Compare Japan’s response to Western Imperialism to that of China. How were the two responses similar? How were they different?

During the nineteenth century, both Japan and China came under the focus of western imperialists. Even though both countries had maintained a long-standing policy of isolationism prior to this outside influence, they each tended to react to it in different ways.
At first, China was very open to the idea of foreign trade, as long as foreign merchants had limited access to the country. As such, foreign traders were at first limited to the port of Canton only. Japan took a much stricter approach by limiting foreign trade to just the Dutch, and then only at the port of Dejima. In this sense, Japan and China took similar but not identical approaches to outside influence.
As western powers became more and more interested in trading in East Asia, they began to put more pressure on Japan and China to be more open. China initially resisted this. Events culminated in 1839 with the First Opium War with Great Britain. As a result of their defeat, China was forced to open up to the West due to a series of humiliating treaties that they were compelled to abide by.
Things went differently in Japan. After the American Navy sailed into Tokyo Bay in 1853, the Japanese were more eager than the Chinese to begin relationships with western nations. By being more amenable to trading with the West, the Japanese were able to negotiate mutually beneficial treaties and maintain a greater degree of sovereignty. Japan's willingness to negotiate is likely due in part to having witnessed what became of China when they resisted.
Another similarity is that both Japan and China saw the need to modernize in order to keep up with western imperialists. Japan was more successful in this, as Japanese society was greatly restructured in the process. While China did make some significant progress, they ultimately fell short because the rulers tried to simultaneously maintain the old feudal model of the country while also trying to modernize it.
https://china.usc.edu/sites/default/files/forums/China%20and%20Japan%20Respond%20to%20European%20Imperialism.pptx

https://www.e-ir.info/2013/11/04/chinese-and-japanese-responses-to-the-west-during-the-19th-century/