Shall We Dance? portrays the pervasive psychology of middle-aged men in Japan who suffer loss of identity from working day and night to support their families, losing time for themselves the process. Syohei is an ordinary 42-year-old salary-man who lives with his wife and daughter in a suburb.He seems to have it all, but keenly feels that something is missing from his life.One day on the way home, his attention is grabbed by the signboard of a ballroom daces institute.After much hesitation,he goes to the institute to take lessons, and meets the beautiful instructor Mai to whom he is attracted to. He studied hard while dreaming of dancing with Mai in the future. But Mai avoids his affections because of painful memories of her dancing past when she was once the best dancer in Japan. Her failure in a major dance competition put an end to her ambitions. In the end, however, Mai realizes the true meaning of dance through Syohei′s passionate efforts in the amateur dance competition. Shall We Dance?was the top Japanese box office hit of 1996. (Kim Ji-Seok)