I recently applied to a senior dev position at the Tokyo branch of a certain American company, which shall remain nameless. They pay 120~160k in the US. They offered me 60k.
I don't think you can lump Tokyo in with the rest of "not-the-US", really, because it's particularly bad here IMO, moreso than mostly anywhere else in the developed world. The market is shallow and the hiring managers are generally clueless. If you're a software developer, living in Japan is bad for your career and probably your health.
It could be so, but I doubt it. From talking to Europeans here, and reading about it on the net, after-tax salaries in most of Northern Europe and France are roughly on par with Japan, taking into account the differences in cost of living. Southern Europe is somewhat worse. Note that tax rates in Europe are considerably higher than in Japan. And rent in places like Paris and London is probably more expensive than Tokyo.
Developer salaries in Canada and Australia seem to be better, though they still aren't on par with the US.
I recently applied to a senior dev position at the Tokyo branch of a certain American company, which shall remain nameless. They pay 120~160k in the US. They offered me 60k.