'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese 

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.

(Con't)

Sourece: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6197921.stm

Are individuals in Paris really that rude? Or Japanese tourist are little bit too sensitive. I always imagined European cities to be a much nicer climate, when compared to the likes of North America, but some of the stuff stated, makes the rudest American city on par.

Article is a bit funny, about the seriousness of the condition. 

wtf...waiters yell at customers for not speaking fluently? what a shithole of a city.

Ya, I hope that isn't the reality. Most people are tourist, they need to understand that . . . that is how they can run the establishments. 

I'm french. It's the truth.

Waiters, taxis, people don't care, they don't have to care. There are already too many tourists anyway.

Most people in Paris look sad, grey, angry or scared like in most big cities in the world.
If you plan to visit France one day, see Paris for sure, there are still very nice buildings, but the rest of the country has much more to offer.

The "Paris syndrome" is still very impressive, one must need very high hopes and a huge disappointment to get these kind of troubles... I would like to know what they hoped for...


Mes excuses aux parisiens qui liront ça et qui se seront senti offensés, mais je me suis toujours senti mal à l'aise à Paris, belle ville, tristes parisiens. Je ne demande qu'à être convaincu du contraire néanmoins.

kind of sad to read those things...im always happy to see touriists! ^^

When my family and I went to Paris in 2005, we weren't yelled at by waiters, but whenever our French pronounciation was just even a little off, we were corrected in the most patronising way possible.  We just stayed calm and apoligised.

At least we didn't do what my friend did and remind Parisians which city recently won the bid to host the 2012 Olympics

Boo hoo.

If I were in Paris I would almost be disappointed if they didn't correct my shitty French.

Do the right thing... and speak English!

XD

From what I've heard Paris sounds much more rude than any city in the U.S., and I'm from NYC. The rudeness seen in movies about NYC is pretty exaggerated. I've had people FROM Paris tell me they really can be that rude.

My friend went to visit family for the first time in Paris last summer....his depiction of Paris was crushed along with his image of how his family there were too.