A fairly standard repertoire of food with slight variation reappears wherever you go. Eaters dive in with gusto. Flavors are delicious and on the strong side. In contrast Japanese food is blander, more delicate and varied. When they eat the Japanese do not express their enjoyment as loudly as the Koreans do.
Similar patterns characterize the humor, tenor and tone of Korean discourse in general.
In Korea evenness of tone seems rarely sustained for long. A low, confidential voice will be followed by jagged blitzes of emotion or disagreement only to subside and rise again, unlike Japanese restraint and mildness. This cadence does for Korea what the lilt of talk and song does for Ireland. In both, the discourse flows quickly into song. It is a great part of the excitement and poetry of the land.