Compare and Contrast Essay between Two Countries: China vs Japan

China and Japan are both found in Eastern Asia and speak languages that though
different, are closely related. China is located between Vietnam and North Korea and
borders South China Sea, Yellow Sea, Korea Bay, and the East China Sea. Japan, on
the other hand, is located east of the Korean Peninsula, between the Sea of Japan and
the North Pacific Ocean. They both have a coastline that runs into many thousand
kilometers. One would expect that being that the countries are in the same region and
close to each other; they should essentially be similar to each other. However, as this
essay shows, there are many differences between Japan and China in terms of their
food, culture, natural resources, and population distribution.

The first major difference between China and Japan comes in their food. “While the
Chinese food is spicy and involves a lot of frying and cooking, the Japanese food is far
less spicy, and has very subtle flavors compared to other local foods in Asia”
(Expertscolumn.com, 2017). China has diverse food owing to its large geographic
extent. Food diversity in China has also been influenced by cuisines from foreign
countries, especially Mongolia and the Middle East. Additionally, a lot of oil is used in
food preparation in the country, with a heavy use of spices and flavors. Majorly, Chinese
food consists of beef, pork, chicken, and duck. On the other hand, Japan has an
isolated food culture essentially because it is an island. They prefer seafood on a large
scale. There is minimal use of oil in preparing food and therefore the food is considered
healthier. Most of the food is consumed raw in Japan. As Historyplex.com (2017) notes,
“While slurping when having your meals can draw frowns in China, it is considered as a
compliment in Japan”.

China and Japan also significantly differ in their culture. Expertscolumn.com (2017)
points out that there is a long history attached to Chinese culture and that the vastness
of the country’s territory makes the culture have a plethora of varieties. The culture has
a lot of heterogeneity owing to the fact that the country has been exposed to several
various nationalities in addition to having a long history. Some of the notable
nationalities that have contributed to this heterogeneity are Europeans and Indians. In
contrast, Japan has an isolated culture because, according to its recorded history, the
country has not experienced significant external influence. Coupled with its considerably
small size, this lack of external influence by Japan has ensured that its culture is more
homogenous. Societal harmony is seriously emphasized upon in Japanese culture. The
society thus expects that every person will always show very high levels of self-
discipline. Even when conversing with each other, a very polite approach is followed by
Japanese people. This is why it would be difficult to find people yelling at or quarrelling
with each other publicly in Japan. “In comparison, China poses the picture of a typical
developing country, with level of politeness being less common” (Expertscolumn.com,
2017).

Another source of difference between China and Japan is the countries’ respective
natural resources. China has many various natural resources probably because of its
vastness. These include arable land, uranium, rare earth elements, zinc, lead,
aluminum, magnetite, vanadium, molybdenum, manganese, antimony, tungsten, tin,
mercury, natural gas, petroleum, iron ore, and coal. It is also worth noting that the
country has the largest hydropower potential in the world. Inversely, the mineral
resources in Japan are negligible. Apart from having fish and fishing grounds, the
country has virtually no resources of natural energy. This fact has made Japan the
largest liquefied natural gas and coal importer in the world. It also ranks second in oil
importation worldwide (Indexmundi.com, 2017).

Further, China and Japan differ in their population distribution. In China, the eastern half
of the country has the overwhelming majority of the population. The west, in contrast to
the east, has sparse population. This is majorly because the west is characterized by
desert areas and mountainous landscape. It should also be of interest to note that
China is the most populated country in the world. In spite of this, the country has a less
overall population density as compared to many countries in Europe and Asia. In the
country, “high population density is found along the Yangtze and Yellow River valleys,
the Xi Jiang River delta, the Sichuan Basin (around Chengdu), in and around Beijing,
and the industrial area around Shenyang” (Indexmundi.com, 2017). On the other hand,
Japan has a third of its population living around and in Tokyo, the capital city. A
significant percentage of the population lives in Kanto plain around Tokyo. On the same
note, the coast of the country bears the larger population density of the country
(Indexmundi.com, 2017).

In conclusion, China and Japan are countries found in Asia with the former having a
vast geographical area and the latter being comparatively far smaller. The countries
share the feature of having a coastline, and closeness of the languages they speak.
They however have respective distinctive features that define them as individual
countries. These include their respective foods, cultures, natural resources, and
population distribution. For instance, while the food in China is diverse, the one in Japan
is isolated. The same applies to their respective cultures. In addition, China has
numerous natural resources as compared to Japan that hardly has any and resorts to
importing.