Difference between ~上 and ~の上

Question

I know that when ~上{じょう} is attached to nouns, it will mean something among lines of

From the viewpoint of; for (the sake of); for (the reason); in (terms of); relating to; in –ing

according to DoIJG. But, can ~上{じょう} vs ~の上{うえ} used interchangeably with no difference in meaning? The example sentences in the dictionary entry for ~上 didn't include ~の上.

I found this example sentence from goo.ne.jp.

仕事の上の意見の対立だった

They disagreed about their work.

If I replace ~の上 with ~上,

仕事上の意見の対立だった

does the meaning of this sentence change or it remains the same?

The reason I'm asking this question is sometimes I am not sure if it is always appropriate to apply the meaning of ~上{じょう} to ~の上{うえ}. For example, from One Piece chapter 1,

おい、よせ酒の上のケンカは見苦しいぞ

Based on my understanding, 酒の上のケンカ means "fight relating to drinks" or "fight about drinks." This is true if I apply the meaning of ~上{じょう} to ~の上{うえ}. I wonder if my intuition is correct here.

Is there any difference between ~上{じょう} and ~の上{うえ}?

Answer 1

There are cases where のうえ and じょう are interchangeable (eg 制度の上では and 制度上は), but うえ has a lot of other meanings.

酒の上のケンカ means the same thing as 飲酒の上でのケンカ, or fight under the influence of alcohol. It's not about fight about alcohol. ～の上 can mean "after ～", "as a result of ～", "have already done ～". It takes some word of prerequisite/preparation.

• よく考えた上で結論を出した。
  I thought it over before making a conclusion.
• 死を覚悟の上での戦い
  battle to the death (lit. "battle after mentally preparing for death")
• それは承知の上だ。
  I'm already aware of that.

In this case, の上【うえ】 is not interchangeable with 上【じょう】.