🇯🇵 Japan vs 🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Side by side on the data that actually changes your life: prices, taxes, climate, air, safety. Every number has a source and a date.
Climate (capital)
Open-Meteo historical weather
Jan 5° · Jul 29° · Tokyo
Jan 20° · Jul 21° · San José
Air quality (capital)
WAQI, capital station
AQI 17 · Good
AQI 20 · Good
Big Mac price
The Economist Big Mac index
$3.03
$6.04
Taxes on salary
OECD tax wedge, single average worker
~33% of labour cost (2025)
~28% of labour cost (2025)
Special tax regimes
Official tax authorities, verified 2026-06
Non-permanent resident status
Territorial taxation
Inflation
World Bank
3.2% / yr (2025)
-0.1% / yr (2025)
Internet (median fixed)
Ookla Speedtest Global Index
~180 Mbps
—
English proficiency
EF English Proficiency Index
low
—
Messenger apps
OONI network measurements, 6-month window
All measured apps work
All measured apps work
Safety advisory
U.S. State Department travel advisory
Level 1 · Exercise Normal Precautions
—
Foreign-born residents
World Bank migrant stock
2.8% of population (2024)
12.2% of population (2024)
Life expectancy
WHO
85 yrs
79 yrs
Currency
ISO 4217
JPY
CRC
Timezone (capital)
Open-Meteo
UTC+9
UTC-6
Climate, inflation and life expectancy verified 2026-07-07. Prices, taxes and air quality verified 2026-07-07. Sources shown per row.
Special tax regimes, verified
Regimes change often and many sites still advertise closed ones. We link the official source for each.
🇯🇵 Japan
Foreign income not remitted to Japan untaxed · first 5 years
Verified 2026-06 · NTA (tax agency)
🇨🇷 Costa Rica
Foreign-source income untaxed
Verified 2026-06 · Ministerio de Hacienda
Numbers are half the story
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