'Lost in Translation' doesn't translate well in Japan | csmonitor.com
I was kind of wondering when this would happen. I was surprised it didn't happen sooner, but I didn't know that "LiT" wasn't out in Japan until this past weekend. For good reason.
While pretty accurate in some arenas, I did notice while watching the form that there were some dramatic overstatements of Japanese culture. I can't imagine that there will be a lot of Japanese laughing along at some of the blatant cracks made at Japanese people and culture.
I remember the one thing that really stuck in my mind when I watched the movie was the shower. It was too short for Bill Murray. Showers there may be short (I didn't have much experience with many showers there), but adjustable, an amenity that I would assume would be present at an upscale hotel like the Park Hyatt (where Murray's character stayed).
I, of course, didn't know this when I was in Japan. Like Murray's character (if only I knew his name ...), I came across a short shower ... a very short shower. Like knee-height. You have to understand, I was in a very different country and a very different culture. My understanding of how the bathroom-with a separate toilet (heated seat) area and laundry area-operated was quite crippled. The showering area consisted of a huge tiled room with a bathtub and the shower head (remember, at knee height). Naturally, I had no idea how to deal with the bath, so I stuck to the knee-high shower.
The thought that went through my head as I huddled in the cold-ass room (they leave the windows open during the night even in the winter) beneath the knee-high shower was "gee, the Japanese sure are weird." I had heard (erroneously) that most bathing was done in the bathtub. Of course I thought the low-ass shower was only for washing one's feet or something. Let me tell you, when you're crunched up in a ball trying to get warm water on you and you lose your balance and fall against the cold tile wall with your naked bum ... well, it's not the most pleasant bathing experience.
Two days later, I learned to adjust the shower. It was a good thing.