Quote:
Originally Posted by Firebird
I just found something interesting over at dannychoo
Ill quote him on this one:
"...I thought we'd look at how much it costs to send children to school in Japan.
(Cut long list of costs)
I guess this might also be a good reason not to have another child....
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The thing is, this hasn`t changed in recent years - so it`s hard to say that these costs are what are forcing people to cut back on making children.
To be completely honest though, the figures look scarier on paper than in reality. I used to gawk and choke at them until I actually had a kid and sent him to a private kindergarten. In our case, costing pretty much what is listed there.
It comes down to around 30000/month with 50000 a year for supplies. The uniform cost an arm and a leg, but it`s pretty much a one time deal. So - we pay that 30000/month for 3 years and then it`s off to elementary school.
These costs lists for elementary school tend to be VERY misleading. Public elementary is essentially free. All you pay for is basic supplies (crayons and all that junk) and lunch each day. Most of the time there is no uniform, so it`s all regular clothing which tends to inflate the "costs" as Japanese magazines and the like add in "clothing costs" as part of the cost of elementary school... When it`s really just the cost of having a kid to begin with. Our local elementary school is 3000/month for lunch, with an average of about 2000 more a month for other activities (a big field trip once a year, etc.) So that`s 5000/month plus the once a year cost of supplies. No way it goes over 25000/month (like in that listed cost) for a public school unless you are including all the general costs of raising a child.
If you sent your kid to kindergarten and paid 30000/month for it, just siphon off the remaining 25000/month you`re not paying in elementary school and save it for later (private high school, university).
It looks a lot worse on paper than it feels to be paying it in reality. We certainly aren`t making millions*, and are able to do it quite easily on one salary while paying a massive home loan each month and still have cash left over to play with.
*Unless you count yearly income in yen. We do makes millions of yen a year.