When I did a one year internship in Japan 13 years ago, I lived in a company dormitory, could eat breakfast and dinner in the dormitory cafeteria, and the company subsidized my train pass. They had a washing machine there, too. The cost of living in the dormitory was subsidized to such a degree, that I teased a coworker that he was paying more for a place to park his car than a place to park his body overnight.

With this system, the only really necessary expenses not covered are the culturally mandatory, after work drinking sessions.