Dehumanism In Lost In Translation

The film Lost in Translation follows two Americans visiting Tokyo during important transitional periods in their lives. Charlotte is a recent college graduate trying to figure out her career while also moving on from the honeymoon phase of her new marriage. Bob Harris is an actor essentially going through a mid-life crisis as he sorts through life post-movie stardom and struggles to maintain a relationship with his overbearing wife. The two find each other in a hotel bar as a result of their inability to sleep and form a connection based on their mutual isolation in both their relationships and the city of Tokyo. The film touches on the importance of communication as well as what it is like to be a foreigner alone in a vastly different culture.

Japanese national Kiku Day writes in her 2004 article for the Guardian, "the Japanese are one-dimensional and dehumanized in the movie, serving as an exotic background for Bob and Charlotte 's story" and "the viewer is sledge hammered into laughing at these small, yellow people and their funny ways" (Day). Another Japanese reviewer, Yoshio Tsuchiya, similarly described the portrayal of the Japanese in Lost in Translation as "very stereotypical and discriminative" (Tsuchiya). In the movie, cultural differences between the Japanese and the visiting Americans are emphasized to drive home the protagonists ' feelings of isolation and loneliness in an unfamiliar and distant city. I do agree with the reviewers that this portrayal of the Japanese and the character 's interactions with them did go too far in some instances, such as low jokes made about Japanese accents. Many of the Japanese characters presented in the film are exaggerations meant to serve the plot and character development of the two American protagonists without any depth or voice of their own. They are mainly props used to get across the point that Japan is "strange" and "exotic". My own experiences while traveling in Japan, including very vibrant areas in Osaka almost identical to those shown in Tokyo, do not match with those in the film and many of the Japanese characters are very much exaggerations and

The film explores the idea of what it is like to be a foreigner in a distant land. However, it is purely from the perspective of the foreigner and does not give any voice to the Japanese. There were instances throughout the movie where the Americans acted in ways seen as inappropriate in Japan, but people without any knowledge of Japanese religion and culture would have never guessed that the protagonists did anything wrong. For example, there is one scene in which Charlotte visits Nanzenji Temple in Kyoto. While there, she stops and stands on the raised narrow wooden plank within the Sanmon entry gate. This is considered to be rude and extremely bad luck as the person has stopped to stand on the dividing line between normal and sacred ground. However, the scene is filmed purely from an American perspective in which the viewer would have no idea this is not a common practice in Japan and that it is just a nice place to stand to get a good view. I think that travelers have a responsibility to research the culture of a country they are visiting to make sure that they are honoring societal rules and not disrespecting anyone or any practices, especially those of a religious nature. When you are a visitor, an entire culture is not going to shift to fit your needs and beliefs to make you feel less lonely or help you get over an existential crisis. While abroad, you need to respect the culture of where you are visiting, even if it is vastly different from your