---
title: "Japan vs South Korea — area, population, currency"
description: "Japan is 377,915 km² with 123,366,734 people; South Korea is 99,720 km² with 51,684,564. Area, density, currency, languages and time zones side by side."
url: https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-south-korea/
site: "At One Place"
---

# Japan vs South Korea

**Japan vs South Korea: Japan is larger; Japan has more people**

377,915 km² vs 99,720 km² · 123,366,734 vs 51,684,564

Japan is 3.8 times larger than South Korea — 377,915 against 99,720 km². Japan is 2.4 times more populous than South Korea — 123,366,734 against 51,684,564 people.

## Side by side

|  | Japan | South Korea |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Capital | Tokyo | Seoul |
| Area | 377,915 km² | 99,720 km² |
| Population | 123,366,734 (2025) | 51,684,564 (2025) |
| Density | 326.4 /km² | 518.3 /km² |
| Currency | Japanese yen (JPY) | South Korean won (KRW) |
| Official languages | Japanese | Korean |
| Time zones | UTC+09:00 | UTC+09:00 |
| Calling code | +81 | +82 |
| Drives on the | left | right |
| Continent | Asia | Asia |
| ISO codes | JP / JPN | KR / KOR |

## Population density

South Korea is 1.6 times more densely populated than Japan — 518 against 326 people per km². Density is where area and population interact, and it often reverses the impression the headline figures give — a large country with a small population can feel emptier than a small crowded one by an enormous margin.

## Practical differences

- They drive on opposite sides — Japan on the left, South Korea on the right.
- Different currencies: the Japanese yen and the South Korean won.

## Japan

A 2023 government survey using digital mapping counted 14,125 islands, more than double the long-quoted figure of 6,852. About three-quarters of the land is mountain, so nearly everyone lives on a narrow band of coastal plain. Japan sits where four tectonic plates meet and records a fifth of the world's magnitude-6-and-above earthquakes.

## South Korea

About seventy percent mountain, so the population is packed into the valleys and coastal plains; the Seoul metropolitan area holds roughly half the country. Jeju Island is a shield volcano whose lava tube system is among the finest in the world. South Korea has the fastest average internet connections of any large country.

> Neutral facts only. Nothing here addresses politics, government, economics or which country is preferable in any respect — population is the one figure that dates, and it carries its year.

## Common questions

### Is Japan bigger than South Korea?

Japan is larger — 377,915 km² against 99,720 km².

### Which has more people, Japan or South Korea?

Japan, with 123,366,734 against 51,684,564.

### What is the time difference between Japan and South Korea?

Japan is UTC+09:00 and South Korea is UTC+09:00. Daylight saving shifts the gap during the year in places that observe it.

## Related pages

- [Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country/japan/)
- [South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/country/south-korea/)
- [India vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-japan/)
- [India vs South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/india-vs-south-korea/)
- [China vs Japan](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-japan/)
- [China vs South Korea](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/china-vs-south-korea/)
- [Japan vs United States](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-states/)
- [Japan vs United Kingdom](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-united-kingdom/)
- [Japan vs New Zealand](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-new-zealand/)
- [Japan vs Russia](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-russia/)
- [Japan vs Mexico](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-mexico/)
- [Japan vs Spain](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-spain/)
- [Japan vs Netherlands](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-netherlands/)
- [Japan vs Nigeria](https://atoneplace.net/country-vs/japan-vs-nigeria/)

## Sources

- The World Factbook — Central Intelligence Agency (https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/) [Public domain (US Government)]
- World Bank Open Data — The World Bank (https://data.worldbank.org/) [CC BY 4.0]