🏙️ Japan Publishes 2025 Regional Price Level Index

❓ What was published?

On September 18, 2026, Japan's Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIC) released the Regional Price Level Index for 2025, compiled from the Retail Price Survey (Structure Survey). The index sets the national average at 100 and shows whether prices in each prefecture and prefectural capital city sit above or below that average. It works differently from the monthly Consumer Price Index (CPI): the CPI tracks change over time - how much prices moved versus a year or a month earlier - while the regional index compares different places at the same point in time. The underlying Retail Price Survey continuously collects prices for goods and services from shops and service providers across Japan, and the Structure Survey arranges those results so regions can be compared directly. Figures are given not only as an overall index but also by spending category such as food, housing, fuel, light and water charges, and culture and recreation, so you can see which part of household spending drives a region's gap. Detailed tables are available on the MIC Statistics Bureau website.

👥 Who does this affect?

• ●Foreign residents comparing living costs before a move or job transfer
• ●International students and job seekers choosing where to study or work
• ●Households that want to see regional gaps in rent and food costs
• ●Researchers and company staff studying price levels by region

🌏 Impact on foreign residents

When choosing where to live in Japan, the salary on a job posting alone does not tell you how comfortable life will be: the same take-home pay leaves very different amounts in your pocket depending on local price levels. The regional index gives you official, free numbers for that comparison. Housing (rent) in particular varies widely by area, so reading the overall index and the housing index separately helps you narrow down realistic candidate cities. Newcomers often decide on vague impressions such as 'Tokyo is expensive', but the category breakdown can show, for example, that rent differs sharply while other categories differ far less. Before a big decision - changing jobs, starting school, or bringing family over - lining up the indexes for your candidate areas makes it easier to set a housing budget or decide how much to send home. Visitors can also use it to get a sense of price levels outside the big cities.