Yes both are confuciounist societies, but not both Buddhist. In Korea, about 900 years ago, the Monks were involved in a scandal from which the religion never fully recovered. Koreans and japanese don't really look alike. They dress slightly differently, and the accent is totally different. Korean is actually an Ural-Altaic branch of language, believe it or not. I spent several years in Noryanjin, and Koreans are still smarting (of course) from the indignities imposed upon them by the Japanese many years ago. Socially, I've found Japanese to be more easy-going....happier it seems to me. Both are very Xenophobic, but Korean men, due to a lack of available women are marrying outsiders, mail-order brides from Southeast Asia quite a bit now. Women in Korea at one time were kept in a sort of "purdah" and only lately seem to be gaining in status.