Money Diary British Woman In Tokyo

Welcome to Money Diaries, where we're tackling what might be the last taboo facing modern working women: money. We're asking a cross-section of women how they spend their hard-earned money during a seven-day period – and we're tracking every last penny.

This week we're with a British woman who has spent the last five years living in Tokyo, working for a nonprofit organisation. Tokyo isn't cheap as a city but there's a lot of fun to be had and she's thrilled to find more and more vegan food places popping up all the time. The rest of her money, she says, goes on travel, including, this week, a spontaneous trip to LA!

Industry: Public Relations (nonprofit sector). Also volunteer for animal charities/groups
Age: 33
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Salary: 3.2m JPY (£22,000) – working four days a week
Paycheque amount: 232,000 JPY (£1,581) – various taxes and health insurance are taken out by my employer
Number of housemates: One – Matilda, my dog

Monthly Expenses

Housing costs: 1K (one room and one kitchen) apartment 15 minutes by subway to the city centre is 87,000 JPY (£592) in rent; residence tax 15,000 JPY (£102.23)
Loan payments: 0
Utilities: Gas/electricity/water/internet 12,000 JPY (£81.80)
Transportation: Commute is paid by the company, this is very common in Japan. Other transportation 11,000 JPY (£75)
Phone bill: 6,000 JPY (£40.90)
Savings: I teach an English conversation student once a week at 3,500 JPY (£24) an hour, and *try* to save this money