Uffda

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World's most expensive cities 2007
1. Moscow
2. Tokyo
3. London
4. Oslo
5. Seoul
6. Hong Kong
7. Copenhagen
8. Geneva
9. Milan
10. Zurich

22. New York City


We are quickly finding out why Tokyo is #2. Although our salary is more than in the States, things will still be tight. Here's one reason why:

When you move into an apartment in Tokyo, you go through a system where you pay two month's rent to your landlord as "thank you" or "key" money, two month's rent for a deposit that may or may not be returned, one month's rent for the following month, and one month's rent to the agent that found the apartment and facilitated the contract.

When you add all this up, that's six months of rent due before you can even move in. We found a modestly-priced two-bedroom place, and it runs around $1,600 a month. That means that they move-in cost alone is $9,600. Luckily, contract renewal is every two years and only costs one month's rent for "key money." Another lucky thing is that the school covers part of the cost and gives us a loan for the rest to be paid back in installments over the next six months.

Food has been relatively affordable, and we have most of what we need, but we're starting to see the practical reasons for Tokyo's placement at #2 on the list of the most expensive cities in the world. Eating out can be cheaper than making food at home, according to some people who have lived here for a few years. We'll make it work, but it should be interesting...