Work and wages
Annual income in the game is calculated by combining real wage statistics. Even at the same age, lifetime earnings can differ several times over depending on sex, education, whether you are a regular employee, industry, company size, where you live and how job changes turn out.
Age, sex, and regular vs. non-regular employment
The foundation is scheduled earnings (monthly pay excluding overtime and bonuses) from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's 2025 Basic Survey on Wage Structure (Chingin Kozo Kihon Tokei Chosa). The values for each age bracket are smoothly connected to give a wage for every year of age.
| Age | Men, regular | Women, regular | Men, non-regular | Women, non-regular |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20–24 | ¥250,000 | ¥245,000 | ¥205,000 | ¥202,000 |
| 30–34 | ¥337,000 | ¥293,000 | ¥248,000 | ¥222,000 |
| 40–44 | ¥406,000 | ¥322,000 | ¥251,000 | ¥220,000 |
| 50–54 | ¥449,000 | ¥334,000 | ¥254,000 | ¥220,000 |
| 55–59 | ¥461,000 | ¥339,000 | ¥262,000 | ¥218,000 |
| 60–64 | ¥391,000 | ¥310,000 | ¥311,000 | ¥228,000 |
For men in regular jobs, wages keep rising until the late 50s, while non-regular wages barely grow with age. To account for bonuses and overtime, annual income is set at 1.22 times monthly pay × 12 for regular employees and 1.05 times for non-regular workers (these multipliers are assumptions).
Differences by education
We use wages by education from the same survey. For men aged 55–59, for example: high school graduates ¥367,000, vocational school graduates ¥406,000, technical college and junior college graduates ¥458,000, and university graduates ¥556,000. Wages for graduate degree holders also come from the same survey. Depending on the field studied as an undergraduate, we add +4% for science and engineering and −3% for education and the arts (these differences are assumptions).
Industry and company size
For your first job, you choose an industry and a company size. Wages by industry use the same survey's wages by industry, sex and age (Table 5-2), expressed as a ratio to all industries for the same sex and age. Public servants are not covered by this survey, so the values for "compound services" and "other services" are used instead.
The company size difference is the National Tax Agency's average salary by capital size from the Statistical Survey of Actual Status for Salary in the Private Sector (2025), divided by the overall average (¥5.97 million for men, ¥3.42 million for women). For both industry and size, values are adjusted so that the average across everyone matches the overall average.
Differences by prefecture
We multiply by the prefectural wage index from the Basic Survey on Wage Structure (Japan = 100). Tokyo is 123, Osaka 102, Aichi 100, Fukuoka 92 and Aomori 77. If you leave home to work in a city, this index changes.
Changing jobs
In the Statistics Bureau of Japan's 2022 Employment Status Survey, 12.457 million people had changed jobs in the past five years, about 19% of everyone working. In the game you get three chances to change jobs, at 28, 38 and 49, adjusted so that about 18–19% of people change jobs within any five-year period. After a job change, about 40% see their wages rise, a little over 30% see no change and a little under 30% see them fall (these shares are rough estimates without a source). The breakdown of reasons for leaving the previous job uses values from the same survey.
Whether you become a regular employee
Whether you land a regular job when you start working depends on your generation, sex, education and more. The "employment ice age" generation (born 1971–82) is set to have a harder time becoming regular employees than other generations. About 40% of non-regular workers can move into a regular job (assumption).
University tier, company size and job-change prospects
If you go to university, its difficulty is set at one of four tiers (elite, upper, mid-level, easy to enter), which changes how easily you can get into a large company. If you apply to large companies above your level, you may be turned down. When you change jobs, your "track record" is built from years as a regular employee, company size, experience posted abroad or studying abroad, qualifications and your university tier, and conditions get tougher as you age, at 35, 45 and 50. At major trading companies and similar firms you may be offered an overseas posting, and you choose whether to take your family, go alone or decline. The tier shares, the chances of being accepted or of a successful job change, and the rate of overseas posting offers are assumptions.
Real dataStatistics used on this page
- Wages by age, sex, education, employment type, prefecture and industry (Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, Basic Survey on Wage Structure, 2025)
- Average salary by company size (National Tax Agency, Statistical Survey of Actual Status for Salary in the Private Sector, 2025)
- Share of people who changed jobs, and reasons for leaving (Statistics Bureau of Japan, Employment Status Survey, 2022)
AssumptionValues without a source
- Multipliers for bonuses and overtime (1.22 for regular employees, 1.05 for non-regular)
- Wage differences by field (+4% for science and engineering, −3% for education and the arts)
- The share of people in each industry and company size; differences by age in how easy it is to change jobs
- The share and size of wage gains and losses after a job change; the chance of moving from non-regular to regular employment
Related: Going to school, and dropping out / Savings and investing