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does the question meanswhich one is more suitable to travel?i think the question is about which land has the more splendid scenery? i have been japan and korea many times, there are many beautiful scenery there, but both compare to China and India, no in the same level. thanks to the geography, China, as india, America etc has diversity of natural scenery. splendid and amazing! people can make ground clean,arrang more convenient travel transportation and so on to make travel more suitable. but how could people built a mesa, Desert?
It doesn't sound like you have. Tons of beautiful scenery, mountains, ocean, onsens, etc.
You make Japan sound like it's a third world country with poor emission standards with garbage everywhere. It's stunningly beautiful environment throughout Japan. Traveling anywhere in the country, is very aesthetically pleasing on the eyes, and a great peacefulness because of the scenery and because of the people.
No, I haven't, but I love Japanese History and culture so I really hope the natural scenery stands out as well as its history does if I chose to go their.
Been to many cities in China and Japan, and Japan by a long shot!
China is much larger and definitely has more "scenes", but as others say here, Japan is much cleaner and adds an aesthetic touch to everything. I have lots of photos from both places, and while there are many nice photos from China, it is what goes on behind the lens that Japan wins hands down. Problem with China is there are just so many local tourists in all of those tourist spots. Way too many! Many places that look nice and natural on the photos are in fact so full of other tourists that one actually just squeezed in to take that photo, cropped the photos so one can't see the heads of the photo bombers, etc.
For example, we went to Kyoto from Osaka. While there are many people, the place is at least not filled to the brim. One lines up to take the train from Osaka and the bus to go around Kyoto, but at least there are many trains and buses, they are on time, and one is not pushed/shoved. When one needs to use the restroom in Japan, it is almost always clean, their public restrooms often have bidets and toilet paper is almost always available. You go around the shrines and temples, and while there are people, the decibel level is reasonable enough to have some peace and quiet in certain corners, and one can still occasionally even find a seat to rest and relax for a few minutes, breathe some clean air, watch the koi on the ponds swim, appreciate the beauty, simplicity and artistry of the Japanese garden.
West Lake in Hangzhou is indeed very beautiful also. But going there is far from a peaceful or tranquil experience. Shanghai Railway Station was full of people, and one has to push and shove just to get in. The high-speed railway is nice and no complaints when one is already inside the train. Going out of Hangzhou train station is also crazy with all the people. If one needs to use a restroom, good luck trying to find a clean one. We rode a boat on the West Lake, and the decibel level on those boats are just too high, similar when one goes to any restaurant there. Tour guides commenting on the many "views" with names, people talking with each other, and so many boats and visitors, one can also hear the noise from the other boats as well. When we had to go back to Shanghai, we had to walk to the train station! People don't queue to take taxis or buses, of course, we as first-time visitors to Hangzhou, traveling with one senior and two very young family members were left out of the race to catch a ride during rush hours!
It's not only Hangzhou that is like that. Similar experience in Guilin. You look at those hills on the side of the Lijiang. They are indeed beautiful. But there are so many boats and so many people, it almost felt like riding the Jungle Cruise at Disneyland. It hardly feels like one is appreciating the beauty of nature!
i live in Hangzhou, you are right, there are many people here, the metro and bus is always packed here, when i visited Barcelona, i could find a seat in the bus and metro, so jealous, LOL
Yangshuo and Guilin are beautiful. I think that Guangdong is quite beautiful outside of the major metros; I just spent a little over a week in Hunan for the Spring Festival and went to many beautiful little mountain villages to meet and visit my wife's family. Gorgeous place, gorgeous region.
I think that China would win if nothing else for its massive geographic diversity, whose only other true rival in the world would be the US. Even excepting its biodiversity, China is packed with amazing, drop-dead gorgeous locations. I feel like Japan's natural beauty has gotten more exposure because of its closer relationship with the West since WW2; while China was still primarily closed-off to foreigners, there were lots of foreigners visiting Japan and seeing its mountians, hot springs, etc. The presence of American military personnel who were able to visit these places on their days off didn't hurt and also made the knowledge that Japan was "beautiful" more commonplace, even among people who would never travel there. A tourist who decides that they want to see these places in Japan can very easily do so and is struck by how clean and well-maintained tourist areas are; the Japanese take great pride in their nation's condition. Japanese media, first in the form of samurai/martial arts movies, and later in anime and manga, have celebrated this and given it media presence that has been mirrored in Western productions that take place in Japan as well.
China's beauty is overshadowed by a few things. First of all, it's only really been in the last fifteen or twenty years that it has been truly "easy" for foreigners to visit China, and only in the last ten or fifteen that there has been modern infrastructure (by Western/JP/KR standards) for mass foreign tourism... the high speed rail started operating in 2007, and prior to that, you had to ride on older, slow trains. Public transit in most of these areas is still lacking; rental cars are unavailable or very difficult to obtain; hotels in the area were pretty spartan and even still, are very hit-or-miss... this is part of the reason that even still, most of these destinations appeal more to young backpackers who don't mind using a squatter and spending a day taking the wrong bus to the wrong town and trying to sort out how to get back, than to families or middle-aged or older folks who want everything to go easily and smoothly.
Secondly, outside of the big tier-1 cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen), China is still a developing nation with vast millions of people who grew up with dirt floors and no electricity, under a communist regime that pressed utilitarianism over all else. Go to any of the major, better-known historical or geographical sites and you will be met with trash, kids peeing and crapping on sidewalks and trees and drains, pushing, shoving, shouting, etc. I'm used to it, as are most expats here, but again, to people who aren't looking for or willing to "rough it," it can make for an unpleasant experience. I've met countless tourists or short-term expats whose first descriptor for China is "dirty," and second is "loud," while Japan is "beautiful" and "clean." It overshadows the beauty and awe that people should be taking away from the places they've seen here.
I think that it will change in the coming decades, but it still has a ways to go... as I mentioned in a thread while I was still up in Hunan, I went walking around with my brother in law and some cousins in a small mountain town of maybe a couple hundred people... beautiful little place, clear water and clean air, though there was trash literally everywhere. One of the cousins lamented to me that a few years ago, the water was filled with fish, and now it's filled with trash. He sighed, and then threw a waterproof firework into the river. A few moments later, there were dozens of dead minnows floating to the top.
It's this disconnect that you see in so many people here that is going to be one of the big stepping stones that China will face in cleaning up, preserving, and maintaining its natural splendor. "It's horrible that we are killing off all these endangered animals; we need to stop and the poachers should be punished... but, I need to drink this disgusting tea made of pangolin scales because it will increase my vitality." :/
415_s2k makes some great points. China's beauty is often overshadowed by poor infrastructure, poverty, and pollution. Ease of access to foreigners is also difficult compared to Japan.
China is a huge country that Japan probably can't compete with, from Hainan to Tibet and all the mountains and rivers in between. But for the typical western traveler, Japan is likely the better option to visit.
Both countries are very beautiful and one couldn't go wrong visiting either.
They are not easily comparable. The area of China is 25 times larger than that of Japan, and as mentioned above the most picturesque places in China are hard to get to. At least I haven't been to these places as they have been too hard to get to.
The same goes for Japan, but the far-away places aren't as far away (I'd like to go to Hokkaido one day).
it is like comparing Calnifornia to the entire US. What is the point
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