Apparently Paris is so bad, it even f's up the Japanese (yeah, go figure, this isn't even about Americans, apparently we figured out that Paris stunk a long time ago) - <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15391010/?GT1=8618">Link</a>

'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock
Japanese visitors found to suffer from psychiatric phenomenon

PARIS - 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, next to Notre Dame cathedral, 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, the paper cited Japanese embassy official Yoshikatsu Aoyagi as saying.

"Fragile travelers 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 told the paper.

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."

I visited Paris about 15 years ago. It sucked. I never did understand the fascination with it; you'd have a far better vacation visiting right here in San Francisco.

I spent a wonderful 2 weeks in Paris in 1999. I'd go back in a heart-beat.

For some reason, I thought the story was about Paris Hilton.

My high school had a program where a few brave teachers took students on a spring trip to Europe (yeah, just like in Final Destination). I remember one year Paris was one of the destinations and everyone was pretty hyped up about it. When they came back all they could talk about was how rude everyone was, how the city smelled, and the fact that there seemed to be garbage everywhere (there were stories of people dumping it onto the street from their apartment windows).

I can see it being very dream shattering for a Japanese person though. If you ever caught any episodes of the original Iron Chef, even in that weird setting you could tell how highly the Japanese regarded the French. However, the image of the French that they admired was the ones from the movies, with the romantic lights, the tower, and men in funky hats smoking cigarettes through cig-pipes and women in name brand evening dresses 24/7. It also doesn't help that the Japanese are a super clean culture (almost to the point of neurotic); I can just imagine someone who lives in a hospital-clean home expecting even higher standards, and then suddenly being shoved into an area akin to the Bronx.

I suppose the closest thing I can think of comparing it to would be like a Briton'er finding out that Avalon was formerly a landfill.

Wait, they need psychological treatment because experience didn't meet their expectations?

That just seems bizarre to me. Not that Paris isn't like the movies, that people are so upset about finding out it isn't like the movies that they snap.

I don't recall Paris being particularly dirty. It is an old city, maybe people aren't used to old buildings that aren't shiney and new. The day I got there a hurricane came roaring through and did a lot of damage, uprooted trees, broke glass and stuff. Other than that, which got cleaned up pretty promptly it was just a big, grand, old city.

There's your problem Pan - you came through at the same time as the bi-annual cleanout :)

I spent some holiday time in Paris a few years ago, and found it dirty also. Large volumes of canine, and sometimes even human, fecal matter on the pavement in some locations, that kinda dirty.

I did see some junk on the streets, and the locals were rude and arrogant (but I was expecting that). Unless you live your life through rose tinted glasses, which admittadly the Japanese sufferers of this syndrome might, Paris is otherwise sensational. The history and grandeur is hard to match anywhere in the world, and the Palias Royale alone is enough to make the place worth visiting.

Heh. Things haven't changed since the days of Louis XIV, the Sun King.

The courtiers then would simply squat down in the halls of Versailles whenever they felt the call.

I don't feel the need to ever travel to Paris in my lifetime.

I've travelled throughout Europe and Paris is one of my least liked places. When we go to Europe again, I definitely won't be going to Paris. In my last visit I witnessed a polite, elderly Japanese man verbally assaulted with racist epithets. A thief tried to pickpocket and steal my friends wallet. It was actually quite funny. The pickpocket grabbed the wallet in the Metro and escaped out the closing subway doors. Fortunately, my friend knew of the risks in Paris. His wallet was chained to his belt. He had to wait until the next station to retrieve the wallet since he was inside the subway car door and the wallet was on the outside.

I still have pictures of the drunks sleeping on warm subway air vent gratings.

The people were rude. Prices for 'tourists' were outrageous and a rip-off. The city was dirty.

There are nice places in France like Chamonix, Arles, Chenonceaux, Nimes, but there are many other countries I'd prefer visiting. I didn't much care for Bourges, Marseilles or Nice.

As Canadians, we were treated relatively well in France.

When my family and I lived in the Netherlands in the mid-1980's we actually never visited France by choice. We travelled extensively and repeatedly through England, Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Denmark.

Personal experiences tend to vary. It's quite a while since I went to France but I didn't have any problems in Paris or taking the train round the country and staying in hostels. When I was really, really young I'd stayed at French caravan sites so after that introduction there was no expectation at all that French cities would be spotless.

Actually, I was there in the Winter, just before Christmas so you might be right! :p I never saw any extraordinary dirt or anyone sleeping on the streets. But it was far too cold and rainy for that.

I also knew that Pariseans don't go around exchanging pleasantries all the time like we do in America. But I didn't feel that was rude, it was more just their custom.

Have any of you traveled in less urban parts of France? Did you like it better?

Actually, I was there in the Winter, just before Christmas so you might be right! :p I never saw any extraordinary dirt or anyone sleeping on the streets. But it was far too cold and rainy for that.

I also knew that Pariseans don't go around exchanging pleasantries all the time like we do in America. But I didn't feel that was rude, it was more just their custom.

Have any of you traveled in less urban parts of France? Did you like it better?

Less urban parts are very much better!