers could steer that person in the right direction.
I'm not sure if I should bore you with anecdotes from me and my former co-workers, and their spouse and kids that were being paid to attend Japanese schools. In short, none of us at work were making $150k individually, and we lived in great areas in Tokyo prefecture, neighboring Kanagawa and other places.
There are cost of living estimates (Numbeo is an example website) that compare Tokyo with New York and San Francisco-- they're only estimates, but Tokyo's cost of living is significantly 20-60% cheaper than America's major cities. The fact that more foreigners are seeking to mortgage houses shows that Japan is financially accessible compared to 30-40 years ago.
Again, the problem is the local job salary in Japan. It's much lower than a typical American salary. If you aren't working for an international company and end up working locally, there's going to be lot more financial strain, as well as the local taxes that you have to pay.
Childbirth, children in secondary school and universities are costly expenses. Maintaining a house is costly. So is owning a car, if you need one... you could ask your wife's sister what other costly expenses a that foreigner, who receives $150k (or even the tax-exempt limit of $100k) from a foreign company, would experience.
that foreigner, who receives $150k (or even the tax-exempt limit of $100k) from a foreign company, would experience.
This is a limited population (0.0015%) who gets these jobs. Including the amount of Japanese with a great mastery of English who would also qualify for these roles.
Now assuming 150k is possible in this circumstance here's another problem which is not talked about. The Japan work week for such a salary unless you are a very high level exec is 60 hours minimum for Gaijin and 80+ hours for native Japanese. And the majority of these hours are spent in useless meetings. Your hourly wage comes out to be much less than 150k when you factor in the inefficient work culture in Tokyo. There's also the time that must be allocated to increase fluency.
The extended working hours alone wreck your quality of life because to my knowledge PTO in Japan is frowned upon and seen as a lack of dedication. Things are changing but not quickly enough.
Luckily my Wife's sister sells insurance so she gets great rates. Otherwise the home owner's insurance and auto insurance alone would be quite problematic (as they are in the U.S.)
Bodie_Bunk, I did mention a few times that a salary $150k is rarely offered by a Japanese company. One reason among many is because it doesn't match the cost of living requirements in Japan. Foreign companies, the few currently and still available besides English teaching agencies, do offer near or up to the foreign income tax limit, which would make living in Japan easier for a foreigner.
Anyway, I did it myself for the first 5 years of this decade, and it was an affordable place for me and my foreign co-workers. Your experience might have been different, and it could possibly become more expensive (but hardly at 1980s levels)
No, trip would have to be accompanied and 220k a year (the only way I would take less is if my wife convinced her work to let her work remote and keep her job). I would also have to have an employment contract that protected me that I wrote that allowed no wiggle room for an employer based termination. That would be 220k net, company would have to deal with what ever wierd tax issues there were
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