Japan salary calculator: your 2026 take-home pay

Take-home pay in Japan by monthly salary, 2026

For someone aged 30 working in Tokyo, with no bonus and no dependents. The first-year column has no resident tax; the last column is what you get once it starts.

Monthly figures are annual averages: yearly amounts divided by 12, including any bonus. They are not a literal payslip for a regular salary month. Income tax is taken monthly and settled at the December year-end adjustment.

To see what is left after rent, food and bills, enter your salary in the cost of living calculator.

Take-home pay on ¥300,000 a month in Japan

You take home about ¥252,230 a month in your first year in Japan, and about ¥239,688 a month from June of the next year, once resident tax starts. That is for someone aged 30 in Tokyo with no bonus and no dependents.

• Insurance and income tax take about 16% of gross pay in the first year, and insurance, income tax and resident tax together about 20% once resident tax starts.
• From age 40, long-term care insurance starts. At this salary it adds ¥2,430 a month.
• Only health insurance changes with the prefecture. First-year take-home on this salary runs from ¥251,230 a month in Saga to ¥253,140 a month in Niigata.

An annual average from the same model as the calculator above, not a payslip. What this leaves out.

Take-home pay on a ¥5 million salary in Japan

You take home about ¥348,773 a month (¥4,185,272 a year) in your first year in Japan, and about ¥328,523 a month (¥3,942,272 a year) from June of the next year. That is for someone aged 30 in Tokyo with no dependents, paid ¥416,667 a month for 12 months, the nearest yen to one twelfth of ¥5 million.

• Insurance and income tax take about 16% of gross pay in the first year, and insurance, income tax and resident tax together about 21% once resident tax starts.
• Paid as ¥350,000 a month plus ¥800,000 in bonuses, the same ¥5 million gives ¥4,158,272 in the first year and ¥3,918,072 a year from the next June.
• Only health insurance changes with the prefecture. First-year take-home on this salary runs from ¥347,404 a month in Saga to ¥350,010 a month in Niigata.
• The furusato nozei (hometown tax donation) limit at this salary is ¥58,000, from the same model.

An annual average from the same model as the calculator above, not a payslip. What this leaves out.

What comes out of your salary in Japan

Five insurance lines and two taxes. The insurance is charged on a standard pay grade close to your salary, and your employer pays the same amount again.

Resident tax in your first year in Japan

If you did not live in Japan on 1 January, you pay no resident tax this year. Resident tax is charged to people with an address in Japan on 1 January, on the previous calendar year’s income (Ministry of Internal Affairs).

So if you arrive in 2026, resident tax on your 2026 pay starts in June 2027 and comes out of your salary in 12 installments until May 2028 (Tokyo Metropolitan tax office). On ¥300,000 a month that is ¥12,542 a month less from June 2027.

With furusato nozei (hometown tax donation), a donation minus ¥2,000 comes off your income tax and resident tax, up to a limit set by your salary.

The 2026 tax change

For income earned in 2026, the income tax basic deduction is ¥1,040,000 for total income up to ¥4,890,000, and the employment income deduction is at least ¥740,000 (National Tax Agency). In 2025 they were ¥950,000 at most and ¥650,000.

The new amounts are settled at the December 2026 year-end adjustment, so income tax taken from your pay before then is higher than this calculator shows, and December pay or a refund makes up the difference. Resident tax keeps a basic deduction of ¥430,000.

What this calculator leaves out

• Dependents, a spouse, and the deductions for them.
• Other income, side work, iDeCo, life insurance and medical expense deductions.
• Health insurance societies (組合健保) and public-sector plans, which set their own rates.
• Commuting allowance.
• Non-residents for tax purposes, who are taxed differently.
• People aged 75 and over, who move to a separate system (後期高齢者医療制度).
• Anyone not on an employer's insurance. That is national health insurance, charged on last year's income.
• Monthly pay under ¥88,000. At the minimum wage, 20 hours a week pays at least that, and part-time workers on fewer hours are not enrolled in employer health insurance and pension (Japan Pension Service).
• Local differences: a few councils set their own resident tax rates.
• Where resident tax starts. It is zero here up to ¥450,000 of income, the Tokyo 23 wards figure. In smaller towns the ¥5,000 flat part can start from ¥380,000 (Yoshinogari town, Saga).

Phone plans once you have a Japanese salary

Working in Japan, you have a residence card and can open a bank account in your name. Card companies count having no Japanese credit history as one factor when they screen an application, the credit bureau CIC says, and several say foreign residents can apply: see credit cards that accept foreign residents. Monthly SIM plans that screen applications need a card or an account in your name. Two that fit, picked on how you pay. Plans differ in data, so neither is picked on price. The SIM card finder covers other situations, and home internet is on its own page.