There are actually a few differences:
- the Japanese and Koreans have many differences between themselves, from controversial claims to islands between these respective countries(like Dokdo), to the subject of Koreas colonisation by an Imperialist Japan, and on how to deal with North Korea. North Korea kidnapped a number of Japanese and this is still an issue during negotiations with that country today
- the cost of living in Japan is higher
- the cultural differences (to the West) in both countries are high, but Japan is somewhat more used to foreigners since they have been modernising and 'Westernising' for a lot longer
- the JET programme is the largest English Teaching outsourcing operation in the world, and very well organised
- Japan has Earthquakes and more than in Korea, typhoon make landfall and sometimes run along the breadth of country as they diminish eastwards towards Russia
- Korea has no Earthquakes and few typhoons ever make landfall
- Japan has a number of active volcanoes (Korea has few, like Halla Mountain, on Jeju Island, south of the peninsula)
- Martial arts: karate in Japan/taekwondo in Korea
- Some have the opinion that Japan is cleaner and its population more evenly spread over the country, whereas Korea is more densely populated
- the Japanese like to ride bicycles on pavements, whereas this is true, but less so in Korea
- recently Samsung has overtaken Sony as the world's largest electronics/digital company
This blog provides some useful and interesting commentary on the subject, starting with an anti-Korean comic which is a bestseller in Japan:
http://blog.marmot.cc/archives/2005/08/03/
anti-korean-comic-books-no-1-bestseller-in-japan/
Strong quake rocks Japan
16/08/2005 06:54 - (SA)
Tokyo - A magnitude 7.2 earthquake hit north-eastern Japan on Tuesday, triggering tsunamis along the country's Pacific coast, collapsing buildings, knocking out power and shaking skyscrapers in Tokyo, more than 300km away.
A caved-in roof at an indoor pool in the coastal city of Sendai injured 14 people, national broadcaster NHK reported. Two more people were injured in the neighbouring prefecture of Iwate, Kyodo News Agency reported.
Footage also showed a collapsed house outside Tokyo and landslides in the quake zone.
17 000 houses lose power
The temblor knocked out power to about 17 000 households and suspended bullet train services in northern Japan and temporarily grounded flights at Tokyo's Haneda airport, Kyodo said.
The quake hit at around 11:46 and was centred 20km below the ocean floor about 80km off the coast of Miyagi prefecture in north-eastern Japan, the Meteorological Agency said. Two small tsunamis hit the nearby coast shortly after noon, and officials expected little damage from the waves.
The quake was followed by at least four aftershocks and additional quakes of up to magnitude 6 could follow, the agency said.
Authorities in Miyagi prefecture were still assessing damage in the area, local government official Masami Oshima said, adding that it was premature to give estimates.
'I couldn't remain standing'
"The horizontal shaking was very strong, so much so that I almost couldn't remain standing," Oshima said.
Sendai, the capital of Miyagi, is about 300km north-east of Tokyo. A nuclear power plant in the neighbouring prefecture of Fukushima was not affected by the earthquake, Kyodo reported citing the plant's operator. Another plant in Onagawa in Miyagi prefecture shut down automatically and was being checked for damage, news reports said.
Japan sits at the juncture of four tectonic plates - or moving slabs of the earth's outer crust - and is one of the world's most quake-prone regions.
A magnitude-6.0 quake shook the Tokyo area on July 23, injuring more than two-dozen people and suspending flights and trains for hours. A magnitude-5 quake can damage homes and other buildings if it is centred in a heavily populated area.
Earlier on Tuesday, a 4.9 magnitude earthquake shook Japan's northern island of Hokkaido. There was no danger of a tsunami in that one.
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