I first saw this movie when it appeared on free-to-air television in Australia in 1996 (?). I didn't have high hopes for it, but watched it anyway.

This is a fish-out-of-water story, where a guy (who can barely teach Japanese to elementary students in Japan) is sent to Great Briton (United Kingdom) to teach high-level Japanese to final year university students. From the start the students realize their new teacher is (at best) a buffoon, who's more interested in Karaoke than his native tongue - which is also his career choice.

Despondent, the students rally to oust their new teacher. Whilst the teacher struggles with a completely foreign culture, having his students hate him & all the while yearning for the happier times in Japan, singing Karaoke.

Increasingly depressed, the teacher seeks help to relieve the anguish in his heart - from an unlikely source, with unexpected consequences.

Essentially it's a love story found in the most of unlikely places. It's what I like to call a "Guy's chick-flick", where love & acceptance outweigh the materialistic desires of Western society.