sherman set wayback machine for  united states climbing worst postwar recession japan enjoying unprecedented industrial boom manufacturing industries still significant part us economy factory workers good example average american word downsizing entered general vocabulary yet everyone knew phenomenon bruce could heard radio singing foreman says jobs going boy aint coming back hometown chrysler bailed uncle sam bumper stickers could seen saying buy american  job save may ownbr br gung ho better job capturing mood american industrial workforce popular movie made period certainly movie flaws  loose plot threads mediocre acting jobs everyone except michael keaton gedde watanabe story really meeting east west keatons hunt stevenson personifies america brash confident outside yet insecure underneath watanabes kazuhiro personifies japan top heap successful system wondering learned western rivals movies plot flawed is simply provides framework conflict eventually synthesis two personalitiesbr br keatons acting overshadows everyone elses practically makes movie itself ive always admired keaton ability deliver lines feel improvised matter script hes following character hunt stevenson likable affable everyman natural leader wiseass streak fatal flaw common many us want disappoint anyone hell distract crowd inspirational anecdotes even lie rather point ugly truthbr br kazuhiro mirror image stevenson shy introspective also japanese upbringing reluctant bearer bad news scene stevenson first comes kazuhiro employees grievances captures perfectly japanese approach workplace conflict kazuhiro replies stevensons complaints i understand saying refuse requests loud stevenson misinterprets agreement goes away saying okay weve got settled this still problem japaneseamerican business relations st centurybr br ultimately kazuhiro stevenson problem get factory working smoothly meet production goals fulfill responsibility workers them working towards goal take page others book kazuhiros family becoming americanized obvious example also note stevenson thinks odd kazuhiro explains make public apology workers failing  yet later movie stevenson exactly himselfbr br the plot resolution little cornball hey comedy overlook movies flaws great story selfrealization openmindedness here