I know Korea and Japan don't really like being compared to each other. Well, really Korea doesn't like to be compared to Japan. However, since I live in Korea and I studied Japanese for almost four years...I've done it. I tend to take a pretty neutral stance since I love them both pretty well. And while I'd rather keep most of my opinions off the internet, there is one thing I will declare:
The crowds in Korea are crazier than Japan.
I've been to Japan twice now. Last summer I was in Kyoto/Osaka for a week. This past March I was in Tokyo for three days. I never really wanted to go to Tokyo nearly as much as I wanted to go to Kyoto, but I had the time and the money and it was the easiest trip to take at the time. I was curious and so I hit some sights, met a friend of a friend, and had a pretty good time.
Most people will talk about how it's super crowded in Tokyo. How there are people pushers on the subway. I didn't experience that, but then I didn't try to travel around the city before 9am. In Kyoto, once, my friends and I experinced a sardine packed train on our way to a very popular fireworks display. I can see crowds like that in the USA, too.
Something that struck me that I would like to compare, is how a busy shopping area looks around 6/7pm on a Saturday night.
This is Omotesando in Tokyo:
This is Gangnam:
Now, yes there are a lot of people in both pictures. However there are more in Gangnam.
To be fair, here is Harajuku:
Harajuku was pretty crowded, but it's also super small. The street isn't that wide and the shops are pretty well crammed together.
My take from living in Seoul and visiting Tokyo is that I don't think Tokyo is busier than Seoul. Sometimes, I think Seoul might be busier, but it's also more modern. I wonder what it's like to live in Tokyo, rather than live there, but then while I could ask people I know who spent more time there, if they haven't lived in Seoul as well, the comparison is lost.
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