Japanese and American societies are both modern industrial societies and yet they are different in many key places. While some things are universally funny, their styles of humor are near opposites of each other. Family life and structure are still very traditionally defined in Japan while in America family members have more freedom in their roles. Success in Japanese society is doing your job to the best of your ability and taking care of those who depend on you, while in America following your dreams is an admirable goal. Despite these differences, some aspects of culture are similar such as the workplace, which in both societies is a place for gossip and stereotyped as a dull environment. These differences stand out like a man in a sequined outfit when one looks at both the Japanese and American versions of the movie Shall we Dance.

The most striking difference between the two societies is in what they find humorous in life. It is not typical in either society for the average man to take up ballroom dancing, but each culture has its own stereotypes about those who do so. In the Japanese version, characters in the dance studio and the office crack jokes about the men who dance being perverts who are only after girls. However, in the American version of Shall we Dance, the characters are constantly cracking jokes about the men’s sexuality. These homosexuality jokes would not occur in a Japanese movie because homosexuality is a much more taboo topic in Japan than it is in America. In a culture in which people explicitly say what they want most of the time, sarcasm, saying what you don’t mean so that it is obvious you don’t mean it, is a form of humor. The Japanese, on the other hand, have a concept known as Haragei, which is an implicit way of communicating one’s thoughts through subtle clues or understatement. Since implicit conversation is prevalent in Japan, sarcastic humor does not register with a Japanese audience and is therefore absent from the Japanese incarnation of Shall we Dance. This difference in the level of confrontation in speech is noticeable in the character of Takahashi Toyoko, who is very brash for a Japanese woman, yet pales in comparison to her American counterpart, Bobbie, who is extremely forward for an American. John’s family jokes about how he is going to have to “blow out a million candles” on his birthday. In Japan, a society that has utmost respect for the elderly and those in senior positions, this joke would come off as being very rude despite its humorous intentions. Despite all these cultural differences, some jokes are in both movies such as the “British sport” joke and the quips about Aoki/Link’s baldness.

One of the most obvious differences in family life between Japanese and American cultures is the role of the wife. Sugiyama’s wife, Masako, is expected to get up early and make him breakfast (although he has told her that she does not have to). In American culture, suggesting that it is a wife’s duty to get up early to take care of her man is offensive, to say the least. Masako wants her husband to go out and enjoy himself more, even though it means that she will have to be alone more. When Sugiyama starts taking dance lessons, causing his demeanor to improve, Masako is happy that he is happy, yet is upset that she does not know why he is so happy. These attitudes are reminiscent of the Japanese Ie system, in which the husband is the head of the household and the other family members must tend to his needs. Beverly, John’s wife in the American version, is a much more independent person. John and Beverly do not see each other very often due to conflicting schedules. That this can even happen shows how American women are allowed to act more as individuals and lead more individual lives. The first lines of the Japanese Shall we Dance talk about how couples do not go out arm in arm or even say “I love you” out loud, and so dancing in front of others is shameful. When Sugiyama dances with Kishikawa Mai at the end of the movie, it is a liberating experience for him to throw off his fear of public shame and humiliation, even though it would have been more embarrasing to dance in public with his wife. The American Shall we Dance has John bringing Beverly a rose in a department store and teaching her how to dance, to make up for deceiving her about his dance lessons and to show her how much he loves her. An event like that would have been seen as inappropriate by the Japanese. At the end, John dances with Beverly at the going away party for Pauline to show that he loves her and not Pauline. Such a display would be unnecessary for the Japanese.

Sugiyama’s and John’s working environments seem to be very similar, as are the scenes that take place there in both movies. The most profound difference is how they get to work, Sugiyama by bike and John by car. At one point in the movie, Beverly thinks John is happy because work is going well for him, going along with the American notion that one is supposed to like their job. When a co-worker of Sugiyama, mentions that his success must make him happy, Sugiyama humbly replies that “it’s my job, it doesn’t matter if I like it.” demonstrating the Japanese notion of working for the good of society at the cost of one’s individuality. Other than that, the workplaces have nearly identical scenes where the employees gossip about Aoki and Link’s dancing (although in Japanese society Link’s telling off his co-workers would be too direct) and scenes in which the drudgery of the work environment is portrayed.

The definition of success is yet another area in which the two cultures differ. Unlike American society, Japanese society does not encourage strong individuality and so following ones dreams can be interpreted as being selfish. Protecting one’s dance partner is viewed as more important than winning in the Japanese Shall we Dance, an attitude that is not prevalent in the American version. Mai’s splitting up with her dance partner is viewed purely as detrimental to her success, while Pauline’s decision was viewed more as a personal decision that she made because she believed it was right. In Japan, success is more about benefiting society, while in America, success is more about personal achievement and goals.

With any two cultures, many things will be different but some things are not culturally dependant. As human beings we have much in common with each other, as is shown in shared scenes and jokes between the Japanese and American Shall we Dance. All cultures value the family as well as humor and in that we can find common ground with anyone anywhere. Learning about cultural differences through film is a great way to spread diversity and appreciation for others. It is too bad there aren’t very many instances where we can draw comparisons between cultures through different versions of movies like Shall we Dance.

Written by: Kuma