>>11257552 (pb)
Akin to culture shock, Paris Syndrome is a particularly Japanese phenomenon, due to the idyllic pedestal on which the Japanese put everything French. Stemming from the popular mid-century Japanese love-affair of the French capital, Paris developed an image as impossibly beautiful and exciting, filled with fashionable, cultured, and friendly Parisian denizens. When Japanese tourists are confronted with the reality that Paris has a population that doesn’t speak Japanese, are indifferent to tourists from any nation, aren’t all models, and that idyllic Paris is just another version of a major metropolis with all the societal ills that entails – a small number of Japanese freak out and come down with a case of the Paris Syndrome.
This is not what has happened to me, during my most recent visit to London. Indeed, my realistic expectations were met fair and square. Going in, I knew I would find a city filled with residents of questionable dental hygiene, a cuisine known predominantly for sausages and frozen peas, and architecture that can sometimes rank amongst the most brutal that humans have ever conceived. Despite spending time exploring and photographing these obvious high-lights, I’m still not smitten with London.
https://yomadic.com/paris-syndrome/