I noticed that too. I think that the same happened in The Last Samurai (the movie that was almost totally ruined by Tom Cruise -_-). I remember watching it and thinking, "Isn't that actor/actress Chinese?!" I think that the problem is that American movie makers know of very few Japanese actors. When the best that Japan appears to offer are gender-confused JROCK potentially-sexually-confused-as-well singers and a barely legal speaks-very-little-English actress, then the other Asian actors become more appealing for Japanese roles. (Plus, I'm convinced that these movie makers think most of the viewers are incapable of recognizing the difference between a Chinese and Japanese actor)
It seems that most people can't tell the difference between Japanese, Chinese, and Korean people so they just dump any asian person into the mix and hope there aren't too many asians in the audience. I also think they just wanted some big names in the production, and that's why they picked Zhang Zihi, Li Gong, and that 3rd person I can't remember the name of from Crouching Tiger.
At least there's one Japanese person in a lead. Ken Watanabe isn't too bad.
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I also think they just wanted some big names in the production, and that's why they picked Zhang Zihi, Li Gong, and that 3rd person I can't remember the name of from Crouching Tiger.
At least there's one Japanese person in a lead.
Ken Watanabe isn't too bad.
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