Well, living in Okinawa is actually less expensive than living in mainland, at least in the big cities like Tokyo and Osaka. However this is mostly offset by a lower average salary. Here is a cost of living comparison.

This chart is only a rough guide and seems to be rather dated to me. In my experience housing is the biggest difference.  It will be about 30,000 yen cheaper most of the time.  Also alcohol in clubs is cheaper. Unlike the chart though, most other things like food don't seem that much cheaper than when I lived in Osaka. Also it can be more difficult and expensive to buy western food ingredients here.

John

Alright, I included the "l" in the .html part of the link when I shouldn't have. It should be working now.

John

Hello,

I agree that this list is out of date and not accurate. Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be a better list, at least not that I've seen. Maybe I could try to make a list sometime, but it might not be completely representative of the actual state of prices in Okinawa, just what I can find at my local grocery store. If you can find a list about the cost of goods in Japan, I'd think that might give you a decent idea about the cost of food. Things may be a little bit cheaper here, but I honestly didn't find it to be that significant (when I moved from Osaka).

Food here is not too expensive as long as you don't eat out, but you have to eat the same foods that Japanese people eat. If you're running down to the store to be taco shells or oatmeal all the time, things get expensive pretty fast. On the other hand, if you eat soba noodles, miso soup, and a simple vegetable dish, you can live for cheap.

I know you'd probably like something a little more concrete, but I don't have much to give you. Personally I spend way too much money on food, so I can't really talk about budgeting very well.

Okay - First attempt at a list for requested comparison
(To all those who read this list and compare prices, remember: everything is smaller in Okinawa. A regular sized potato in America is nearly twice the sice of the potatoes I saw in in store there.)

Potatoes  (Good staple)
Rice (Duh)
Beef (ya right! I know this will be expensive)
Fish
Noodles
Water chestnuts (Can you believe I couldn't find them in the store there?)
Seaweed (Have to make sushi at some point)
Miso soup (What's in that anyway? It sure is good stuff)
Milk
chicken

I am finding that I am starting to enjoy cooking as a hobby and enjoy making stuff from scratch. I'm sure this will help the budget, since we all love Japanese food.

Do they have a farmer's market?

I went down to the store today to check prices out. I can't say this is an average price, but it's what I found at the local cheapish supermarket.

Potatoes: 128 yen / 500g (17oz)
Rice: 2000 yen / 5 kg
Ground Beef/Pork Mix: 133 yen / 100g (3.6oz)
Sirloin Steak: 258 yen / 100g
Salmon (for sashimi) 158 yen / 100g
Soba Noodles: 280 / 4 servings (pretty big size)
Water Chestnuts: I couldn't find them either
Seaweed: 207 yen / 10 sheets
Milk: 198 yen / 1 L
Spinach: 118 yen / half a whatever spinach comes in...
Eggs: 198 yen / 10 eggs

Special notes on miso soup: It's pretty simple. You just need miso, which comes in a 1 kg tub, and miso soup gu. I guess that would be ingredients in English. A 1kg tub of miso paste is 280 yen and a pack of 20 servings of gu is 185 yen. The gu is tofu, wakame seaweed, onions, and maybe some other little things. Anyway, miso is great stuff and really cheap.

Hope that helps.

John