One of the significant differences between Chinese and Japanese food culture is the ways of flavoring. Japanese cuisine is influenced by its coastlines, so it uses seafood for many of its dishes, and it also tends to highlight more subtle flavors than Chinese food. Japanese food is usually light to the stomach. Though an exception happens when someone dabs too much Japanese wasabi on their sushi, it “wields a fierce kick.” Chinese dishes, however, depending on the region, are often flavored with spices such as Sichuan peppercorn, star anise, hot mustard, and five-spice powder. It also relies more heavily on stir-frying as a cooking method as well as using more beef, pork, and poultry for protein in addition to seafood and tofu.​

  The cooking methods of Chinese and Japanese food are also very different from each other. When cooking, the Chinese prepare food by using their traditional wok, which can fry ingredients by turning the item constantly so that the food is evenly cooked either from the inside or from the outside. Chinese people are quite fond of pan-frying their foods. On the other hand, the Japanese typically use their flat pans called teppan to cook items at extremely high temperatures. It’s like a grill table which allows the crisp cooking of the outside layer of the food while retaining the raw or juicy texture of the inside portion of the food being cooked. Raw foods are well accepted by the Japanese, especially with sea foods. Japanese people love to eat seafood raw. If there are uncooked food items in Chinese dishes, they must be spices like green onion and garlic among others.