Anecdotally, for me, I'd say London is pricier than Tokyo. London is a bitch. It's like the prices of all consumer goods are the same numbers as the same item in the US -- except you're dealing in pounds instead of dollars. This would still work out to the same purchasing power for locals if workers' salaries were the same magnitude as the salary for the equivalent US job... but that's not the case. A starting consultant out of undergrad in the US makes about $55,000, say. A starting consultant out of undergrad in the UK makes £30,000. (I don't know much about Japanese salaries so I'm not going to comment)

You can get a hearty gyuudon or bowl of noodles for lunch in the middle of Tokyo and pay 500 yen, slurping alongside the salarymen. There's really no equivalent in London. English sandwiches are either shitty or overpriced.

And 飲み放題 has yet to reach England...

Of course that list ranks cities as to how expensive they are compared to America, which makes it not very reliable.

What exactly are these rankings based on. I remember seeing the comparison points once a long time ago and recall that they very much reflect a western lifestyle. That is, if you want to consume the same
kinds of things you were in the US, in Tokyo, then of course it will be more expensive here.

I was still surprised when coming to Japan at how much cheaper many things are here than in Europe. Especially London and Paris. Eating out is a good example.

It doesn't really matter much where you are... everyone uses all their income to live (shy a little tiny bit of saving). Where Londoners pay high rent and crazy prices for food, Tokyoites have to worry about juku for their kids, and inescapable contributions of cash to workplace events.

I think a city will rise in cost until an equilibrium is reached between available money and necessary money. Tokyo, Osaka and London are all the cities where the kids run off to with the family money, and often, not where they settle down. What drives the prices of these cities up is that the income of the residents is not from daily work, but represents the dissolution of family wealth, earned well outside the confines of the city, and saved over decades if not longer.

IIRC, the last Economist "Big Mac Index" of COL put Tokyo at #1 in terms of purchasing parity as well.

A starting consultant out of undergrad in the US makes about $55,000, say.

Whoa big spender. I guess if you're getting top level consultant jobs, it's that much.

London is pricy, I hear. How are prices outside of London?

Consumer prices in Japan are generally high, no matter to whom you compare. Cabs start at 660. Subways are also very expensive compared to NYC, at least.

I think the unrateable things -- the use value stuff rather than the exchange value stuff -- is what counts here. I'm in London just now and I can tell you that it's nigh-on impossible to get a decent meal on the average street. What's more, you'll pay ridiculous prices for your inedible food.

It's worth noting too that Japanese may pay more rent per square metre than others, but they tend to like to live in small spaces: it's a cultural custom, an aesthetic preference, and they often don't feel comfortable in big empty rooms, even given a choice. It's a mistake just to say "Yeah, shitty old Japan, no room to move."

Also unrateable (and invaluable) is the convenience of Tokyo: the fact that public utilities are not vandalised, and that you can go anywhere at any time of the night or day with a feeling of safety. This allows Tokyoites to think of the city as an extension of their small apartments: combini is a sort of fridge, love hotel a sort of bedroom, and so on. This does NOT apply in a city like London, where things are often shut, and where street crime is a scary constant.

Also, I wasn't too impressed by the people you "blame" for Tokyo's high cost of living:

small inefficient business owners, thousands of wholesalers and their army of middlemen, government-subsidized farmers, protectionist law makers, permit-happy bureaucrats, and companies who soak domestic consumers on myths of "high-quality" while selling the same products abroad for half-price.

So basically, between the lines, you prefer big business to small, you don't like government interference, and you don't like it when companies have a sliding pricing scale and sell their products more cheaply in poorer markets? Let's see, you vote Republican, don't you?

Of course that list ranks cities as to how expensive they are compared to America, which makes it not very reliable.

The rankings are compared to New York only as an arbitrary indexing reference point. They could be compared as easily to Bangalore or Barcelona. It would have been more useful to declare the most expensive city to be "100," but there is no skew by viewing it as compared to the U.S.

What this is is a purchasing power parity index over 200 different reference points.

"street crime is a scary constant"

More anecdote: A dude pulled a knife on me and robbed me of my keitai in London. (This happened near the Borough tube stop in Southwark) Nobody ever bothered me in Tokyo...

It's worth noting too that Japanese may pay more rent per square metre than others, but they tend to like to live in small spaces: it's a cultural custom, an aesthetic preference

Man, what is up with you and essentialism?

Where do rich people live in Japan? In big houses. Or sometimes big houses in Hawaii. But of course, even rich people want tiny little houses because they are descended from samurai. That's why there is SO much fallow land in Japan.

his allows Tokyoites to think of the city as an extension of their small apartments: combini is a sort of fridge, love hotel a sort of bedroom, and so on.

The combini are a modern phenomena. Tokyo used to close down around 6:30 every night in the 80s.

But I agree that Tokyo surely wins on crime and convienence. I've never been mugged in NYC nor in Tokyo, but I very much doubt it would happen in Tokyo.

Let's see, you vote Republican, don't you?

I don't, but this is a difficult issue. My blame list is made up of those who vote for the LDP or are aligned with the bureaucracy. I would argue some sort of free market is good in that it benefits innovative firms who can produce better products at lower costs. Having everything tied up in cabalistic, anti-consumer agreements may be good for "small business" in the abstract, but not in reality.