I had the same question as t'other fellow. I think the thing you can argue about Lost In Translation though is that it's actually going for that angle...I mean, I saw it as a quiet underlying commentary on how self-absorbed we Americans even as we're trying to be introspective. I mean, here these people are, in a whole wide exiting, exotic country half-way across the world from their home, and what can they think about? Themselves. Maybe it's just my wishful thinking that the movie's going for that wry angle, but, hey, that's part of what I think it went for.

Oh, and marvelous post! I couldn't agree with you more.