It won't be hard to imagine why I love 'Shall we Dansu?' when you see it starred Tamiyo Kusakari, a real dance teacher. (Okay but you don't know who she is...) If you watched the US remake and you love that American version, you may not like Director Masayuki Suo's original.
The US remake was hot emphasizing on the ambiguous relationship between Richard Gere and Jennifer Lopez; however, the Japanese original was heavy, aiming to elaborate the attitude changes of several conventional men towards the not quite socially understood ballroom dancing. If you are looking for hot and sexy elements, like R&J's private rumba practice, sorry, you will be disappointed.
The story went mainly around Yakusho who presented a typically time-serving, clock-watching salaryman. Feeling life was somewhat miserable as he was deeply stuck up with a dull job, a mortgage, a warm but lack of zest family, he finally stepped out to pursue something different. Instead of merely attracted by the beauty of Tamiyo Kusakari, he started to feel the charm of ballroom dancing.
The ballroom lady, Mai, starred Tamiyo Kusakari, was cool and somewhat isolated. She was like an elegant queen suppressing a burning passion inside since her being too proud to fail, she self-locked herself in an ivory tower. The innocence of the beginner dancers whom she was teaching inspired her what dancing meant to the dancers.
The film caught the whole Japan, as well as the America, because every character represented every one of us. Just like the ordinary city-dwellers, every one in the film was hopeless at something. There were no handsome Richard Gere, no hot Jennifer Lopez, no ambiguous relationship, no sexuality... there were no popular Hollywood elements, but a lot of room for retrospection.
Devoting to something we enjoy doing could be harder than we think, budget (especially during recession), family, social influence, proudness, but the biggest constraint has been how you see your hobby. However hard it is, I still think having a hobby is important to a person's mental (maybe in physical terms too) health, feeling no more fun in life is just desperate. That's why I love dancing.