alt Hacker News$85K vs $60K ...to give you some idea the typical wage in Okinawa for a combini job is about $6/hour. I think the income disparity is larger than those numbers suggest.
FWIW Japanese people living there tell me combinis are expensive based on their salaries and I believe them.
IIUC Japanese budgets are different. They spend comparatively less on housing and transportation than Americans. The Anglosphere in general has somehow developed a rather toxic status quo when it comes to that first basic need, with everything else only being slightly cheaper.
I would rather pay 15% more on goods and 30% less on rent.