How can you tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese writing?

Answer 1

Japanese people now claim that on the genetic level, the majority (40%-50%) of them belong to Haplogroup D2 (Y-DNA), and so they are a "rather homogenous group of people". Because Haplogroup D2 (Y-DNA) is also the marker of the indigenous Ainu people, they are "directly descended from the very first peoples who inhabited the land" and so they have "a legitimate claim to the land".

Haplogroup D2 (Y-DNA) is a child of Haplogroup DE (Y-DNA), which in turn is also the parent of Haplogroup E (Y-DNA). Haplogroup E (Y-DNA) occurs in very high frequencies in sub-Saharan Africa. In other words, it can be said that the Japanese people are more related to Tibetans, Andanamese, sub-Saharan Africans (in that order), rather than to the Chinese people, who are majority Haplogroup O (Y-DNA). Southern Chinese have the highest incidences of Haplogroup O (Y-DNA). The Chinese people are thus more related to the Caucasians of Haplogroup R1 (Y-DNA), via their common ancestor Haplogroup MNOPS (Y-DNA).

The perception that Chinese and Japanese people look similar may be due to the similar latitude and/or environments in which they evolve in the more recent past.

The Japanese further claim that they are majority Haplogroup D4 (mtDNA) via the maternal line.

Haplogroup D4 (mtDNA) is most frequently found among Koreans, and it is claimed that Haplogroup D4 (mtDNA) is a major contributor to Japanese longevity. That said, the parent Haplogroup D (mtDNA) can be found in high frequencies in the peoples of Central Asia.

The Japanese also claim Haplogroups (mtDNA) B and F to be present in lower frequencies in their maternal lines, but these do not contribute to Japanese longevity.

Haplogroups (mtDNA) B and F are more frequently found in Southern Chinese and Southeast Asian populations. Compared to Haplogroup D (mtDNA), Haplogroups (mtDNA) B and F are much more closely related to Haplogroup H (mtDNA), which is frequently found among Caucasians, via their common ancestor Haplogroup R (mtDNA).

Answer 2

Japan did not originally have a written language. Students travelled to China to learn to speak, read and write Chinese. Subsequently, any Japanese documents were written in Chinese. As time went by, the Japanese adopted the Chinese characters for their own with some modifications. The Japanese also have two other "alphabets" called "Katakana" and "Hiragana". "Hiragana" is a form of syllabic writing based on cursive Chinese characters and is most commonly used in general literature and newspapers. "Katakana" is also a form of syllabic writing based on Chinese characters and is used mainly for documents and scientific articles.

Answer 3

The key is to look for hiragana and katakanacharacters. Chinese and Japanese use the identical set of kanji, a pictogram type of writing. In addition, Japanese has two other alphabets that are simpler and more concise and phonetic based.

The 'gana characters tend to have just a couple of pen strokes in them, as opposed to the more complex kanji.

so basically chinese writing will look harder than japanese writing

Answer 4

Both Languages use a lot of the same (or similar chinese characters), but Japanese also mixes in Hiragana and Katakana, which are phonetic symbols that look much simpler, many of which look like stick figures or curved figures (Chinese has very few characters with curves). Here are samples of Chinese text, and the exact same text in Japanese:

Chinese

人人生而自由，在尊嚴和權利上一律平等。他們賦有理性和良心，並應以兄弟關係的精神相對待。

Japanese

すべての人間は、生まれながらにして自由であり、かつ、尊厳と権利とについて平等である。人間は、理性と良心を授けられてあり、互いに同胞の精神をもって行動しなければならない。

Using Romanization, you can also clearly tell the difference. Chinese tends to have much shorter words than Japanese:

Chinese

Rén rén shēng ér zìyóu, zài zūn yán hé quán lì shàng yīlǜ píng děng. Tāmen fùyǒu lǐ xìng hé liáng xīn, bìng yīng yǐ xīong dì guān xì de jīng shén hù xiāng duì dài.

Japanese

Subete no ningen wa, umarenagara ni shite jiyū de ari, katsu, songen to kenri to ni tsuite byōdō de aru. Ningen wa, risei to ryōshin to o sazukerarete ori, tagai ni dōhō no seishin o motte kōdō shinakereba naranai.