Jun 6, 2016
News: Japan’s Richest Prefectures by Household Savings
Japanese media platform introduces the prefecture in Japan whose residents have saved the most money.
貯蓄 (chochiku) - savings
Do you manage to save money in Japan? Are you even trying to save money in Japan? There are any number of ideas and approaches when it comes to the collation of currency. It’s probably fair to say that for a number of Japan’s expats, saving money isn’t really an option. Since the days of earning a fortune by giving someone a quick conversation lesson have be consigned to an 80’s heyday (that shows no sign of returning), certain English-teaching positions aren’t doing much to feed bank accounts or made a dent in student loans.
For some then, what follows is going to make for disturbing reading. The Japanese, from our perspective, look to be pretty good at saving money. According to stats compiled by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (総務省 / soumushou) in 2014, average total savings for households across Japan were at 14,520,000 yen. That’s US$135,635 or £94,332.
If fact, the people over at livedoor NEWS have even postulated that residents of some prefectures might be better at saving money than others. In one of their pieces they’ve ranked the best five prefecture for saving money, and the worst.
The Best 5 Prefectures at Saving Money
| 1 | Nara / 奈良県 | 17,816,000 yen |
| 2 | Tokyo / 東京都 | 17,729,000 yen |
| 3 | Fukui / 福井県 | 17,662,000 yen |
| 4 | Chiba / 千葉県 | 17,583,000 yen |
| 5 | Kanagawa / 神奈川県 | 17,003,000 yen |
Tokyo as top would have been an easy guess, still, the nation’s capital and some of the surrounding prefectures do make up the bulk of the top 5.
The Worst 5 Prefectures at Saving Money
| 47 | Okinawa / 沖縄県 | 5,318,000 yen |
| 46 | Kagoshima / 鹿児島県 | 8,217,000 yen |
| 45 | Aomori / 青森県 | 8,464,000 yen |
| 44 | Nagasaki / 長崎県 | 9,271,000 yen |
| 43 | Miyagi / 宮城県 | 9,835,000 yen |
With there being such a large difference in savings between Nara and Okinawa, the people at livedoor speculate that maybe some prefectures have a culture of saving money, and others a culture of using it.
The savings of the above cover all households; those with members still at work, and those who maybe don’t.
Below are the rankings covering only those households that still have members in employment.
Workers Best 5
| 1 | Fukui / 福井県 | 15,087,000 yen |
| 2 | Toyama / 富山県 | 13,818,000 yen |
| 3 | Tokyo / 東京都 | 13,733,000 yen |
| 4 | Chiba / 千葉県 | 13,513,000 yen |
| 5 | Aichi / 愛知県 | 13,411,000 yen |
We can see from this list, Nara is nowhere to be seen. In fact, it is 6th.
Workers Worst 5
| 47 | Okinawa / 沖縄県 | 3,398,000 yen |
| 46 | Kagoshima / 鹿児島県 | 5,759,000 yen |
| 45 | Aomori / 青森県 | 5,929,000 yen |
| 44 | Nagasaki / 長崎県 | 6,754,000 yen |
| 43 | Ōita / 大分県 | 7,294,000 yen |
Of course, all of these results are not just about people’s motivation (or lack thereof) to save money. Land prices, population breakdowns, salaries and other factors need to be considered.
So, dare we ask? How do these savings figures compare to your own? To be honest, they brought us out into a bit of a cold sweat!
For some tips on saving money in Japan, check out this earlier post on City-Cost ...
Easy Ways To Save Money In Japan … Or Lose it!
Twitter: City_Cost_Japan
Source
Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Image (cropped)
Japanexperterna Flickr License
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