Not exactly what I said but its pretty obvious which one is harder, I would strongly recommend normal unless you want more herbs then you know what to do with.
I got it ages ago, and I feel like starting up a new game, but I can't read Japanese. Which one is the normal mode? Mind you I haven't played in ages, and I can't remember if it's even in Japanese.
I selected hiking the first time with Chris, and went with normal mode on my second playthrough (when I used Jill). I actually found that on normal mode, the first hour or so of the game is the toughest, when ammo is harder to come by.