Lost in Translation is a film about a famous actor named Bob and a lady named Charlotte who come to Japan for work. They feel alone because no one cares much about them at home or in Japan. For a few days, they spend a happy time together and dispel their loneliness before leaving Japan.

This film is portrayed trough the experience of the director, who once worked in Japan. During interviews, Sofia Coppola said that Tokyo was the starting point for making Lost in Translation. Although this film is set in Tokyo, the Japanese play no major roles.

Some reviewers have said this film made them angry because it portrayed the Japanese people as cartoon characters who can not pronounce English words correctly. They think that there is nothing humorous in Japanese mispronunciation of English. I can sympathize with them to a degree but I think the film portrayed accurately the serious problem of the Japanese education system, in which most Japanese study English for six years but still can not carry on a simple conversation. In my life overseas, I have met non-native English speakers who could speak much English quite fluently and who studied for much less than 5 or 6 years.

Other reviewers were also offended by the attitude of the main characters, who do not even attempt to speak Japanese. But to me this seems quite natural. They were in Japan for work not to make friends. If they had come to Japan for travel, they might have made Japanese friends and so learned a little Japanese. But essentially they are not interested in Japan, which is fine. As a Japanese, I tend to watch these scenes from a Japanese point of view. But as a Japanese person with experience of the outside world, I tend to watch through that lense of experience and so I am not as offended as some overly sensitive Asian reviewers.