“Paris Syndrome”
That’s how psychologists refer to the shock and trauma faced by Japanese tourists when they visit France and find out how rude the French can be.
PARIS (Reuters) – Around a dozen Japanese tourists a year need psychological treatment after visiting Paris as the reality of unfriendly locals and scruffy streets clashes with their expectations, a newspaper reported on Sunday.
“A third of patients get better immediately, a third suffer relapses and the rest have psychoses,” Yousef Mahmoudia, a psychologist at the Hotel-Dieu hospital, next to Notre Dame cathedral, told the newspaper Journal du Dimanche.
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“In Japanese shops, the customer is king, whereas here assistants hardly look at them … People using public transport all look stern, and handbag snatchers increase the ill feeling.”
A Japanese woman, Aimi, told the paper:
“For us, Paris is a dream city. All the French are beautiful and elegant … And then, when they arrive, the Japanese find the French character is the complete opposite of their own.”
Now I can understand how those Japanese tourists would be flabbergasted by the French, when politeness, and not embarrassing a person in front of others is such a strong part of their culture. And I know something about how rude those French people can be since I studied there one summer.
