I still remember how I felt when I first arrived Paris. All the awe, overwhelm, the gasping that is the beauty of this City of Lights. But there is likewise a mix of shock & a little bit of dismay. I vividly recall speaking with a Thai friend about how one's smile can just disappear in Paris. Consumed by the speed of life, the stress, or that's just the way it is. It is not that hard to dive in the city's daily bustle that is so obvious even to a mere tourist. But living in Paris is a whole different story.Last night, I saw a documentary on the Japanese expatriates in Paris & the mysterious syndrome simply called the Paris Syndrome. The show followed a Japanese couple on their honeymoon, accompanied by both their mothers (I know). First, one of the mothers almost had her purse snatched in the metro. Then in entering a shop, they couldn't believe how not even one salesperson attended to them. It is shocking for these Japanese tourists to experience both these normal scenes of Paris.
Then there's Kenzo, a Japanese writer doing a Paris-Tokyo back & forth for 10 years now, sharing his seemingly ordinary depression when he arrived Paris. He talked about the humiliation in ordering coffee in a café not because of the language handicap but on how the waiters handle their customers. He added that if he was the paranoid type, he would think that the waiter's disregard was because of him. He continued that Paris has so many opportunities to feel humiliated like when people cut lines where it is inexistent in Japan because of their culture of order & respect. And it is with the repetition of these daily episodes that Kenzo plunged into depression. He already had a serious back problem that worsened & necessitated a cane for him to walk. He found refuge in his apartment & refused to talk to anybody, especially to anybody French.
More than 700,000 Japanese tourists alone visit Paris & some 10 of those living here get hospitalized every year due to severe depression caused by the feeling of being oppressed by the French culture & its language that some even go to the extent of having neuroleptic treatments*. And I thought I was already sensitive & my having the occasional blues made me feel I'm losing it. At first I also felt humiliated with Paris' lack of customer service & especially its rudeness. I have also experienced my wallet almost being snatched in the metro. The other day in the supermarket, I was in line hestitating when I saw an old lady running as fast as she could, then she looked at me while she was cutting me in line. But all these scenes are ordinary & universal. In the Philippines, one might even cut you by pretending they don't even see you. At the worse, there are even no lines nor order when you're buying barbeque from the street vendor.
The Japanese are adorable people. They might even have invented the word polite. I've never been to Japan but I'm quite sure that like in the Philippines, there are places where you won't be treated as well as you expected & yes, but not as worse as in France though. But Paris still remains the world's number 1 destination & it's just probably that. The Parisians are so neck-high of tourists that at some point, they are just not that happy to see you. I know, we just cannot justify rudeness because respect is respect. That is why it's no wonder why the French are so uncomfortable with the kind of cutomer service they receive when visiting an Asian country. They are rather bothered, or surprised with this kindness they find outside France. But to add, going back to my last post, my cousin who visited Paris found the Parisians rather nice compared to where she lives (an Asian country).
My Thai friend & I might have lost our Asian smiles but we're not as fragile as to hit depression when we did experience the culture shock of living with the French. Afterall, the Paris Syndrome is exclusive to Japanese.
*facts from the show 66 minutes on M6, aired yesterday
More reads on the Japanese's Paris Syndrome here & here
