south africa, really just a great group of people. hell, even when i got robbed, they were super nice about it.

I found the people in Jordan were incredibly friendly.

Japan. The cavet? Know some Japanese.

Most people in Japan grow up learning some English. But they almost never use it in their day to day after highschool. So it's a point of issue, maybe even a little embarrassment, for them to "start" a conversation. I've found that the better you are at Japanese, the more willing the Japanese are to want to connect with you.

Unless they're drunk. In my experience, social drinking some how blows away the shyness barrier. Go to a pub, especially in a rural town, and you will be bombarded with questions. You're a novelty, maybe? Not sure. But booze does makes things easier it seems.

Keep going back for some reason. Not sure why. :)

Syria

I don't know how to parse this question and it makes me wonder about humanity at large.

Like, what's "being friendly" when assessing entire countries? How do you measure it? Does it apply just to strangers or is it related to having friends there? Does this require you not finding that unsolicited conversation is borderline assault? Because I'm afraid I can't do that. Is it an institutional thing? I almost got deported from Canada once, so from that baseline I'm pretty sure I couldn't agree with a lot of responses below.

Oman, is the friendliest country I have been to in the Middle East.

Sudan, definitely. (And I've visited well over 50 countries.)