What are the main differences between China and Japan?

Japanese Game Shows

communism?

They hate each other.

Japan has 200,000 temporary students from China. China has 1,000,000 temporary business persons from Japan.

1. Population- China is much bigger

2. Area- China is much bigger

2. Standard of living - Japan is much higher

3. Government - Communist vs. "democracy"

4. Quality of life - much higher in Japan

5. Gap between the rich and the poor- much bigger gap in China

6. Personality---Chinese are more outspoken. Japanese are more group oriented. Don't want to rock the boat

Where do westerners fit better? It depends on their personality...

I guess this is the answer your probably looking for:

It's a lot easier to get a teaching job in China. In Japan there is a lot of competition, especially for the nicer schools in Tokyo.

You make less money in China. In Japan you make around 2,000-3,000 dollars a month ... in China, more like 1,000-2,000 dollars a month.

The cost of living in China is lower, by far.

In general, it is easier to hook up with chicks in China than it is in Japan. In Japan, there is already a foreign population with some negative stereotypes. In China, the stigma isn't too great yet - being with a white guy (I assume you are white). I found it much easier to pick up Chinese women at clubs. In Japan, it's about the money in a lot of ways - although, sometimes you get lucky with a girl who is curious about foreigners. Both places are pretty easy, though.

Japan has more attractive chicks than China. In Japan you have to work harder at your school.

In conclusion, don't teach English in China unless you live in Hong Kong or Shanghai. Don't teach English in Japan unless you are ready to work hard.

Virtually every small, medium, to large city in China has a major Japanese factory, business, or infrastructure.

Virtually every small, medium, to large city in Japan has a major business or cultural relationship in China.

I never noticed that before, but an earlier poster pointed something out to me -- China is actually very much more "every man for himself" than Japan in a lot of ways. Even though their government in "Communist", people are more likely to do whatever the hell they want, especially in the big cities. In Japan, everyone is very polite and there are a lot more social rules. I think it would be easier to fit in in China than Japan, because even the Japanese can have a hard time fitting in; "the nail that sticks up gets hammered down" is a Japanese expression. It's much more pleasant, but it means YOU have to be more pleasant too. Things (food, clothes) are nicer in Japan, but you have to pay more for them. As a New Yorker I totally understand many things about China, but not so much about Japan.

Read, "Trust" by Fukuyama

Japan views *all* Japanese as falling w/in the circle of trust.

Chinese view trust as limited to the family.

The typical Asian moral tale of the son, and the father cheating the government official -

Japanese story ends w/ the son turning the father into the government.

Chinese story ends w/ the son protecting the father.

China and Korea is on the mainland. Over the ages mainland people and cultures are experience turbulent changes as new rulers appear from the hinterlands over the horizon. Chinese and Koreans can be brash, up front, in your face, and just plain rude at times.

Japan is on an set of islands as was isolated for most of recorded history. Emperor Akihito is the 126th in the same blood line, the head of the oldest government in the world, at 2700 years old. Japanese are very polite, smile, and rarely quarrel. At first I felt they are too polite to a fault. But after many months I understood that they treat others as close kin without any hesitation by nature.

On my 1st trip to Japan, I lived there for a year. I could not read the language. So, I have been stopped people to ask for directions in big cities and small. Then was forced by the person I asked to hop in the car, driven 20 kilometers out of their way. After the 3rd or 4th time that happened, I learned that I should ask store clerks because they could not leave their station ;-)

On my last trip to Japan for 2007 IAAF Osaka Worlds, I was with a group of track buddies from all over the USA. Near the end of the trip someone commented that in the two weeks that they had been in Japan, that they were not treated rudely once by a Japanese. The others said "Yeah, me neither, damn, I'm treated like shit 5 times a day where I live in ##### ! ".

Thus, I feel the Japanese are insular and in many ways live in a different world. Sometimes I think Japan is a different planet. There are many other things I have experienced in Japan over the years that are totally bizarre.

Japan is far more technologically advanced than China (but China is quickly catching up) but Japan is far stranger than any country that I've ever been to, and that includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and South Korea.

The Japanese are very polite, almost to a fault. Japanese, however, are often uncomfortable with being around foreigners, even Chinese and Koreans. I cannot count the number of times that I've been on a crowded subway train in Japan, with people standing up, but the seats next to me are EMPTY because no one wants to sit next to the gaijin.

China is a fascinating place and I would go there more often if it weren't for the pollution and poor standard of health and hygiene. My last high altitude training camp in Yunnan Province of China (where a lot of top Japanese runners go to train) was in July 2007, and I was ill 2 times in 2 weeks. I will never train there again. I had to go on a business trip to Liaoning and Guangzhou earlier this year, and I was getting very fit, but of course I got sick in China and then had a poor race in Japan.

Chinese people are far more approachable than Japanese. Japanese will often run away if you approach them, even if you try to speak Japanese to them.

If you want a real nice place to train in high altitude in Asia, go to Lishan, Taiwan. (about 6200 feet altitude) There is a lovely, well-maintained road there from Taichung.

Have fun!

In either country you should bow when you meet as a sign of respect. If you are meeting someone for the first time, especially if they are of high status, you should bow and then reach up and pat or rub their head. They really like that.

hehehe I like that, rub somebody's head

i live under a bridge wrote:

In either country you should bow when you meet as a sign of respect. If you are meeting someone for the first time, especially if they are of high status, you should bow and then reach up and pat or rub their head. They really like that.

And then squeeze their ass for good measure. It's a well known sign of respect.

bump. too funny too let die

Im Asian and born in the US. I and lived in Singapore, Taipei, Seoul, and Beijing in the 1990s. It's easy to do business with Chinese and Koreans. China is very dirty and the personal habits stink, like they spit on the trains and everywhere they feel like it. 1/2 the people in China are illiterate. Korean people are very very polite in Korea to each other and to non-Asian people. There are many poor sleeping on the streets in China as people drive by in their Toyota luxury cars. The countries I lived in are used to totalitarian rulers and crime is low compared to the US.

Japan is a totally different, upside down country that does not resemble any place on earth. I never lived in Japan but spent many weeks in hotels on business there. Japan has 100% literacy and did that a century ago. Japan has extreme trade laws like everything has to be sold in fixed 100ml, 200ml, etc. quantities. I.E. no 10.5 oz cans of soup or 6 oz cab=ns of Tuna Fish like in the US, it has to be rounded to 16 oz. and 8 oz. Japan has extreme laws about equal facilities for public schools, so every town has the same vanilla high school, middle school, police station, police box, etc. carbon copies. Schools are 5 and 1/2 days per week. Like another poster mentioned, Japan is so safe, children walk to the store at 3 AM by themselves for snacks. You'd be arrested if you allowed your kid to do that anywhere else in the world ;-)

Comparisons between these two countries should not be made. Japan is orderly, civilized, respected, and safe. China is the garbage dump of the world.

Chinese is not a dump! How about America? In this generation, people are unfriendly because of the depressing inflation. Have you ever been to the poor cities of America? I doubt that you have.

Don't talk about China as a it all! I am sure you don't know America as well as you know China. Fix America first.