Japanese Elementary Schooler Asked for ¥500 a Month — Her Parents Had Been Thinking ¥3,000

What's going on

Giving children a regular monthly allowance is a common practice in Japan and is widely seen as an early lesson in money management. While there's no hard standard, a rough rule of thumb often cited is "¥100 per grade level per month" — meaning a 5th grader might receive ¥500. In practice, amounts vary widely by family, and what counts as "covered by allowance" versus "handled by parents" (school supplies, outings, clothing) differs just as much.

With Japan's recent inflation pushing the price of manga, snacks, and stationery noticeably higher, many parents are rethinking what a fair allowance looks like today. One parent posted about sitting down with their spouse to work this out before talking to their elementary-school-age daughter — and landed on roughly ¥3,000 a month as a reasonable starting point, factoring in how much books and manga cost these days.

Then they asked the daughter. She said ¥500 would be fine. The post set off a wide discussion about allowance amounts, generational differences in spending habits, and whether today's kids are simply less materialistic — or just very good at not asking.

Comments

Our daughter finally asked for an allowance, so my husband and I sat down to figure out an amount. “How about ¥3,000 a month?” “Books and manga have been getting pricier lately, right?” 😂 When we were kids, most of our allowance went to books and manga anyway, with the occasional outing for stationery or snacks. We figured ¥3,000 should cover it in today’s prices. So we told her—

長女からお小遣いが欲しいとお願いされ、夫と相談「月3000円くらい？」「今本や漫画も値上がりしてるしね？？」私も夫も小学生の頃のお小遣いの使い道は大半が本と漫画😂時々友達と出かけて文房具やおやつ買うくらいだったから今なら3000円で足りるかな、と話し合っていたんだけど、長女に伝えたら

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“Wait, that’s way too much! ¥500 a month is fine! I want to save up for some clothes.” 😂 Mom will buy you clothes, honey… at ¥500 a month, that outfit is going to take a few years, kiddo lol

「え？！そんなにいらないよ！月500円でいいよ！欲しい服があるからお金貯めて買う」とのことだった😂 服はお母さん買うよ…500円じゃ何年もかかると思うよw

Turns out books weren’t even on her list lol. Apparently even a well-off friend of hers only gets ¥500 a month. We both want her to have enough when she’s out with friends, so we wanted to match whatever the other kids have… you hear that kids today spend a lot, right? So we were thinking ¥3,000 — but wait, is that too much? We were kind of feeling around in the dark.

長女の中で本はお小遣いの使途に入っていなかった笑割と裕福なおうちの仲良いお友達も月500円だそう。私も夫も長女が友人と遊びに行くときに困らないように、周りと金額は合わせてあげたいよね…今時の子はお金がいるって聞くけど…さ、3千円くらいかな…？え？多すぎない…？って探り探りでした

When she said ¥500, my first thought was — wait, is that less than I expected? Is that actually normal? Well, she IS in elementary school… 😂 Between the price hikes lately and genuinely not knowing what kids need these days, it’s so hard to figure out the right amount. I’ve always bought her things when she asked, but I guess she wants to be the one picking stuff out when she’s hanging with friends.

500円と聞いて、あれ？思ったより少ない？こんなもんだっけ？いやでも小学生だもんな…？最近の物価高にも困惑しているし、どのくらい必要なのか難しい😂 欲しいものがあれば言ってくれればだいたいは買ってきたけど、きっと友だちと遊びに行ってその場で選んで買いたいんだろうな

She really doesn’t ask for things much anyway. And our younger daughter is a complete mystery.

長女はあまり買ってと言わないし、また次女はどうなるか未知

Parent of a 5th grader here. We did ¥1,000 through 2nd grade, then ¥1,500 from 3rd. The allowance is mostly saved for outings with friends, but she said she wanted to buy Ribon (Ribon is a long-running monthly manga magazine aimed at girls, published since 1955) every month, so we added ¥500 for that. Stickers, snacks, stationery — it all costs more now. We cover most of that separately.

小5の親です。2年生までは1000円で3年生頃から1500円です。お小遣いは友達と遊ぶ時とかの為に基本的に貯金してますが、毎月、りぼん（漫画）を買いたいと言われたのでその時から➕500円にしました。いまや、シールもお菓子も文房具も高いですからね。基本的にシールも文房具もお菓子も親が出してます

Here’s our system: Nothing before elementary school — just buy what’s needed. Elementary: grade × ¥500 per month. Middle school starts at “grade 7” and counts up from there. High school starts at “grade 10,” with allowance continuing until the end of first semester only. After that — get a part-time job and manage your own money.

我が家の場合小学校入学前は特に無し(必要な物は買う) 小学校入学以降は学年 × 500円中学1年は7学年とし年次数字は上がる計算高校1年は10学年とし一学期中までお小遣い支給二学期からお小遣い廃止以降はバイトして自分で管理

When I was a kid, I got ¥1,000 in upper elementary. For trips to the mall (Aeon is a large Japanese retail chain with hundreds of shopping centers across the country) — parents would drive us — they’d hand money as needed, but we rarely went. The ¥3,000 range you’re thinking of was actually my middle school allowance. How about giving your daughter the ¥500 she asked for, then offering the remaining ¥2,500 separately for outings and clothes? There’s something fun about picking things out yourself!

小学生の時は高学年で1,000円でした友達と遊ぶ時（親送迎距離のイオン）は都度渡す感じですが滅多に行かなかったです。月3,000円くらいと思われてる金額は中学でした。とりあえず娘さんには希望額を、残り2,500円は遊びに行く時や服を買う時にお渡しされては？自分で買うのと楽しみですし！

My son just started middle school. I’ve been giving him an allowance since 4th grade: ¥3,000 in 4th, ¥4,000 in 5th, ¥5,000 in 6th, and ¥6,000 now in middle school. Double payment in bonus months too. Prices are just so different from thirty-odd years ago — and I grew up in a poor household where I went without — so I make sure my son has money.

ウチの息子は今年中1ですが小4の時から父親の自分が小遣い上げてましたね小4時は3000円、小5は4000円、小6は5000円中1は6000円。賞与月は同額は2回渡してます。三十数年前の自分の時代とは物価が違い過ぎるしその時代に家が貧乏でひもじい思いをした経験から、息子に金を渡してます。

For me it was ¥1,000 in elementary, ¥3,000 in middle school, ¥5,000 in high school. Things like stationery — stuff I needed but didn’t personally want — were covered separately.

自分の時は小学生1000円中学生3000円高校生5000円でしたね私的に欲しいわけではない筆記用具とか必需品は別で貰ってました

I’m currently in middle school and I get half my New Year’s money (Otoshidama: a Japanese tradition where adults give children cash in decorated envelopes at the start of each year — amounts typically range from ¥1,000 to tens of thousands of yen depending on the giver) plus ¥1,000 a month, so ¥3,000 honestly sounds plenty 🙌 But from where I’m standing, ¥3,000 feels like a lot — I actually worry about being a financial burden on my parents 😔

現中学生の私はお年玉半分程と月1000円ですので3000でも全然足りるかと思います🙌 ですが、こちらからすると3000円って結構な額なので親の負担になってないか心配になったりします😔

Our 1st grader earns their allowance through chores. Bath cleaning: ¥30 per time. Laundry folding: ¥1 per item. Washing dishes: ¥30 per time. Do it properly and you can clear ¥1,000 in a month.

うちの小学1年生はお手伝いお小遣い制です。風呂掃除30円／回、洗濯物畳み1円／枚、洗い物30円／回です。しっかりやれば1000円超えます。

¥1,000 isn’t enough for a 6th grader, and ¥500 is even less. Better to give the right amount from the start than keep bumping it up later. For reference: ¥1,000 for 1st–2nd grade, ¥2,000 for 3rd–4th, ¥3,000 for 5th–6th. Plus ¥50 per chore on top — do one chore a day and that’s an extra ¥1,500 a month.

小6で1000円は足りないし500円はもっと足りません。後々増やされるくらいなら最初から必要な分渡しましょう。参考までにうちは小1.2で1000円、小3.4で2000円、小5.6で3000円。それとは別でお手伝い1回50円渡してます。毎日お手伝い1回すれば1500円プラスになります。

We’re planning ¥500 until 5th grade, then ¥700 in 6th. Clothes and necessary stationery are covered, paperback books too — manga is on her. Extra cash comes from chores! We also do bonus payments for test scores and extracurricular event achievements 🤗

我が家も5年生まで500円6年生から700円にしようとしてます。服、必要な文具は買ってあげる、本も文庫本は買ってあげて漫画は自分でどうぞ、あと足りない分はお手伝いで稼ぐスタイルです！あとはテストの点数、習い事のイベントなので変どうスタイル🤗

We’ve got a 6th grade daughter too, so the amount struggle is real 😅 Our system: she has a vocab test at her weekly English class, 30 points total. We promised ¥500 for scoring 20+ and another ¥500 for a perfect score — usually adds up to around ¥1,000 a month 😊 Lately she’s been hitting 30 twice out of every four classes 🤣

うちも小6の娘がいるから額で悩むの分かるな😅 うちは週1通ってる英語教室の単語テストが30点満点で、4回通う間に満点取れって言ってる。そのテストで20点取ったら500円、30点取ったら更に500円あげる約束にしてるので、大体月に1000円あげてる😊 最近は2回で30点取ってくる🤣

Kids around mine seem to be getting about ¥500 too. Ours hasn’t started a regular allowance yet — just stretching out the New Year’s money. When I was in elementary school, most kids got regular allowances and the amounts felt pretty substantial. Kids today just don’t seem to want as much stuff, honestly.

失礼します。うちの子の周りももらってる子は500円ぐらいです。ちなみにうちの子はまだお小遣いあげてなくて、お年玉でやりくりしてます。私が小学生の頃はお小遣い制の子が多くて、みんなしっかりもらってました。今の子はそんなに物欲もないイメージですよね。

In my case, zero allowance all the way from elementary through high school. Mostly got by on New Year’s money — about ¥15,000–20,000 — stretched across the year, with extra handed out for events like summer festivals or school culture fair after-parties.

自分の場合は、小学生から高校生までお小遣いゼロでした。基本的にお年玉の1.5-2万円で1年やりくり、祭とか文化祭の打ち上げとかイベントの時には千円とか三千円とか見合った額を臨時で出してくれた感じです。

The parents are so grounded — no wonder the daughter turned out that way… Still, with prices going up the way they have, figuring out the right allowance amount is genuinely tricky now 🤔

親御さんがしっかりしてるから娘さんもこんなしっかりしてるんだろうな… それにしても、物価あがりまくった今じゃたしかに子供のお小遣いの額決めるのも難しいな🤔

Since she’s so sensible — you might want to suggest that clothes come from a separate seasonal budget (“we can do X yen per season”), and start picking things out together from now on. She’s clearly developing her own taste. Good opportunity to teach her what to look for beyond just design — how easy it is to wash, how to check the stitching, things like that.

しっかりしてるなら、お小遣いとは別に、お洋服はワンシーズンに〇円は家計から出せるから、次からは一緒に選ぼうと提案するといいかも。好みが出てきたんでしょうから。そして選ぶコツ。デザインだけではなく、洗濯のしやすさとか、縫製のここを確認とか教えとく機会にするといいかも

We talk a lot about allowances and money values in our house too. Some kids in upper elementary are getting ¥10,000 a month. You see plenty of kids walking around with ¥10,000 notes when they go out. But we’ve never given our kid that much — we just tell them to live by our family’s own sense of what money is worth.

我が家もおこづかいやお金の感覚について、すごく話し合います。周りは月1万とかもいます。（小学高学年）遊びに行くと万札持つ子も多いけど、我が家は万札持たせたことないのと、我が家の子供の金銭感覚で過ごしましょうと話してます。

My take

Too much or too little — both come with their own problems, so there's really no easy answer. I remember quietly making do with the lunch money I was given.

#Relatable #Society #Parenting

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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