Choose Dushanbe or Tashkent, not Tokyo or Hong Kong

According to a report in the Telegraph (www.my.telegraph.co.uk/expatulator,) Tokyo and Hong Kong are the most expensive places to live in the Asia Pacific region, while Dushanbe, Tajikistan is the least costly. Tashkent, Uzbekistan is the city where living costs have fallen the most this year, because of a devaluation of the local currency.
Other large Japanese cities make up the rest of the top 10 most costly places in Asia, expect for Papetee, Tahiti which comes in at number 10.
Travel costs are not completely correlated with costs for locals living in a place, but there is usually a considerable degree of similarity. So if you are planning a trip to Asia or the Pacific, it may be good from the point of view of cost to concentrate on Central Asia rather than East Asia. And that is certainly the case if you are considering relocating to a cheaper place than your own home town.
The cost differential is not surprising, since Japan and Hong Kong are highly developed and most of Central Asia is still considered to be among the emerging economies.