Even though Japan has been hit by a deflationary economy, Tokyo is still the world's most expensive city for the expatriate community, a rank it has now held for the past 12 years, according to a survey released by a British think tank Thursday.
The semiannual survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit compared 134 cities around the world over costs for consumer goods and services, including bread, vegetables, car rentals and hourly wages of a baby sitter.
Tokyo measured 139 in the EIU index, which uses New York as a base of 100, followed by Kobe and Osaka, which collectively came in second with an index of 136.
Oslo at 123 replaced Hong Kong at 115 as the third most expensive city.