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Best Country in Asia round 4


Timur

Which is the best Asian country?  

13 members have voted

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24 minutes ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

Easy choice

I've never been to either. I know a little more about Japan than South Korea. I went with South Korea mainly because Japan has once been a member of the Axis Powers. That was my tie-breaker. I have very little else to go by as I consider the two countries about the same politically, economically, and socially. I know there are probably some differences unknown to me.

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38 minutes ago, vcczar said:

I've never been to either. I know a little more about Japan than South Korea. I went with South Korea mainly because Japan has once been a member of the Axis Powers. That was my tie-breaker. I have very little else to go by as I consider the two countries about the same politically, economically, and socially. I know there are probably some differences unknown to me.

Yeah I thought that might be among your consideration. It is true, that there are more differences, as well as some prejudices. I'll try to list a few things I have noticed. Maybe that's pretty subjective but it's my experience.

From what I have observed it's harder to bond with Japanese people.

A major social difference is that in Korea one third of it's population is Christian, while that's only true for about 1% in Japan. 

I could talk a lot about linguistic differences, but here are the key points: Korean is a lot easier to write and read (no frequently used Chinese characters and a pretty cool alphabet), while Japanese has an easier pronunciation, at least for German speaking people. Japanese grammar is a lot harder.

Politically South Korea has a decent party landscape and exciting elections, while Japan is basically a Liberal Democratic Party one-party state.

K-Pop outmatches J-Pop greatly. 

Korean food also beats Japanese food. 

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2 minutes ago, ConservativeElector2 said:

Yeah I thought that might be among your consideration. It is true, that there are more differences, as well as some prejudices. I'll try to list a few things I have noticed. Maybe that's pretty subjective but it's my experience.

From what I have observed it's harder to bond with Japanese people.

A major social difference is that in Korea one third of it's population is Christian, while that's only true for about 1% in Japan. 

I could talk a lot about linguistic differences, but here are the key points: Korean is a lot easier to write and read (no frequently used Chinese characters and a pretty cool alphabet), while Japanese has an easier pronunciation, at least for German speaking people. Japanese grammar is a lot harder.

Politically South Korea has a decent party landscape and exciting elections, while Japan is basically a Liberal Democratic Party one-party state.

K-Pop outmatches J-Pop greatly. 

Korean food also beats Japanese food. 

For best country my criteria are quality of life, access to services for all its citizens, and civil and human rights of all its citizens, and most Democratic and least corrupt. 

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6 minutes ago, vcczar said:

For best country my criteria are quality of life, access to services for all its citizens, and civil and human rights of all its citizens, and most Democratic and least corrupt. 

Going by these I can't really tell you differences between Korea and Japan. Neither could I for Austria and Germany for example. Might be very similar in the end.

Corruption scandals are very common in both political landscapes. Korea seems more democratic for the party system that better reflects different views, but most Japanese seem to like the LDP, so I can't say it's undemocratic for them to vote for them.

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56 minutes ago, Patine said:

Ah, what the Hell. I put a vote for South Korea. Looking over, and rereading, my last two posts, I can't allow Japan to be called the, "best country Asia."

 

Also, as a social worker, I can't vote for a nation with a culture, society, and ensuing economic framework that can only be described with the relative word, "pitiless."

I don't know about SK specifically, so they could be similar, but I read in context with the LDP choosing their new PM that Japan is still behind on women's standing in society. Also affected how I finally decided to cast my vote.

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23 minutes ago, Patine said:

Weeb culture? What does that mean (I'm not as in tune to all of the vapid catchphrases and buzzwords floating around today as some - in fact, as we all know, here, I routinely call out the disingenuous, ruinous, and useless nature of the politically-based ones, nowadays)?

 Basically someone who is overly obsessed with anime. Mainly someone who actually isnt from Japan. Trying to imitate an anime persona in their everyday life.

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24 minutes ago, Patine said:

Weeb culture? What does that mean (I'm not as in tune to all of the vapid catchphrases and buzzwords floating around today as some - in fact, as we all know, here, I routinely call out the disingenuous, ruinous, and useless nature of the politically-based ones, nowadays)?

On my phone at work, so cant go too in depth, but that's a half ass summary of it 😛

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6 hours ago, Patine said:

Boo! The best country in Asia is NOT here! (No offense, @Timur) 😛

I understand.

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15 hours ago, Patine said:

This isn't exactly accurate. Japanese culture breeds a high rate of political apathy. 

I agree on that. I've not met a Japanese so far, who seemed to be very interested into politics. Koreans on the other hand are way more open to talk about politics. 

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13 hours ago, Patine said:

South Korea elected a female President. While Japan had a number of female Dowager Empresses and even at least five Empresses Regnant in the pre-Shogunate days, they all seem to have just been pawns for holding Imperial lineage and bloodlines in a very male-dominated (and very brutal and violent - but famously polite and honourable) warrior society, whereas there is, on record, a Queen-Regnant of Silla (one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea before the Gojoseon, and then Joseon Kingdoms unifed the peninsula for many centuries) who held real power and more than just a pawn, by all records. Kawaguchi Yoriko, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs in Abe Shinzo's Government for a while (direct analogous role to Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State) seems to have been the highest-achieving Japanese female politician to date. And that's JUST addressing apex-level politics, alone. The story, of course, goes much deeper...

There were actually three queens in the Silla dynasty: Seondok, Jindeok, and Jinseong.

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