I'll try to list the grammatical similarities between Japanese & Mandarin below as I find them. Whether these similarities are because Japanese has copied far too much of Chinese, or whether because they're actually related languages way back in time, I dunno.

1. Mandarin uses 的 where Japanese uses の, な, い. In の's case, this includes as a connector for phrases within sentences and not just showing possession for nouns (ex. 行く の は 嫌 だ "I don't like going/I don't wanna go", Mandarin acts in the same way). For example:
　私 の＝我 の　"my"（same 我 as in わがくに　我が国 "my/our country"）
　可愛 い＝可愛 的 "cute"
　小さい の＝小的 "a cute one"

2. Mandarin uses 的 where Japanese uses んだ (=のだ), なの and の. This is described in Japanese lessons as when you're "telling or asking someone for information", and in Chinese lessons as when you're "putting emphasis on information":

　你 是 什么 时候 来 中文 的？ = あなた は いつ 中国 に 来た の？ = "So when did you come to China?"

　我 是 昨天 来 中国 的 = 私 は 昨日 中国 に 来た ん だ = "Well, I came to China yesterday"

Japanese words like 歴史的 "historical" (歴史 = history) are directly borrowing the Chinese 的.

3. Mandarin uses 吗 (么) "ma" where Japanese uses か "ka" I think. This basically means "yes or no?". Note how similar the sounds "ma" and ka" are...
　中国 か？中国 なの？＝中国 吗？

4. Mandarin duplicates words in order to mean plural or "all of them" (same as Japanese: 人 human, 人人 / 人々 everyone, humans).

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