Just read this story on the BBC website. Made me laugh, bless the Japanese. They do get sucked in to their own little fantasy worlds!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/6197921.stm
'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.
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.
An encounter with a rude Parisian can be a shocking experience
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.
'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese
Moderator: StanInBlack
'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese
Maybe I'll find love when there's nothing to do........
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I think Yanks are great
Jim *remembering our Yank brothers on the site!*
Jim *remembering our Yank brothers on the site!*
The Sewer The Sewer wrote:Yeah but the Bastards keep coming back though - Fecking YanksI'm sure this must happen when they come to England as well - especially the Yanks.
Jim
"I bathed in sun and walked in rain
It taught me how to laugh again"
It taught me how to laugh again"
Something similar to the Paris syndrome apparently happened in the 19th century to many Russian elite intellectual "tourists" visiting France.
Apparently, after Peter the Great's francophile 'cultural revolution' in Russia, France came to be regarded by the Russian elite as the land of reason, the ideal country, as it were.
The Russian elite, the 1% of the population who could travel at that time, had
spent their whole lives learning and perfecting French, and, upon actually visiting France for the first time, found it something of a let-down.
One of them, Fonvizin, wrote that France's high culture was nothing but a myth, and that the idea of France being the land of reason was "the great lie"...
None of them had to be evacuated from the country, however.
Apparently, after Peter the Great's francophile 'cultural revolution' in Russia, France came to be regarded by the Russian elite as the land of reason, the ideal country, as it were.
The Russian elite, the 1% of the population who could travel at that time, had
spent their whole lives learning and perfecting French, and, upon actually visiting France for the first time, found it something of a let-down.
One of them, Fonvizin, wrote that France's high culture was nothing but a myth, and that the idea of France being the land of reason was "the great lie"...
None of them had to be evacuated from the country, however.