Yes! The Japanese version of Shall We Dance? was fantastic. Why spoil it with an American remake starring the insufferable Susan Sarandon and Richard Gere, of all people?
To expand on yoru point...in the Jpaanese film...the main male character is just an oridnary schmoe. The whole point is that this man finds something extraodinary in his daily grind....its typical of Hollywood-think to cast the charismatic Richard Gere to play an ordinary schmoe. What that role needed was someone like William H Macy or Charles Martin Smith (whatever happened to him anyway)