Japanese hit by ‘Paris syndrome’ as depressing reality of French manners shatters romantic ideals
From Hugh Schofield In Paris
First there was the Stockholm syndrome, then there was the Jerusalem syndrome, now psychiatrists have discovered the Paris syndrome. But don’t worry: you are not at risk unless you are young, female and Japanese.
According to Dr Hiroyki Ota, a Japanese national who works at the Sainte Anne hospital in Paris, more than 100 people pass through his consulting room every year exhibiting the same symptoms of nervous depression.
Around a quarter of them have to be hospitalised before being sent home.
In a book entitled The Paris Syndrome, he explains the progression of the disorder: first mild anxiety, then a growing persecution complex, fear of leaving home, despair and sometimes even suicide.
The cause is always the same: a bad social experience with a Parisian, triggering a profound sense of cultural alienation.
“The phenomenon is most common among those Japanese who prove themselves incapable of adapting to France because of a shock set off by a confrontation between the two cultures,” Ota says.
The Japanese have long had a love affair with Paris, nurtured by dreams of sophisticated manners coupled with physical elegance, exquisite food and lots of Louis Vuitton handbags. Most of the 28,000 Japanese residents of France live in the capital, which is visited every year by millions more.
What they find though is not always what they had been led to expect. “Often the people I show around are extremely disappointed,” said Akira Hasegawa, a Japanese tour guide who has been working in France for 15 years.
“They think Parisians are going to be clean and polite and friendly – and it’s the exact opposite. What they want is the old France – full of people like Jean Gabin and Alain Delon – but it’s not like that at all. You British have the same experience, no?” he says.
Nearly all of the victims of Paris syndrome are women, who tend to be more besotted with the city’s romantic image than men.
Press coverage of the French capital in Japan invariably plays up the “city of light” cliché, and the fact that several Japanese television and screen celebrities have chosen to settle there boosts the wannabe factor.
“There is a kind of Cinderella stereotype, especially among girls,” said Mina Hasegawa – no relation to Akira – who has been Paris correspondent for the Fuji Television Network for four years. “There are many women in their 20s and 30s who want to make a drastic change in their lives, and they come to Paris looking for an alternative.
“For the first month they feel happy and free, but then there’s a reaction. Suddenly the environment seems hostile,” she added.
It comes as no surprise to learn that for many young Japanese the most shocking discovery is the Parisians’ legendary rudeness.
For visitors from a country where relations between individuals are subject to a strict social code, the ordeal of being ignored by a surly waiter – or having a post office clerk deliberately misunderstand your attempts at French – must be painful indeed.
“In Japan the customer is God,” added Mina Hasegawa. “Not here.”
According to Ota: “The Japanese are shy and feel French impatience as an assault. Talking too much is seen as rude by Japanese people, who therefore go through torture to make themselves understood. And French humour can provoke feelings of persecution among the serious-minded Japanese.”
However, Bernard Delage, a Frenchman who runs the Association Jeunes Japon, argues that things today are at least better than they used to be.
“Up till 15 years ago it was really very hard to be Japanese in Paris. Everyone took them for Chinese – which they hate – and because they were rich back then before the recession, they were ripped off wherever they went,” said Delage, who helps Japanese executives and students settle in France.
“Today the problem is with a relatively small number of girls – spoiled types who come out with daddy’s money to experience the freedom. But they find they can’t cope,” he added.
“The same thing happens wherever the Japanese go abroad. For them other countries are always a cultural shock.
“What’s different in Paris is that they come here loving it more than anywhere else, secondly, Parisians are indeed unusually awful.”
http://www.sundayherald.com/46762---I didn't know rudeness could go so far.