Tokyo: Asia's most expensive city for expats

Expats thinking of setting up home in Tokyo have more to worry about than natural disasters and radiation leaks, according to Mercer's Cost of Living Survey, 2011. While Luanda in Angola takes the top spot on Mercer's worldwide survey (with Tokyo in second place), the Japanese capital has once again been named the most expensive Asian city to live in this year. It's not the only Japanese city in the top 10, either, with Osaka showing up at number six (second on the Asian cities list). Nagoya just misses out, coming in at number 11 (fifth on the Asian list).

The survey takes into account 200 areas of spending across 214 cities, including housing, transport, food, clothing, household goods and entertainment. With currency movements measured against the dollar, the base city against which all other cities are compared is New York, the most expensive in the US, currently ranking 32 on the worldwide survey.

The Mercer Cost of Living survey is considered one of the most comprehensive of its kind, and is often used by multinational corporations to decide compensation and allowance for employees.

Asia's most expensive cities
Worldwide ranking is shown in brackets

1. Tokyo (2)
   
2. Osaka (6)
   
3. Singapore (8)
   
4. Hong Kong (9)
   
5. Nagoya (11)
   
6. Seoul (19)
   
7. Beijing (20)
   
8. Shanghai (21)
   
9. Tel Aviv (24)
   
10. Guangzhou (38)