[steven]

I think Nyororin's explanation is good. It seems to match up with the gyst of what my wife was talking about. And actually, talking about 3 levels of pitch is something I think I've read about before. I never heard of the lower pitched voice being "seductive/sexy" for women, but thinking back on experience that sounds quite right. I've noticed that when I see women at a bar/izakaya/restaurant for like a girls night out, they always seem to have a lower pitched voice than usual (that's not to say it's like purposefully or uncomfortably low). So what Nyororin said about it being a sign of having let your guard down, that also seems right.

As far as "タレント" go, I don't watch TV too much so I really can't say. It's not something I'm completely unaware of, but it's not something I'm familiar enough with to talk about.

I still think that there is a level of "politeness" about it, though... although that might be harder to explain and justify.

In America, I'm sure it exists just like it does in Japan. It's just not on a comparable level in my opinion. To write it off entirely might be a mistake because there may very well be similar things about them although I haven't really thought about it before.