Paris Syndrome

[Dr. Lao]

'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock
Japanese visitors found to suffer from psychiatric phenomenon

Updated: 6:47 p.m. ET Oct 23, 2006

PARIS - 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.

Already this year, Japan's embassy in Paris has had to repatriate at least four visitors -- including two women who believed their hotel room was being bugged and there was a plot against them.

Previous cases include a man convinced he was the French "Sun King", Louis XIV, and a woman who believed she was being attacked with microwaves, the paper cited Japanese embassy official Yoshikatsu Aoyagi as saying.

"Fragile travelers can lose their bearings. When the idea they have of the country meets the reality of what they discover it can provoke a crisis," psychologist Herve Benhamou told the paper.

The phenomenon, which the newspaper dubbed "Paris Syndrome", was first detailed in the psychiatric journal Nervure in 2004.

Bernard Delage of Jeunes Japon, an association that helps Japanese families settle in France, said:

"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."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15391010/

I guess the Japanese mind is too fragile for export. I can understand people from the country or small towns having a bit of trouble in any big city but for people to go batshit insane just because they left their borders is beyond me.

[unclejun]

:icon_biggFunny!
A dozen Japanese tourists a year don't really count...

[ccovell]

It's very funny, and I can believe it. Insular insular insular...

Now I can understand not being able to travel and see the world if you have no money (like me...), but when you're in one of the richest countries in the world, it's a wasted opportunity to just stay at home and remain unknowing about the rest of the world.

(sorry, rant mode off. for now.)

[Tatsujin]

"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."

teh L0L :lol:

[la-li-lu-le-lo]

Psychosis isn't funny.

[Tatsujin]

it depends from where or waht they come.

[WolverineDK]

Psychosis isn't funny.

No, psychosis isn´t funny at all. And that I agree with you.

[Perkunas]

Maybe they are talking about the banlieu riots last year. ;)

[unclejun]

Being in an unknwon city won't help the paranoid people.
Perkunas, it was not in Paris and it was less important that what the news reported, apart from the stupid declarations of the little sarko, (his karcher -cleaning speech)no way he'll be elected next year, or I'll emigrate.
Maybe we should send the troublemakers for a limited time show near Bruxellles;)

[Dr_Slump]

I really don't understand how they feel. I've been to many countries and I didn't feel any difference other than architecture, language and food.

[Perkunas]

Being in an unknwon city won't help the paranoid people.
Perkunas, it was not in Paris and it was less important that what the news reported, apart from the stupid declarations of the little sarko, (his karcher -cleaning speech)no way he'll be elected next year, or I'll emigrate.
Maybe we should send the troublemakers for a limited time show near Bruxellles;)

I know they didn't took place inside Paris, but for most part in the Eastern suburbs of the city. Just tried making a bad joke, no pun intended. =)

[Haruglory]

It's a quite old topic butI find it funny and because I live close to Paris (and I go to every weekend), I have to admit that the article is probably not false at all. I remember when I came back from London, the train goes across the suburbs, I was shocked of the first image of Paris it gives to foreigners ^^. But the problem is that this first image is probably reprensentative of how Paris is really : quite unclean, quite not welcoming, quite unsafe... Some metro lines are really awful for exemple. And oh yeah, the biggest problem is probably the fact that very few people speaks english correctly, even in the shops...^^

[ccovell]

That brings up an interesting question... who would you rather have as a seatmate on a plane... someone who tries hard to speak English, but fails miserably in most cases, or someone who would rather not speak English, since they consider their own language superior in all respects? ;-)

[Tomcat]

Going to stick my neck out and prob get flamed for this...
Ive spent the last 15 months in the south of France working and to be honest alot of my encounters with the French was horrible. Maybe its just because I work in a male dominated environment but on the whole they came across rude and unfriendly. Unless the wanted something that is... then they spoke perfect English to me.
I can quite easily see why people would have panic attacks etc while visiting France. Anyway im happy now as Ive just been posted up to Hamburg where its friendly .. just a bit colder mind.

[Karellen]

As a French man who has spent a lot of time in Japan I can say that I totally understand this type of reaction.Japan and France are like night and day really :) And maybe the worst thing for Japan people is to see the French subway,which is just horrible and dirty even in the center of Paris :-/

[WolverineDK]

That brings up an interesting question... who would you rather have as a seatmate on a plane... someone who tries hard to speak English, but fails miserably in most cases, or someone who would rather not speak English, since they consider their own language superior in all respects? ;-)

I would choose the first.

[Japan-Games.com]

Wow....I just read the article on BBC News and I came here to post it. I didn't know it was already here...hehe

[Parris]

I am still laughing at that article...

Japan must be some amazingly efficient, beautifully organised and utterly spotless place with very polite, servile people.

I don't really understand why Paris would necessarily be singled out in the Japanese psyche and create such anxiety when the reality doesn't meet with expectations?

Being a Brit, I am used to lowsy weather, dirty streets, unfriendly shop assistants and nothing really being as it seems in the adverts. Shit it's our way of life!

I used to live in Paris and had a French girlfriend. Working in Paris, living in Paris and being in Paris was in my view amazing.

Please, do NOT send ANY Japanese tourists to the United Kingdom. If Paris can send a handful of Japanese visitors barking mad, then Britain would most likely kill them!

Perhaps we should start printing warning labels to slap on the sides of Europe "Warning! This country could seriously damage your frail sensabilities and leave you thoroughly dejected, miserable and devoid of the will to continue breathing".

This article makes me all the more determined to visit Japan one day.

[cdoty]

I wonder if Japanese have the same problems in Memphis\Graceland? Maybe they think they are Elvis.

[GaijinPunch]

Japanese have issues of their own. My personal favorite is "natsubate":
http://www.geocities.co.jp/HeartLand-Icho/8172/aug.htm
Scroll down a bit. My first job in Tokyo was w/ another guy from Texas. We used to laugh at how people actually called in sick w/ this shit!

I do know one guy that actually went to the hospital b/c of something similar, but the doctor told him it was exhaustion. In his defense, he ate a handful of pills every weekend, and rarely got more than 5 hours sleep Friday through Sunday.