Syd Crimston
Although I live in Korea now, I cannot say Korea is better than Japan. Likewise, I can’t say Japan is better to live in than Korea either.
As beauty depends on the eyes of beholders, it goes the same with the place you prefer to live. So, I think asking which country is better to live in is too broad a question.
However, I can tell the difference between Seoul (the capital of SK) and Tokyo (the capital of Japan) based on my experience.
I have been living in Seoul for more than 18 years, and I have visited Tokyo many times, maybe around 8 times.
Based on my experience, I would like to list several points where each city is better than the other between these two cities and countries:

虽然我现在住在韩国,但我不能说韩国比日本更宜居。同样,我也不能说日本比韩国更宜居。
是否美丽取决于你的眼睛,同样喜欢住在哪里同样取决于你自己。所以我认为哪个国家更宜居这个问题过于宽泛了。
但是,基于我的自身经验,我可以告诉你首尔和东京的区别。
我在首尔生活了十几年,也多次去过东京,或许有八次
根据我的经验,我想列出两国之间彼此城市做的好的几点地方

Public Transportation: Absolutely, Seoul is better. The cost of public transportation in Tokyo is much higher than in Seoul. Moreover, the subway dominates Tokyo’s public transportation. I mean buses and taxis are very common in Seoul, and the fare is very cheap. However, you cannot find many buses in Tokyo, and the taxi fare in Tokyo is way too high. Moreover, the subway system in Tokyo is too complex, and it is a little hard to transit to other lines. Personally, I have not seen any better subway system than the Seoul Subway in the world yet.

公共交通:首尔绝对好于东京。东京公共交通的成本要比首尔高。而且,东京公共交通主要以地铁为主。我的意思是首尔公交车和出租车很常见,而且费用很低。但在东京公交车却并不多,而且出租车也很贵。东京的地铁系统非常复杂,换乘其他线路有点难。就我个人而言,我还没有见过世界上比首尔更好的地铁系统。

Air and Environment: Tokyo is better. Although Tokyo and Seoul are megacities, Tokyo is much cleaner than Seoul, and it seems the air is cleaner than Seoul as well. Also, the polluted air with micro dust from China affects the quality of the air in Seoul a lot. So, if you prefer better air and environment, I guess Tokyo is better than Seoul.

空气和环境:东京更好。虽然东京和首尔都是大都市,但东京比首尔更干净,而且空气质量也比首尔好。受污染的空气带着灰尘从...一路来到韩国,影响了首尔的空气质量。所以,如果你更看重空气质量和环境,我认为东京比首尔更适合你

Summer: Both cities are too hot and humid during the Summer. However, I think Summer in Seoul is slightly better than in Tokyo. I really hate summer in Korea because it is too humid, but when I visited Tokyo during the summer one time, I cannot complain. It is more humid and muggy in Tokyo during the summer.

夏天:这两个城市的夏天都太热太潮湿。不过,我觉得首尔的夏天比东京的夏天好一点。我真的很讨厌韩国的夏天,因为太潮湿了,但是当我在夏天去东京的时候,我就不再抱怨了。因为东京的夏天更加潮湿和闷热。

Food: Food choice really depends on each person’s taste. If you like fish, light, no spicy food, I think Japanese food is better. But, if you like spicy food, barbecue, and Kimchi, I think Korean food is better. However, regarding the food price in general, Korea has a lower food price than Japan.

食物:食物的选择取决于每个人的口味。如果你喜欢鱼,清淡,不辣的食物,那我认为日本菜更好。但是,如果你喜欢吃辣的,烧烤和泡菜,那我认为韩国食物更好。但是在食品价格方面,韩国的食品价格总体上低于日本。

Cost of Living: Tokyo has a higher cost of living than Seoul in many aspects. However, if you have a decent job in Tokyo, I think it doesn’t matter much.

生活成本:东京在很多方面的生活成本都比首尔高。然而,如果你在东京有一份体面的工作,我认为这并没有关系。

Job: Recently, Japan has higher job opportunities than Korea due to economic issues. So, if you can speak Japanese and English, I think you have a higher chance to get a better job in Japan than Korea. If you can speak English and Korean, you can also find a job in Korea, but Japan has higher job opportunities nowadays. So, many young Koreans who can speak Japanese are looking for their new jobs in Japan recently.

工作:最近,由于经济问题,韩国的工作机会没有日本那么多。所以,如果你能说日语和英语,我认为你在日本比在韩国更有机会找到一份更好的工作。如果你会说英语和韩语,你在韩国也可以找到工作,但在日本找到工作的机会更高一些。所以,很多会说日语的韩国年轻人最近都在日本找工作了。

People: This is the most difficult question for me. I cannot say which country’s people are better. They are and look similar while they are totally opposite. Personally, I cannot get used to the Japanese mindset, and it seems Japanese has different understandings and point of view from other western and eastern countries. For me, I’m very used to get along and communicate well with other people in the world as long as they speak English.

人民:这是我最难回答的问题。我不能说哪个国家的人民更好。他们看起来很像,但又截然不同。就我个人而言,我无法适应日本人的心态,似乎日本人很难理解别的西方国家或东方国家的观点。对我来说,只要对方会说英语,我就能和对方很好的相处。

I’m very flexible to understand other countries' cultures and mindsets. However, it is a little difficult for me to get along with Japanese, even though I like and respect Japanese culture. I love Japanese animation and manga and enjoy their foods. I also tried to learn Japanese. However, I feel some kind of barrier between Japanese people and me when I’m trying to get close after I communicate with him or her for a while.

我能很灵活地理解其他国家的文化和心态。但是,尽管我喜欢并尊重日本文化,但我还是觉得和日本人相处有点困难。我喜欢日本动画和漫画,也喜欢他们的食物。我还试着学习日语。但是,当我和日本人交流一段时间后,并想要接近他们时,我觉得和他们之间存在某种隔阂。

Maybe, my approach toward Japanese people is wrong, but I never had much trouble with other people in the world except Japanese when I tried to get close with other people in the world. I don’t have any historical issues and prejudice to interfere when I meet Japanese people, but it gets difficult for me to understand and close with them as I communicate with them more and more. Anyway, this is just for me, and I think it is my problem that I don’t know the main reason yet.

也许,我对待日本人的方式是错误的,但当我接近其他国家的人时,发现和他们交往没有和日本人那么难。我对日本人没有历史问题和偏见,但随着和日本人交流的深入,我发现我很难理解和接近他们。无论如何,这只是我的个人观点,我认为这是我的问题,但不知道主要的原因是什么。

Most Japanese people are very kind and polite in general. Especially, etiquette is still alive in Japan. Whereas, it seems etiquette is lost and disappeared in Korea nowadays. In terms of Etiquette in general, Japan respects it more than Korea.

大多数日本人都很友好、有礼貌。特别是,日本还存在礼仪文化,然而这在韩国已经消失了。总体上,日本人比韩国人更讲礼仪。

Again, this list is strictly personal, and I don’t mean any offense to Japanese or Koreans. The more I visit Tokyo, the more I feel Koreans and Japanese are different while they share many similar things such as steamed rice, spoken language (NOT written language), respect for elder people, love of karaoke, pop music, ceramic arts, fanatics for animation and manga and so on. Personally, I hope I can visit other cities in Japan except Tokyo in the future, and hope I can understand Japanese more.

再次重申,我所列举的这些仅仅代表个人观点,无意冒犯日本人或韩国人。我来东京次数越多,越觉得日本人和韩国人不一样,虽然他们有很多的共同的,如吃白米饭,口语(不是书面语),尊敬老人,爱唱卡拉OK,流行音乐,陶瓷艺术,对动漫的狂热等。未来我希望可以参观东京以外的日本城市,希望能更进一步了解日本人。
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For people who never visit Korea and Japan, I would like to recommend them to visit Seoul and Tokyo together. It takes only one hour to fly from Seoul to Tokyo and vice versa. Also, Korea and Japan are in the same time zone. So, you don’t need to worry about the time difference for visiting these two countries during your trip.
I hope you can find out which country suits you better by visiting the capital of each country first. The result will be different for everyone.

对于从来没有去过韩国和日本的人,我推荐他们去一次首尔和东京。从首尔飞往东京只要一个小时,反之亦然。而且,韩国和日本在同一时区。所以你去这两个国家旅行不用担心时差问题。我希望你可以先去这两个国家的首都看看,看看哪个国家更适合你。每个人的得出的结论都不一样