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Thread: Japanese reality check

  1. #1
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    Default Japanese reality check

    Quote Originally Posted by BBCnews
    A dozen or so Japanese tourists a year have to be repatriated from the French capital, after falling prey to what's become known as "Paris syndrome".

    That is what some polite Japanese tourists suffer when they discover that Parisians can be rude or the city does not meet their expectations.

    The experience can apparently be too stressful for some and they suffer a psychiatric breakdown.

    Around a million Japanese travel to France every year.

    Shocking reality

    Many of the visitors come with a deeply romantic vision of Paris - the cobbled streets, as seen in the film Amelie, the beauty of French women or the high culture and art at the Louvre.

    The reality can come as a shock.

    An encounter with a rude taxi driver, or a Parisian waiter who shouts at customers who cannot speak fluent French, might be laughed off by those from other Western cultures.

    But for the Japanese - used to a more polite and helpful society in which voices are rarely raised in anger - the experience of their dream city turning into a nightmare can simply be too much.

    This year alone, the Japanese embassy in Paris has had to repatriate four people with a doctor or nurse on board the plane to help them get over the shock.

    Paris street market

    They were suffering from "Paris syndrome".

    It was a Japanese psychiatrist working in France, Professor Hiroaki Ota, who first identified the syndrome some 20 years ago.

    On average, up to 12 Japanese tourists a year fall victim to it, mainly women in their 30s with high expectations of what may be their first trip abroad.

    The Japanese embassy has a 24-hour hotline for those suffering from severe culture shock, and can help find hospital treatment for anyone in need.

    However, the only permanent cure is to go back to Japan - never to return to Paris.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6197921.stm
    The difference is that bad? Anyone else heard of this?

  2. #2
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    And the reverse in true when visiting New York or Los Angeles.

    Tremendous cultural shock at meeting someone who doesn't shout at you like you are an idiot or try to rob you at knife or gunpoint

  3. #3
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    Maybe Japanese tourists would be better prepared for a visit to Paris if they first watched Monty Python's Holy Grail. Nothing says "French attitude" better than the scene of King Arthur's visit to the French-held castle on his quest.
    Cady Goldfield

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    Quote Originally Posted by Cady Goldfield
    Maybe Japanese tourists would be better prepared for a visit to Paris if they first watched Monty Python's Holy Grail. Nothing says "French attitude" better than the scene of King Arthur's visit to the French-held castle on his quest.
    Do elderberries really smell that bad? I've always wondered.

    Run away!

    http://mzonline.com/bin/view/Python/HolyGrailScene9
    Last edited by BC; 22nd December 2006 at 19:54.
    Robert Cronin

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    Go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.
    Cady Goldfield

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