*nods* I should really watch the movie again to see; I think that one came up as a suggestion in comments. I ended up reading the movie as a look at the foreign experience of Japanese culture, but I think a lot of that is because I had similar experiences when I did homestay in Japan, so my POV is very idiosyncratic ;). Also, I could understand most of the Japanese in the movie, so I think that made my viewing experience very different!

Not disagreeing with you, btw; just mentioning all this because I don't quite feel qualified to comment on the movie either way, given how I suspect my viewing experience was really not the same as the viewing experience of most people's.

And thanks for reading!