Kind of not related, but how would you compare the two countries regarding how similar they are and how different they are?
I'm happy to answer.
On the surface both countries seem quite similar. They are in terms of influence from Confucianism and respect for elders, those in higher positions (manager, boss, etc.),
trivial things like taking your shoes off when entering a home/temple, bowing as a customary form of greeting, using chopsticks, rice as a staple food, etc.
But these are just superficial differences. When you actually live in these countries you realize they are indeed very different.
Japanese have two sides: a public face and a private face. This is not merely opinion, there are actually words for this and this is how they are taught to behave. In public, Japanese will go
far out of their way to help you if you seem troubled, particularly if you are lost, and if you lose something it will almost certainly be returned to the nearest lost and found even if it is cash.
Curtains are closed firmly at night and it is eerily silent as people live their private life. They tend to be very quiet and reserved in public but may be a completely different person behind closed
doors.
On the other hand, if you go to Korea as a tourist it would perhaps be more like going to New York City. If you look lost, it would depend on the person to decide if he or she will approach you to
help you. In other words, there is no artificial public face. Before I lived in either country I went to each country as a tourist, after having visited Japan first I thought Koreans were cold and rude but
most countries would look like that compared to Japan. Again, this is only a surface-level impression and does not reflect people's true character.
That being said, it is much, much, much easier to make Korean friends. Anyone who has lived in Japan can vouch for this, you can have a Japanese friend for a long time and still feel
like you don't know that person. Japanese also tend to avoid saying their true feelings, so it's like a guessing game trying to figure out what he or she is thinking. Because of that, it can be
really hard to make friends in Japan, or to know if that person is really your friend or not. You can meet a Korean person after just one time and feel embraced and welcomed if you hit it off.
Koreans will give a big hug to a friend, Japanese become very shy if you try to hug (most people). Koreans will almost always treat you to a meal and foot the bill, Japan not necessarily and it
largely depends on the person. You also share your food at a Korean meal with everyone, no individual dishes. Lastly, Koreans will tell you directly how they feel about you, sometimes too bluntly.
So in terms of sociability, Korean is much better despite Japan's better surface image. Both countries value group harmony, but in different ways. This is also a result of Confucianism.
In Japan, in high school, being a part of clubs is very important, this is to prepare for a work culture where everyone works as a team and no one can go home until the boss is also finished, even if it
is late at night. Korea has a similar work environment but not so similar high school environment. Korean students usually study 10 hours/day, 6 days a week to prepare for a very competitive national
university exam.
Korea has much more rigid and conservative rules about "fitting in" to preserve group harmony. Being over 35 and single looks very bad, you are supposed to have a family or at
least be married by that age. In fact, age is everything in Korea, after ask your name, the 2nd question will always be your age. But it's not necessarily to be rude, it's know how to respect you
and if you are speaking Korean, which honorific words to use. In Japan however, no one will really care if you are single. Every car in Korea is black, white or gray, a friend once said to me
"nobody wants to be the only guy with a red car." In Japan, you'll see red cars, but there is an ancient Japanese proverb that says "the nail that sticks out gets hammered down." So, each country
embraced these Chinese-rooted Confucian beliefs in different ways with big pros and cons.
So trying to explain both countries brings about constant contradictions with many similarities as well.
In fact, it's probably something that can only be felt and not explained, but at the end of the day, most people will draw the same or similar conclusions.
To sum up, both countries are similar but very different at the same time.