"'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock"

"Paris Syndrome" leaves tourists in shock

CRIENGLISH.com
2006-10-24 16:07:24

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, 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, Japanese embassy official Yoshikatsu Aoyagi said.

"Fragile travellers 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 said.

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://english.cri.cn/3188/2006/10/24/193@154350.htm

"'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock"
24 Sep 2008	The Wise One

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