Sorry but I'm not gonna waste my time to convince you when I have friends who live there. On top of that, my sister is just back from Japan.
Housing is more expensive, food is more expensive, medication is more expensive, eating out in a restaurant is more expensive but it's true, an iPhone is cheaper in Japan than Turkey.
On the plus side, home appliances are more affordable in TR than JP. To give you an example; my sister paid frigging 20 TRY for one (!) apple.
If I were a blue collar worker, I'd choose Turkey over Japan in a heartbeat.
By the way, the average Japanese worker is probably laughing out loud reading your posting about housing costs implying that the Japanese renting market is cheap.
However, you're free to believe whatever you want.