The Japanese Puzzle: the unavoidable \"Paris Syndrome\" scenario?

Université de Lorraine – ERUDI Master Mention Langues et Cultures Etrangères Spécialité Mondes anglophones, Parcours Tourisme culturel Année Universitaire 2014-15 UE N1002T (mémoire) 1ère Session Numéro d’étudiant : 31003825

The Japanese Puzzle: The Unavoidable “Paris Syndrome” Scenario?

par LECLERC Joy sous la direction de Céline SABIRON

Table of contents Introduction.................................................................................................................................4 I. The Paris Syndrome................................................................................................................9 1. A culture shock..........................................................................................................9 a. The effects of the contact between Japanese and French cultures.......................9 b. The phases..........................................................................................................10 c. The symptoms....................................................................................................13 2. The people who are the most affected.....................................................................16 a. Japanese tourists’ vision of France.....................................................................16 b. The appeal for Paris............................................................................................18 c. The clash of two cultures: innocence vs transgression.......................................20 II. The origins of the Paris Syndrome......................................................................................24 1. The French history of shopping...............................................................................24 2. The relations between France and Japan.................................................................26 a. The first contacts................................................................................................26 b. The influence of France over Japan...................................................................28 III. The power of the media......................................................................................................31 1. The media used........................................................................................................31 2. The gap between Japanese tourists’ vision of Paris and reality...............................33 3. Japanese tourists’ expectations and needs...............................................................36 IV. Different notions of the norm............................................................................................40 1. Cultural differences.................................................................................................40 a. Environmental differences..................................................................................40 a. 1. Paris: a multicultural city..........................................40 a. 2. The barrier of language.............................................41 a. 3. The level of modernity..............................................41 a. 4. The notion of time.....................................................42 a. 5. The notions of what is dirty and what is clean..........43 a. 6. Dangerous situations.................................................44 b. Behavioural differences......................................................................................44 b. 1. Physical behaviour....................................................44 2

b. 2. Verbal behaviour.......................................................45 b. 3. Non-verbal behaviour...............................................46 2. The subjectivity.......................................................................................................49 3. The notion of hospitality and its relativity...............................................................50 V. Feedback.............................................................................................................................55 1. Satisfaction..............................................................................................................55 2. Dissatisfaction..........................................................................................................57 3. Causes......................................................................................................................59 a. Tourists vs immigrants.......................................................................................59 b. The impatriate syndrome....................................................................................61 Conclusion................................................................................................................................64 Bibliography..............................................................................................................................67 Appendices................................................................................................................................74

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Introduction Several exhibitions about Japanese culture have been set up in Paris since 1999, such as the well-known « Japan Expo ». In 2014, it received about 240,000 people, all attracted by diverse elements of the Japanese culture: cooking, fashion, arts or literature especially mangas. It was created by Jean-François and Sandrine Dufour, and Thomas Sirdey, who have all three been manga enthusiasts since their childhood. More than in any other country, Japanese mangas have a great success in France which has become their second homeland. The success of this unique literary style in this country is mainly due to the appearance of the first broadcasted manga cartoons -such as Astro Boy, Dragon Ball, UFO Robot Grendizer, Captain Harlock, Sailor Moon or Pokemon- on French televisions in the 1980s, essentially in the show “Club Dorothée” on the TF1 Channel. Like many other children and teenagers, Japan Expo's founders have discovered one side of the Japanese culture thanks to mangas and their cartoon adaptations, which have attracted a large audience because of the mangas' unique characters and realistic drawing style. All of that made Sirdey and the Dufours eager to know more about Japan. That is why they have first decided to take part in associations for the development and expansion of mangas. According to Maxime Rovere in his online article on “Marianne.net” 1, “one rarely grows up without dreaming about Japan one day or another”. Mangas have indeed aroused a real passion for Japanese culture in France which can be observed today in the streets of the capital: there are quite a few Japanese bookshops -among which “Junkudo”, “Little Tokyo” or “Manga Shop”-, and in the streets of Paris you can see teenagers wearing costumes of their favourite mangas' characters, or their favourite Japanese singers, such as Japanese “Otakus”2 usually do in their own country in the streets of the Harajuku district. The French passion for Japan and Japanese culture first appeared in the 1980s with the televised manga series on television, and has expanded in the 1990s with the publication of the first manga books in French. It 1 “on grandit rarement sans rêver un jour ou l'autre du Japon,” M. Rovere, “Le Japon, une passion française,” Marianne (2012), accessed on 5 Feb. 2015 2 Fans of mangas, video games, Japanese idols, etc.

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is a recent passion for French “Otakus” who have found the opportunity to celebrate it between fans during the yearly « Japan Expo » occurring each year. People of all ages attend, especially because mangas appeal to a large audience thanks to their rich and broad topics: some are written for teenage girls (Shōjo) and are essentially about love stories, some target teenage boys (Shōnen) and stage heroes and fights, others are made only for male adults (Seinen and Hentai) and are about eroticism and pornography, etc. The growth of mangas in France aroused real interest in Japanese culture as a whole which is still growing nowadays. They have opened the door widely to Japanese culture for French people, because mangas display several elements belonging to everyday life in Japan such as school uniforms, the street stalls, eating with chopsticks, etc. The « Japan Expo » is today “the” event of the year for any French “Otaku”. It is for them the occasion to share their passion together, but also to discover more about Japanese culture with the coming of Japanese mangakas (writers of mangas), bands and many other artists. While the French seem to be hugely attracted to Japanese culture, this appeal is a reciprocal process. According to Antoine Gallimard, the president of the “Syndicat National de l'Edition”, “there has been a real affinity between Japan and France for a long time”3. A mutual passion between France and Japan indeed exists for a long time. Many Japanese people are used to travelling to France each year. In 2013, the city welcomed 83 million tourists, among whom 678,400 were Japanese. The latter are not the most numerous but the biggest spenders in Paris with 197€ spent per day on average. These faithful tourists represent a juicy market for the economy of the capital. The Japanese have been interested in French culture since the nineteenth century and the Romantic movement. This attraction for French Romanticism still exists nowadays, even though the spirit of the city has changed tremendously since « la Belle Epoque ». While the movement does not exist anymore in Paris, it does not prevent Japanese tourists from coming to France each year in quest of the Paris of the nineteenth century. An AFP study highlighted the fact that “behind the Romanticism [tourism marketers] sale, there are often 'handbags'” 4. Japanese tourists have indeed 3 “Il y a de véritables affinités entre le Japon et la France, depuis longtemps” A. Gallimard qtd. in M. Rovere, “Le Japon, une passion française,” Marianne (2012), accessed on 5 Feb. 2015 , ll.6-7 4 “Derrière le romantisme que l’on vend, il y a souvent des sacs à main,” M. Mantei, AFP

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been reported to be especially attracted by shopping. For them, Paris represents the city of fashion, beautiful clothes, arts, and elegance, accessible through its famous shops -such as Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior or Cartier. Their vision of the French capital is blurred and distorted because seen through the Romantic prism of the nineteenth century which can have severe consequences on them. At first, the concept of culture had been pointed out in literary works to better explain the difficulties met by individuals when confronted with an environment that is different from theirs. When tourists discover the culture of another country, they usually face a culture shock. In the realm of tourism, the culture shock is defined as the intercultural experiences lived by tourists when traveling to another country. It is essentially due to the differences between a tourist and the languages, habits, food, behaviours, symbols or beliefs of his host country. On the one hand, a culture shock may trigger a positive experience despite its rather pessimistic negative-sounding name. Tourists usually review from their trips that they have been pleasantly surprised to discover a foreign environment and that the shock they felt was an eye-opener to another way of living and a good introduction to a whole atmosphere unknown to them. On the other hand, a culture shock can be lived as a frightful experience. It is unfortunately the case for some Japanese tourists who go through a traumatic psychological disorder called the “Paris Syndrome”. It was discovered in 1986 by Hiroaki Ōta, a psychiatrist, at the Saint-Anne hospital in Paris. A syndrome is a group of symptoms and signs indicating an abnormal condition, a problem. This set of pathological symptoms is identifiable as a disorder or disease when associated together. They have a set of effects over the body and mind of the people affected. The Paris Syndrome is a psychological disorder which is said to be the result of the Japanese tourists' vision of Paris which contrasts with reality. They find themselves destabilized, disappointed and shocked by the differences between their idealized and positive expectations of the city, what they have been told about it, and the stark reality they face when arriving in Paris. Their appeal for the city is almost paradoxical because the victims of the Paris Syndrome feel repelled by what attracted them at first. It is nowadays a rather well-known psychological disorder and it may be wondered how Paris' touristic dynamism has been maintained over the years, and especially why Paris still appeals to Japanese tourists. One may wonder what 6

attracts them in Paris and why they especially choose this city for holidays. The whole relation between France and Japan is reciprocal in terms of mutual admiration, but paradoxical concerning Japanese tourists who are attracted by Paris even though they know the existence of such a psychological illness affecting their people. Moreover, the Paris Syndrome is one among three other main syndromes about other cities that can affect tourists coming from anywhere in the world. The second one is the Stendhal Syndrome (also called the Florence Syndrome). It is a psychosomatic disorder triggered off by the contact with too many artistic, natural, and architectural beauties in the Italian landscape. Its name is due to the French writer Stendhal, and his experience when he visited Florence. Contrary to the Paris Syndrome, this disorder works in a reverse way because tourists are not disappointed by the city they encounter but on the contrary they are rather pleasantly surprised to the point of developing an extreme psychological reaction. It is nevertheless said to be rarely found. The Jerusalem Syndrome is another psychosomatic illness caused by the strong religious side of the city that tourists meet when they come on a pilgrimage. It affects about forty people each year. As for the fourth one, the Indian Syndrome, it affects European and American travellers going to India. These tourists feel lost and face significant psychiatric problems because of the specific environment of the country: the streets are overly-crowded, the monsoon, the poverty, the noise, heat and smells. All of these details are shocking elements to which Westerners are not used. As highlighted Parisian writer Sylvain Tesson, “Tourism consists in spending a lot of energy traveling over ten thousand miles, so as to complain that things do not work like at home.”5 The existence of such syndromes indeed reveals tourists' demanding behaviours. Japan is often described as a country focused on cleanliness and manners. On the contrary, Parisians are often reported to be unpleasant, rude, and careless. Such opposite visions do not seem to be harmonious despite France and Japan strong relations. Japanese passion seems to be problematic as they are both attracted and repulsed by what Paris brings out. The link connecting the two countries is a rather paradoxical one, and that is what makes it worth-studying. This will be the topic of this paper which will deal with the way the Paris Syndrome affects Japanese 5 “Le tourisme, c'est l'énergie dépensée en parcourant dix mille kilomètres pour se plaindre que les choses ne fonctionnent pas comme chez soi.” S. Tesson, Aphorismes sous la lune et autres pensées sauvages, 2008.

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people. I will try to explain what makes it unique and different from the other existing syndromes. I will also try to understand why this syndrome affects Japanese people and the city of Paris, if it is possible to avoid it and if all Japanese tourists are concerned by it. To sum up, the objective of my study is to focus on both practical and physical aspects of the Paris Syndrome so as to better understand the consequences of culture shocks, and to know how to alleviate the symptoms. Very few studies have been carried out on the Paris Syndrome despite the awareness of its existence and of its consequences over Japanese tourists, that is why I have not found many secondary sources for my research. Despite this lack of information, my study will revolve around five distinctive parts. I will first explain in more details what the Paris Syndrome is, and what its symptoms are. Moreover, this psychological disorder only concerns Japanese people. That is why the first part of my research will also deal with the reasons why Japanese people are affected by this type of illness, and the elements that make them so vulnerable. Then, in the second part of my study, I will stress the fact that the Paris Syndrome can find its origins through history both in France and Japan. It will give me the opportunity to see the way these countries have built a strong relationship over the years. Thirdly, I will focus on the importance of the media in the holidays chosen by Japanese tourists, and the way they influence them by giving them such a biased vision of the city of Paris. This part will especially compare what differs between the tourists' vision of the city and its reality so as to better develop in the fourth part the cultural differences between France and Japan. We will see through this chapter that subjectivity and relativity should also be taken into account to explain the way the Paris Syndrome has developed itself. Finally, the last part will revolve around the different reactions of Japanese tourists who came in France, why some report being satisfied with their Parisian trip while some others are not. My whole research will be followed by a conclusive chapter in which I will develop several potential solutions to fight against the Paris Syndrome. I will also try to better understand and explain why not many studies have been brought to the fore to solve this persisting problem.

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I. The Paris Syndrome 1. A culture shock a. The effects of the contact between Japanese and French cultures Culture is said to be a set of signs and behaviours which characterizes, defines and differentiates a group of people from another. In 1960, Kalervo Oberg described culture shock as an individual's anxiety when he “enters a strange culture,” 6 that is to say when he faces another culture's norms which are unusual to him. According to Oberg, the effects of a culture shock are violent because many of the habits, supports, cornerstones, points of reference and comfort expected by the tourist are jostled by the host country's. He has defined them as “a series of props that have been knocked from under [the tourists]”7. This sudden change can be more or less overcome. Professor Srivastava has portrayed it as a less violent phenomenon than Oberg. To him, the system of signs and symbols to which an individual is used is blurred during travels because of the foreign ones he meets. He describes this process rather as an abrupt psychological confusion in the tourist's mind often causing anxiety and frustration than as a strict and deep physical change. The tourist generally feels nervous and lost in an environment that is new and unknown to him. For Oberg, culture shock is a more external and environmental process which affects tourists physically while Professor Srivastava rather defines it as an internal phenomenon leading to self-reflection and identity questions. The Paris Syndrome is a culture shock affecting Japanese tourists. It was observed for the first time in detail in Nervure8, a psychiatry journal, in 2004. It was said to be due to the difference of culture and language between Japanese and French, to Japanese tourists' idealized image of Paris -because of the brunt of disappointment they feel when they discover that Paris does not correspond to their expectations-, and to the sensation of exhaustion they feel because of the energy they spent organizing their trip. The Paris Syndrome seems almost unavoidable for any Japanese tourist. 6 K. Oberg, “Cultural Shock: Adjustment to New Cultural Environments,” Practical Anthropology 7. Curare 29 (2006): 142 7 Oberg, 142 8 A. Viala, H. Ōta, M.N. Vacheron, P. Martin, and F. Caroli, “Les Japonais en voyage pathologique à Paris : un modèle original de prise en charge transculturelle,” Nervure 5 (2004): 31-34

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Even those who speak French may face it. According to Jocelyne Sourisseau, who studied the means of communication between French and Japanese, the knowledge of the other's language -that is to say the grammatical and lexical structure of sentencesis not a sufficient element to understand him entirely. She refers to Neyrand who explains that the Japanese who learn French language automatically encounters another way of thinking and a whole different reality. To summarize, culture goes beyond language and is a significant boundary between nations. Sourisseau adds that the difficulties met by tourists in communicating with a country's people whose culture is really different from their own culture -such as Japanese whose customs and geographical position are really far from France, in the literal and figurative sensemay lead them to question their own habits and way of functioning in their home country. This complete reconsideration of their native vision of reality is probably an important element contributing to Japanese tourists' uncomfortable feeling and sensation of losing all their points of reference. When they confront French -and more specifically Paris'- culture as a whole, Japanese tourists enter a questioning process which makes them completely confused. It forces them to reconsider themselves. This is the first step of a culture shock and this is how the Paris Syndrome strikes roots. It is important to note that despite its name, the Paris Syndrome seems nevertheless to be linked indirectly to Paris. According to the previous observations, it rather seems to be caused by a self-reflection process. Japanese tourists are led to selfquestioning because of the self-image projected by the city or the country visited. We will see that, more than being just a mental illness, the Paris Syndrome presents several steps.

b. The phases The confrontation of Japanese tourists with the people of Paris sets off a rather long process of adaptation. According to Kalervo Oberg's 1960 studies, culture shock is composed of two main steps. The latter was the first researcher to provide a theory of phases. He explains that tourists first feel uncomfortable and refuse the environment which makes them feel embarrassed: this phase is called “reject”. Then, after having been disappointed by the environment of their host country, tourists finally regret their 10

trip and miss their home country: this is called “regression”. However, Oberg has developed this summarized and quite simplistic process in order to better explain the emergence and the evolution of the Paris Syndrome. To him, the evolution of a culture shock does not stop to two steps. During a trip abroad, tourists increasingly discover the features characterizing the culture of their host country. As emphasized by Didier Hallepée, culture functions like a parachute: “if you don't want to crash, you have to open it”9. This deeper study of a country's culture goes through four stages. Basing their ideas on a graph realized by Schneider and Barsoux in 2003 10, Northeastern University of Boston's researchers developed the same four distinctive steps as Oberg under rather similar terms. They have both named the first one "honeymoon stage". It is the period of excitement during which tourists have a positive image of their host country and are eager to visit it. This stage represents the first days of the visit during which tourists feel positive emotions when they discover the physical beauties of the city, such as monuments. Then, tourists may become aggressive towards their host country because of the discomfort they gradually feel. They increasingly discover that the way of living of their hosts differs from theirs, that is why they are often described becoming despising and sometimes aggressive. A kind of aversion appears towards their hosts. They even blame them for their embarrassment. This second phase is called “hostility stage” (Oberg) or “frustration stage” (Northeastern University). It is during this step that the first symptoms of culture shock appear. Tourists gradually awake from their previous euphoria when facing the first difficulties concerning the differing habits, language, food and customs. It leads them to question their own native knowledge and identity. Tajfel and Turner highlight that tourists are no more able to understand their own behaviour and feel lost. They will, however, learn more about how to do so thanks to their new acquaintances and friends. After some time, tourists tend to get accustomed to the habits of their hosts and to overlook the difficulties encountered earlier. They increasingly accept the differences during the third phase called “adjustment stage” (Northeastern University) or “acceptation of difficulties” stage (Oberg). Tourists put things into perspective and finally downplay 9 D. Hallépée, J.F. Guédon, and C. Grimaud, La culture générale par les citations: les bons esprits, les cancres et les nuls se cultivent (Paris: Les écrivains de Fondcombe, 2014), 13 10 Appendix 1

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their previous hardships, sometimes by making fun of them. To finish, they accept the environment surrounding them that they rejected at first. They accept to learn how to behave appropriately so as to fit in and they begin to find pleasure. They acclimatize and adapt to the customs and habits of their host country, and finally feel like in a second home. Oberg called this final stage “adjustment”. Northeastern University's researchers used that same term to define the third step and named this last one “acceptance stage”. It seems that the difference between the third and the fourth phases of culture shock depend on what characterize them because they have no fixed and specific appellative. To me, these similar observations of culture shock are more developed and more consistent than Oberg's first theory which seems to be too restrictive. Oberg was nevertheless the only researcher to highlight the fact that the second stage of culture shock -i.e. “hostility stage” in his terms- was decisive in the process of adaptation of tourists. He describes this phase as a "crisis". The people who overcome it will be able to finally adapt and to change their minds about their host country. They will go through this difficult period so as to better learn how to fit in a newly encountered environment. As for some other tourists, they will be repelled and discouraged by the too numerous elements which make them feel uncomfortable and lost. That is why they decide prematurely to put an end to their trip and go back home. In this case, tourists generally keep a negative image of the country they visited and it may put a curb on the latter's touristic dynamism. According to Oberg, what is positive for those tourists is that they do not reach the worst point of the adaptation process that he defines as a “nervous breakdown”. In the more specific case of Japanese tourists who suffer from the Paris Syndrome, there is no fixed and decisive end. According to Youcef Mahmoudia, a Parisian psychiatrist, Japanese patients are divided into three categories. In his 2006 study, he noted that some of them recovered quickly from this mental illness, others suffered relapses, and the rest did not overcome the middle stages of the process of adaptation because they suffered psychoses which were too significant. To sum up, the stages of culture shock are decisive both for the host country's reputation and the tourist's mental health -which is at stake. We will see that psychological illnesses due to a culture clash such as the Paris Syndrome could 12

nevertheless be anticipated as they present a large set of recognizable and distinctive symptoms.

c. The symptoms The symptoms of culture shock are essentially psychological ones. All in all, Kalervo Oberg has listed nine main distinctive signs of mental illness in his 1960 study. All of them rarely affect a tourist simultaneously and may vary from person to person. According to psychologists Furnham and Juffer, such symptoms may be caused by certain trivial worries. This is the first set of symptoms observed by Oberg. It concerns excessive fixations on details such as handwashing, drinking, eating and sleeping. These elements nevertheless remain the primary features of tourism. They are indeed the most important things that any tourist look for before their trip. In the case of a culture shock, these details become immoderate. Visitors especially need reassurance about their essential needs; hence their particular attention to cleanliness, food, drink, bedding, and their quality. Furnham illustrates this idea with the instance of an excessive worry concerning drinkable water and the potential diseases that unsuitable water for consumption may provoke. As tourists look for safety, they beware of their hosts' cleanliness and health in order to avoid being struck down by an illness unknown to them. Physical contact with foreigners is another sign of psychological discomfort according to researchers. This is the case for instance for Japanese tourists who often wear face masks to prevent contagions. This fear of touching is rather excessive, especially as hosts may feel insulted by such a reaction. Moreover, being concerned by what locals consider to be details, tourists increasingly become frustrated. Professor Paul Pedersen writes that sleep problems may appear, followed consequently by memory lapses and fretfulness. According to Kalervo Oberg and Elisabeth Marx, their gradual discovery of the way things work in their host country may awake tiredness or, on the contrary, hyperactivity. Any individual learns to live in a specific way since childhood according to the habits and customs of their native country, but when travelling to a culturally different place, one may question all that was taken as instinctive. Such confusion and disorientation can cause violent and uncontrolled reactions. Marx adds that it even may lead the affected people to a nervous breakdown. Most psychologists and researchers have found that 13

such extreme situations are the consequences of an intense thinking. Tourists who feel shocked by the culture of the country they are visiting have generally reportedly been wistful. This sign is especially recognized through their void gaze that Oberg has defined as an "absent-minded, far-away stare" 11. They do not behave as tourists are expected to behave, they are not as curious as before. As we have explained in the previous sub-part concerning the phases of culture shock, visitors gradually feel lost in an atmosphere that is completely unknown to them. They do not know how to react and feel helpless. The writer Elisabeth Marx asserts that arriving in a new environment leads to a loss of landmarks and to a potential feeling of isolation which may consequently cause anxiety. Tourists need to build new points of reference so as to feel at ease. To do so, they will depend on natives or "long-term residents" who are the only people able to help them find their own way thanks to their experience in the country visited. Visitors automatically feel dependent on their hosts' help at first before learning to become independent in this brand new environment. Through this process they hope to get back to their initial identity and state of powerful individuals who are able to make their way in life by themselves. Among the tourists' negative reactions can also be classified the rejection of the foreign language. This is the sixth symptom of a culture shock described by Oberg. The too many cultural elements that differ from those to which they are used in their native country make them react in bad faith. Tourists seem to think it is their hosts' fault if they feel lost that is why they are repelled by everything characterizing their culture. The language is certainly one of the most significant elements underlying the cultural differences between countries as it concerns both verbal and non-verbal communication. As a sort of revenge against this overflow of differences, tourists often refuse to learn the language of their host country. Masami, a 45 years-old Japanese tourist reports that French was a real disadvantage for her and that it led her to avoid it: I found language barriers difficult to overcome. It gradually became a barrier per se. […] I ended up not going out so as to stay at home communicating with my family in Japan through the Internet.12 11 Oberg, 142-143 12 “Je trouvais la barrière de la langue difficile à surmonter. Peu à peu, la barrière de la langue était devenue une barrière sociale tout court. [...] J’ai fini par ne plus sortir pour rester chez moi et dialoguer sur Internet avec

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Besides, this growing withdrawn and hostile behaviour towards their hosts is reinforced by the appearance of paranoid and hypochondriac tendencies. The persons affected by the Paris' Syndrome generally characterize the French capital as “dirty”. As a consequence, their fear of the unknown and their strict habits concerning cleanliness may lead them to become excessively preventative. They tend to observe carefully their hosts' habits that they find intriguing. They are afraid that they would be dangerous for them. As mentioned above, the wearing of masks and the fear of being touched demonstrates that Japanese tourists have doubts about their safety. Also wearing masks when they are at home, we can guess either that they are truly afraid of potential contagions and germs, or that such a fact has simply become a fashion phenomenon in Japan. Both hypotheses have been recognized by researchers. According to Oberg's study, worries represent the seventh and eighth signs of a culture shock. The primary fears of visitors continue to worsen. Tourists become afraid of being robbed, cheated on, or injured by the individuals surrounding them. They do not trust anyone. This lack of confidence awakens greater concerns over diseases than the previous ones that are also called health phobias. Hypochondria is intrinsically tied to paranoia. Patients who suffer from it think they have a serious illness because they have detected its symptoms. The more they are convinced they reveal a significant disease, the more they believe they are sick. They may even become worried about the smallest pain that they will unconsciously feel more painful because of their deep and intense fear of death. At this stage of culture shock, tourists have reached serious and excessive mental disorders. The final mental symptom defined by researchers is the tourists' need to go back home to get back to their habits and customs. They feel unable to adapt to the host country because they are on the verge of a breakdown. Pedersen explains that they are homesick and that there is no possible change for them in the host country. The only solution for tourists at that moment of the shock is to get back home. This last symptom reveals itself during the “hostility stage” which is, as we have mentioned previously, the decisive phase of any culture shock: it can put an end to the trip or be a rough moment to overcome so as to adapt better. ma famille au Japon.” Negro News, “[La Parole est à vous] Le Syndrome de Paris,” 25 Jan. 2015, NegroNews, accessed on 27 March 2015 , ll.88-92

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Moreover, further research has shown that the first psychological symptoms can gradually affect their victims physically. Youcef Mahmoudia, a psychiatrist from Paris, has argued in an interview -realized by the journalist Joël Métreau for the online periodical 20 Minutes13- that the main physical symptoms observed on people suffering from the anxiety of a culture shock were tachycardia -ie too speedy a heart rate-, dizziness, shortness of breath, and even hallucinations. Tourists' health increasingly deteriorates from mental questioning to psychological unease which finally causes physical damage. The pains of the subconscience have a direct impact on the physical condition. This is what is called a "psychosomatic" illness and the Paris Syndrome is one of them. To sum up, all of these symptoms hide a real mental discomfort but it nevertheless seems to be too generalized. Of course they are not always encountered in this order and all tourists are not affected by all of these symptoms. Some can adapt to their host country without going automatically through psychosomatic illnesses. In the case of the Paris Syndrome, only some people have been observed to be affected. According to the “Observatoire Régional du Tourisme de l'Alsace” (ORTA), most Japanese tourists are people over 50 years old and young experimented women. On the one hand, we can suppose that elder people may be more vulnerable to culture shock due to their advanced age and their associated higher sensitivity level. On the second hand, culture shock seems less obvious for young women who are experimented in terms of travel. While many Japanese tourists are said to encounter the Paris Syndrome, its appearance may depend on the people's age, sex and personal experience. We will study in detail in the following part which categories of people this mental illness is limited to.

2. The people who are the most affected a. Japanese tourists’ vision of France The Paris Syndrome is, as we have explained above, a psychosomatic illness which especially concerns Japanese tourists visiting Paris. The latter tend to be more 13 J. Métreau, “Youcef Mahmoudia : 'Les voyages ne rendent pas fous',” 4 Aug. 2006, 20 Minutes, accessed on 11 Jan. 2015

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sensitive than the other tourists because of the vision they have of the French capital. Alain Stern, a psychiatrist working in the American hospital of Paris, has argued that the image of Paris Japanese tourists have is idealized. Japan opened itself to Europe in the 19th century, an era during which places and monuments such as Versailles, Montmartres, the Eiffel Tower, the Moulin Rouge or the Arc de Triomphe were the most representative elements of Paris and France for foreigners. The Paris Syndrome is said to affect Japanese tourists nowadays because they expect Paris to be the romantic city of the 19th century. Romanticism is a movement born in Europe at the end of the 18th century following the Enlightenment Age. It emphasized essentially beauty and emotions through arts or literature. However, as time went by, Paris has evolved and today, it tends to not correspond to what the Japanese imagined. While Japan is a modern country with a forward-looking perspective, its inhabitants seem to have preconceived and outdated ideas concerning Paris. As a consequence, they fall into delusion when they realize that the 19th century's beauties of the city are not that eye-catching anymore. According to several studies, Japanese women are even more likely to be affected by the Paris Syndrome than the other categories of people. The latter are said to see Parisian women as elegant, beautiful, and almost perfect people wearing fashion clothes and accessories of the greatest Parisian shops such as Dior or Chanel. In a 2013 report, the French TV channel BFMTV14 has interviewed a Japanese woman who indeed declared that France “makes [her] think about fashion” and is “a country where everyone is very elegant”. Mario Renoux, a doctor from Paris, has defined Parisian women as “fashion plates” in the eyes of Japanese women. Kazuchi Takeuchi even described them as models embodying almost to perfection the French “chic”, prestige, charisma and social freedom. More than the other Japanese tourists, Japanese women are used to thinking about Paris as a dream city representing luxury and refinement. They expect a lot from it, hence their deep disappointment when they discover that most of their hopes and dreams go up in smoke. Despite their idealized vision of the French capital, Japanese people accuse French people of causing what they consider to be “problems”. In his research, Thomas Bertrand has found that their sense of education tended to shock Japanese 14 “La France est bien perçue au Japon.” BFM TV, FR. (2013), accessed on 14 Jan. 2015

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people because it contradicted the latter's sense of politeness and honesty. Bertrand based his study on the accounts of his Japanese neighbour who, running an inn in France, has witnessed the French as being the people bringing about more "problems" than any other Europeans. He illustrates this idea with the instance of a French ordering a double room for three and highlights the fact that dishonesty is resented in Japan. Moreover, Bertrand's neighbour has also studied French people in his own country and he has reported some of them to be aggressive. He tells having met a man entering a temple with his shoes on -which is a deep lack of respect in Japan. Pretending to be a journalist, he threatened to spread negative things about Japanese people if they forced him to take them off. Bertrand's neighbour also described the French as impatient people because of his encounter with five French women who did not respect a two-hour waiting queue. As many others Japanese who testified similar events, Thomas Bertrand's neighbour has come to frown upon French people. To summarize, many Japanese people are aware of the French way of living and habits that some of them dislike. French people can have a rather negative reputation as we have shown above. The Paris Syndrome is also well-known to them thanks to the reviews of former tourists who have been affected by this turmoil. Despite that, Japanese tourists still come to Paris each year for holidays. In the following part, we will study why and how they are nevertheless attracted by the French capital.

b. The appeal for Paris A lot of Japanese visitors can be met in Paris all year long. Studies have shown that the tourists who feed the French touristic dynamism especially come from Asia. They are mainly Chinese and Japanese. In 2012, 1.4 millions of Chinese tourists came to France, which represented an increase of 23%. As for Japanese visitors, they were half as many as the Chinese but they were nevertheless more abundant than the previous years, with an increase of 20%. Even though the latter are not the most numerous, they remain the biggest spenders. According to the Comité Régional du Tourisme de Paris (CRT), they spend 186€ per individual on average when coming to Paris. Both Chinese and Japanese tourists are said to be spending money essentially in shopping (58.60€ per day for the Japanese). Marion Skrovec also observed that 18

Japanese tourists usually spend the most during their trips and that they were the most responsible nation for the touristic dynamism of the countries visited. The Japanese stay six nights in luxurious hotels on average and Skrovec describes them as the most "money-making" tourists. We can wonder why the Chinese are not as much affected as Japanese tourists by the Paris Syndrome. One reason is that the latter have a distinct culture with strict habits and limits which distinguish them from any other nations. When travelling, Japanese tourists are used to going to great expenses in clothes, accessories, and fashion but also in gifts and souvenirs because their culture demands that they buy things for their family and friends. In the present case, it is important to highlight the fact that the Japanese are motivated to spend money because of their own culture and spending style. Clothes and accessories tend to lead them to make great expenses, especially because of the prices which are lower than in Japan. In 2010, Japanese tourists have been encouraged to come to France because of the Euro's depreciation compared to the Yen. The cost of flight tickets from Japan to France decreased and the Japanese enjoyed this situation because it allowed them to make greater expenses in food, fashion, beauty or gifts during their trip. While many European countries were concerned by the weakening of their currency, Paris remained the most appealing city. Moreover, the economic crisis of the 1990s in Japan had already led tourists to come to Paris and 2,600,000 Japanese visitors had been counted in Paris hotels in 1992. According to Caroline Temple, most of the Japanese who have settled in France can be found in Paris: three quarters of the 25,000 immigrants live in the Paris region. More recently, the 2011 Fukushima accident did not reduce the traffic between Paris and Japan: it reached 1,157,912 passengers in both ways in 2013. While Paris travellers still seem to be attracted by Japan despite its potential dangers -i.e. the numerous natural disasters-, the Japanese -who are said to be very tied to their nation- seem to be increasingly attracted to foreign destinations, and especially by Paris. A 2014 research by the Paris Tourist Information Office has shown that the Japanese are the tourists who are the most motivated by cultural visits in Paris with an average of 72%. The places which appeal to them are essentially the Louvres Museum (69%), the Eiffel Tower (67.5%), the Arc de Triomphe (66.6%) and Notre-Dame de 19

Paris (55.8%). To sum up, the Japanese tend to be attracted to Paris for economic, cultural, and entertainment reasons. As said above, the attraction for the French capital is not only due to the latter's specificities but also to tourists' tastes and expectations. In the following part, we will see that the yearning to visit Paris is a rather common one in Japan and that popular beliefs may be indirectly an initiating factor of the Paris Syndrome.

c. The clash of two cultures: innocence vs transgression Most researchers report Japanese tourists being shocked when they discover Paris by the presence of thieves who are said to be far less numerous in Japan. They also often blame the city's level of cleanliness as well as some people's behaviour which they consider to be discourteous and ill-mannered. Being often described in popular culture as well-educated people, the Japanese are not prepared to face such things. For robbers, their good education and the fact they are foreign people may be a sign of vulnerability, that is why they may take advantage of the latter's potential excess of trust. In his research, Dr Ōta has argued that most of the victims of the Paris Syndrome were psychologically fragile people, and that at least one third already had psychological problems in Japan. Editor and researcher Mathis Sommer supports this idea in her online article on “Citylab.com” 15. According to her, the people who are more likely to develop the Paris Syndrome are those who have "more delicate constitutions". Bernard Delage, the president of the association "Jeunes Japon", endorses the previously evoked argument that women are more fragile and more easily affected by the Paris Syndrome. To him, the most concerned Japanese young women are used to being overprotected by their parents and family. They are ill-prepared to deal with western culture and are not strong enough psychologically to face a culture shock. Takeo Doï, a Japanese psychiatrist, has called this process of dependence and protection “Amae” which means “depending on other's kindness” according to the website “kanjijapanese.com”16. To him, the Japanese are used to depending on the 15 M. Sommer, “Paris Syndrome: Could Any Other City Produce This Bizarre Affliction?” City Lab (2011), accessed on 2 Nov. 2014 16

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environment and people who surround them. In his study, he compares them to children depending on their mother to survive and face daily hardships. Through the existence of the Paris Syndrome, Doï has given evidence that the concept of “Amae” does not only exist in mother-child relationships but in any type of social relationship. Moreover, a 2013 study in the Huffington Post newspaper has shown that 90% of the persons affected by the Paris Syndrome are young single Japanese women who are used to reading magazines. Indeed, Dr John Hopton has previously found that Japanese young women are especially vulnerable because of their strong belief in the dream city that is shown in the media. The image of Paris that the media share among their Japanese audience is, according to Kazuchi Takeuchi, full of clichés. Being aware of the existence of the Paris Syndrome, Japanese people still rely on what the media say about Paris. We can wonder why they believe in what magazines or the internet share while they often realize that all of this is exaggerated. This is the question Benjamin Plackett, a journalist, asks. To him, people in general believe things to be true in the media “despite any physical or significant evidence” 17. Even if they might suspect the veracity of the media's claims because of the lack of evidence, people still buy magazines and read articles about what they are interested in. In the case of the Paris Syndrome, we may suppose that it might be due to the techniques of selling used by the media but also to Japanese readers' yearning to deny the truth and to believe in a dream. Besides, psychologist Frank Faranda added that in a contemporary world, people generally always try to explain what surrounds them by using “metaphors and pretenses to understand the world” 18, that is why they have defined the Paris Syndrome as an illness on its own. Indeed, sharing the idea of the existence of such a mental trouble may nourish gossips and make people talk about Paris. It works as a commercial and money-making myth for tourist marketers. Some people may buy magazines or watch TV reports about the Paris Syndrome and it may lead some of them to travel to Paris in order to test its validity or just out of curiosity. Faranda explained that imagining such an illness “[had] allure” for human nature who use to love “illusion and [...] gossip”. To sum up, tourist marketers and the media share the existence of a Paris Syndrome as a selling strategy in order to ensure Paris a 17 B. Plackett, “The Great Paris Delusion,” The Connectivist (2013), accessed on 2 Nov. 2014 18 F. Faranda qtd. in B. Plackett, “The Great Paris Delusion,” The Connectivist (2013)

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better touristic dynamism. We will later study in more depth the different techniques used by the media to sell destinations. It is important to keep in mind that most researchers have deduced that most of the victims of the Paris Syndrome were rather gullible people. Thomas Bertrand, a French man who has been living in Tokyo since 2003, has observed that Japanese people tend to trust anyone excessively. Their “good education” and “honest behaviour” may reinforce the surprise effect when something they are not used to living happens. Bertrand has witnessed anecdotal facts in Japan. According to his personal experience, Japanese tourists' shock in Paris seems to be rather logical. He has for instance noted the absence of security guards in front of Japanese shops whereas articles are displayed in the streets. In France, many guards usually monitor French against potential thefts. Bertrand also reports having lost his wallet in a train in Japan. Contrary to what he thought, he finally recovered it with the money inside. While some may think it was a stroke of luck, he asserts that it was a matter of honesty. Through this anecdotal event, Bertrand describes the Japanese as welleducated people. In popular culture, the people of Paris are often negatively accused of being attracted by transgression. On the contrary, the honesty he witnessed from the Japanese sounded unsettling to him. We may deduce from Bertrand's personal experience that Paris culture would be transgressive while the Japanese culture would rather be based on rules compliance. On the forum “forumjapon.com”19, several persons tell about their personal experiences and feelings concerning life in Japan. Most of them have especially reported that the Japanese tend to believe what they are told. According to one of the writers on this forum, Japanese people are either too naive -and they believe everything they are told- or too well-educated -and they do not contradict their interlocutor so as to not offend him. Another writer on this forum also shared his personal experiences. He reported for instance that, not having enough money to pay in a shop and in a taxi, both the Japanese seller and the taxi driver suggested he should go back home with debts that he would repay later. While such a thing may exist in other foreign countries, another writer on the forum highlighted the fact that the 19 “Vous et la naïveté nippone?” 23 Aug. 2005, Forum Japon, accessed on 29 Dec. 2014

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Japanese would rather naturally make hard situations easier than making a scene. Some others talk about a certain “naivety” that would be specific to the Japanese. To temper all of these subjective accounts, it seems that the people of Paris would be more likely to infringe rules than the Japanese. On the contrary, the Japanese culture would rather focus on the respect of strict laws but also on a certain innocence which could be a significant cause of the Paris Syndrome.

As we have seen in the first part of this development, the Paris Syndrome is a type of culture shock which appears as a mental illness on its victims who are mainly Japanese. In her work called Nââândé!?20 -whose meaning will be explained later-, writer Eriko Nakamura talks about her personal experience when she first came and settled in Paris. According to her, the feeling she encountered at that moment was a purely Japanese one that could not be described through French words. She reports having faced and still facing daily certain behaviours which make her "speechless". To her, no French word is strong enough to define the deep shock felt by the Japanese at the contact of the Paris culture. That is why she called her book “Nââândé?!” which is a Japanese word with no precise translation in French. It is an exclamatory and interrogative word expressing surprise and questioning. According to Benjamin Plackett, the Paris Syndrome is a purely Japanese illness because other foreigners meet the same imperfections as Japanese tourists when they come to Paris but do not fall into nervous breakdown contrary to the latter. This fact can be explained by the “cult of innocence” mentioned above. It is described a purely Japanese feature which makes the condition exclusively Japanese and which takes its roots in history. That is what I will broach in the second part of this research.

20 E. Nakamura, Nââândé!? (Paris: NiL, 2013)

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II. The origins of the Paris Syndrome 1. The French history of shopping As we have seen in the previous part of this research, Japanese tourists tend to be the biggest foreign spenders in the French capital. When coming to Paris, they are among those who are the most motivated by shopping with an average of 22.4% which represents a rather large majority among other foreign tourists. According to a study by Paris Tourist Information Office, 59.5% of Japanese tourists went shopping in the French capital in 2013. Several research projects have shown many Japanese tourists were motivated to travel in Paris especially for shopping21. The shops that attract them the most are, according to the Observatoire Economique du Tourisme Parisien (OETP), those which are dedicated to fashion, wellbeing, beauty, jewellery and decoration such as the Boutique de la comédie française, the Galerie Elsa Vanier, L'Occitane, Mulberry, Pauline Pô, Personal Shopper by Ronteix Nadia, Stella Cadente, Wolford, Printemps, BHV Marais, the Galeries Lafayette, I Was In, Les Parisettes or TAJ Paris. Shopping is indeed deeply rooted in the history of the French capital. Modern shops appeared in Paris in the 19th century and led the city to an economic rise. The first one was created in 1838 by the Videau Brothers and the Boucicaut family, and it was called “Au Bon Marché”22. Incidentally, the commercial rise of the French capital at that time is still visible today according the OETP. Indeed, many shops still in activity today have been listed by the French Historic Monument Society. Among these economically induced places, writer Florence Margo has mentioned the dairy of the “25, rue Casanova”, the grocery of the “95, rue Saint-Honoré”, “Le Rocher de Cancale”23 in the “78, rue de Montorgueil”, the bakery of the “29, rue de Poitou”, the chocolate factory of the “30 rue des Saint Pères”, “A la mère de famille” 24 in the “35, rue du faubourg Montmartre”, the “café Antoine” in the “rue Gros”, the “Prunier” restaurant of the “16, avenue Victor Hugo” and the bakery of the “83, rue de Crimée”. All of them provide the city both a commercial and cultural interest which can be a 21 22 23 24

Appendix 2 Appendix 3 Appendix 4 Appendix 5

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motivation for tourists. The first shops that appealed to French women in the 19th century appeared as a sort of revolution. They still attract people today and especially foreign shoppers. They are not these same brand new operating industrial and revolutionary buildings anymore but are part of Paris' cultural heritage. Emile Zola's novel Au Bonheur des Dames written in 1883 is a good representation of this revolutionary era during which Paris essentially focused on its commercial profit. The shop25 around which the story revolves is described as “the cathedral of modern business [...] made for a people of female customers” 26. In the story, the director of the “Au Bonheur des Dames” shop attempts to appeal to a large female audience for his financial advantage. Women have always been and are still attracted by shopping in popular culture. They have always tended to be more easily tempted by what is displayed in shop windows and to be bigger spenders than men. Paris offering a large amount of cultural and commercial places, the prices being lower in Paris than in Japan, and Japanese tourists -and especially young women- being spendthrift, we can guess and understand that the French capital almost represents a “perfect” and “mythical” place in Japanese popular culture. However, Paris' main rival in tourism and business is London. That is why Paris tourist marketers try to maintain their touristic and financial success thanks to shopping. The shops of the French capital are indeed smaller than in London but more numerous. To summarize, shopping is deeply-rooted in Paris' history and still contributes to attract to tourists today. Moreover, according to statistics given by the OETP, Parisian fashion and wellbeing shops increased by 5% between 2003 and 2011. It may be a significant reason explaining why Japanese tourists' expenses are that high, and why young women are the most often affected by Paris' culture shock each year. We may suppose they are attracted at first by Paris thanks to the images they have seen in the media and by the articles offered in French shops which are good value for money, that is why they have an idealized vision of the capital. This positive focus on shopping seems to make them blind, hence their deep shock and disappointment when they discover all the drawbacks the city can reveal. While Paris' touristic and economic dynamism has 25 Appendix 6 26 “la cathédrale du commerce moderne [...], faite pour un peuple de clientes,” E. Zola, Au Bonheur des Dames (Paris: Hachette Education, 2010), 17

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been deeply tied to shopping since the 19th century, we have seen here that it could also be a disadvantage for tourists. However, we will see in the following part that the Paris Syndrome affecting Japanese visitors takes its roots further back in history.

2. The relations between France and Japan a. The first contacts As discussed earlier, shopping is of great relevance in the history of Paris to explain tourists' current behaviours. We will now see that several events in history may have contributed to the present relationship between France and Japan. While the Paris Syndrome was first diagnosed in 1983 by Dr Hiroaki Ōta, its roots date back to the first contacts between the two countries. We have indeed outlined above and in the introduction that both nations admire each other. The French are fascinated by Japanese culture and especially by mangas which have revolutionized the world of animation. The Japanese are attracted by shopping and by the dream vision they have of the French capital. Chronologically, the first French to officially visit Japan was the explorer François Caron in 1619-1620. According to Dr Jean-Marie Thiébaud, Caron went to Japan during a boat trip in which he worked as a cook. He has shared his studies about Japan in several books. Published in 1648, the first one was a complete description of the country written in Dutch -as he was born in Belgium- which has been translated into German and French in 1936, and in English in 1671. This book was called A True Description of the Mighty Kingdoms of Japan and Siam (Le Puissant Royaume du Japon). Caron's aim was to share his knowledge and memories to serve as guidelines for any tourist visiting Japan. Once settled there, he worked in the Japanese city of Hirado and married a Japanese woman with whom he had six children. Being one of the first influent men who linked France to Japan, he tried, but in vain, to negotiate a business agreement between Louis XIV and the Japan emperor. Even if he did yet not talk about a culture shock, what should nevertheless be remembered from Caron is that he observed many cultural differences between France and Japan, hence his will to write a sort of guide to inform and help future visitors. Then, Dr Thiébaud reports that the second French man who visited Japan was Guillaume Courtet in 1636 but he was the last one until the end of the 18th century. As 26

he went clandestinely and despite the Japanese law against the presence of Christianity in the Japan empire, he was indeed arrested and imprisoned on Okinawa island where he was finally tortured and beheaded. It seems that his fate discouraged future potential visitors from coming until 1787 when the marquis de La Pérouse went along Japanese borders, followed in 1844 by Eugène Fornier-Duplan. The latter went to Ryûkyû islands to establish a peace and business agreement between them and France. Following his example, Jean-Baptiste Gros came to Japan to sign a friendship agreement between France and Japan in 1858. These last successful attempts to find harmony between the two countries are the roots of the current mutual admiration they have for each other. Moreover, Japanese travelers also made several attempts to get into touch with France. They have indeed been the very first ones to establish direct communication between Japan and France before François Caron. It was done by the samurai Tsunenaga Hasekura in 1615 who landed in Saint-Tropez. At that time, the culture shock was immediate. Mme de Saint-Tropez reported several details which retained her attention about the appearance, behaviour and personality of the Japanese such as their shaven haircut, their sharp simitars (which are the eastern equivalent of the Westerners' swords), the fact that they never use pocket-handkerchiefs but rather Chinese tissue papers, the flexibility of the silk paper on which they write with paintbrushes, and the fact that they use chopsticks to eat. What is important to note here is the fact that all of these elements were observed by a woman. As we have said before, Japanese women are more often affected by the Paris Syndrome than men. Similarly, it seems that the Japanese culture tended to be more striking for French women than French men. Later, in 1862, the first Japanese Embassy in Europe was established. At that time, Napoléon III governed the French Republic. He welcomed the mission leader and Shimotsuke governor, Yasunori Takenuchi, at boulevard des Capucines. As François Caron did about Japan two centuries before, the goal of this embassy was to study and learn more about the Western culture and civilization. When the Japanese Embassy arrived in Paris in 1863 to find an agreement with the French in order to close Yokohama's harbour to foreigners, it resulted in French bombings in Shimonoseki in 1864. Despite the diverse attempts to establish strong links between 27

the two countries and their mutual admiration, it is significant to highlight the fact that they both went through hardships. Entering the Japanese territory seemed indeed to be rather limited for foreigners in the 19th century, hence the shock felt by the French who had the opportunity to visit it or to encounter Japanese people. Alongside, Japanese diplomats went to Paris in the 19th century with their wives who witnessed the first signs of the Paris Syndrome. According to Professor Deborah Swallow, the very first origins of the illness were observed at that time. From the 20th century until today, the relations between France and Japan have been reinforced by several events. French president Jacques Chirac made multiple visits to Japan. He went there at least forty times which represents the highest number of visits in Japan for a president. His interest for the country opened up the friendly relationship between the two countries. Besides, a program called “Le Japon, c'est possible” was launched in the 1990s to encourage exportations between both countries. It has allowed trade to increase of 50% between 1993 and 2004. As a support to these attempts to build strong ties, France and Japan have worked together in several humanitarian missions such as those against AIDS and for the help of underdeveloped countries. In a nutshell, the current relationship existing between France and Japan has overcome several obstacles to become what it is today. While the French have tended to be strongly attracted by Japanese culture since the 1980s, we will see that the Japanese have a specific vision of France that has been nourished through the centuries.

b. The influence of France over Japan As we have explained in the introduction, the French have been influenced by Japanese culture especially since the 1980s when the first mangas were released in France. However, the very beginning of the whole process of attraction between the two countries dates back from 1868 during the Meiji era when Japan opened itself to the world. Europeans took advantage of this situation especially in the domains of arts and literature. According to French writer Maxime Rovere, the works of artists such as Manet, Gauguin, Renoir, Monet, Degas or Pissarro have been inspired by Japanese engravings of the 19th century. The opening of the country has indeed allowed these 28

French artists to take a look at Japanese artistic works which have strongly influenced them. As a consequence, several exposures and museums about Japan, and more generally about Asian arts, have been created at that time. Similarly, French writers such as Paul Claudel have drawn their inspiration from Japanese works. Claudel has indeed chosen the Japanese nickname of “Kuro tori” meaning “black bird”. He introduced the French public to Japanese literary works such as haikus (which are 17syllables poems) and Noh Theater -a traditional form of drama of the 14th century in Japan in which music and dance are involved. This sudden and brand new interest for Japanese culture has led Paul Claudel to establish the first Franco-Japanese foundations in Japan in the 20th century: the “Maison Franco-Japonaise” in 1924 and the “Institut Franco-Japonais” in Kansai in 1927. Both situated in Japan, these foundations have been created in order to develop cultural exchanges between the two nations, but also to inform the Japanese about French language and culture. On the other hand, the Meiji era was the period during which Japan began to be modernized thanks to its opening to the world. Its inhabitants enjoyed this situation to discover Europe and more specifically French culture. In those days, the political leaders of the country considered France as representing modernity and civilization. Such a vision dates back to the previous century. In October the 8th, 1858 a friendship and trade treaty was signed between the two nations. Consequently, France became a mythical country for Japanese people. It was a consensual idea of Japanese popular culture at that time. They travelled there so as to evolve intellectually and culturally, and were generally better seen by other Japanese inhabitants. They were regarded as a sort of elite in their own country. To summarize, France represented luxury for most Japanese people in the 19th century. Following the 1858's treaty, the Japanese enjoyed the use of French workers in their country in order to reach the industrial and modern level of the Westerners. The example of the Japanese emissary Shibata Takenaka can be given: he had been sent to France to acquire contacts and knowledge so as to learn how to build steelworks in Japan. Jean-Marie Thiébaud also reports that most of the first vehicles operating in Japan were French ones such as tramway, car, military tank and the first Henri Farman plane that appeared in 1910. Street gas lighting was also inspired from the French as

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well as the very first cinematograph in Japan which had been created by the French Lumière Brothers. To sum up, both countries began to be interested in each other's culture after Japan's opening to the world and their friendship treaty. Today, many French people, and especially teenagers, are still manga fans. For their part, the Japanese are said to be attracted by several cultural domains, such as cooking or language. They consider French gastronomy a quality and luxurious cooking according to the food critic Masuhiro Yamamoto. As for language, many artists, and especially rock bands, have French names such as “L'Arc~en~Ciel” or “Versailles”. The latter are among the most famous Japanese bands in France, and several magazines often dedicate sections or special editions to them. As we have seen in this chapter, the first contacts between France and Japan have been decisive. They first went through hardships which then developed into a friendly relationship. Therefore, a sense of admiration for each other has appeared and still exists in both countries. However, we may suppose that the appearance of the Paris Syndrome for Japanese tourists visiting the French capital is a negative consequence of their high consideration for what France represents to them.

Japanese tourists' attraction for Paris may have taken its origins in history and the historical reasons which led to such an interest still seem to persist nowadays despite their awareness of the Paris Syndrome. In the following part, we will study how they have been maintained through the years.

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III.

The power of the media

1. The media used For tourist marketers, it is important to take into consideration the sources of information that tourists use before travelling. Several studies have been carried out in order to understand how they are influenced and incited to go abroad. According to researches by WYSE Travel Confederation between 2002 and 2007, a majority of young tourists consulted the Internet with a percentage of 80%. Others referred to their family and friends before their trip at 70%. Tourist offices and tour operators which were not really used in 2002 have nevertheless increased in 2007 whereas the use of travel agencies has decreased.27. In an online article, the Huffington Post28 supports the methods used by editors of touristic magazines and websites which are said to be successful with a Japanese audience “asking for more”. We will see that the influence of the media may explain partly the way the Paris syndrome sets in. Paris Tourist Information Office, the “Chambre du Commerce et de l'Industrie” (CCI) and the “Comité Régional du Tourisme” (CRT) observed that Japanese tourists seem to consult especially the internet, travel magazines and guides before their trip to Paris and that advertising, TV and movies tend to influence them strongly in their choice. The travel magazines that can be found in Japan are said to be showing the most beautiful and attracting pictures of the French capital. As we have mentioned previously in this development, the Japanese would expect Paris to be a Romantic city with elegant women. However, such a vision may depend on the media consulted. According to John Hopton, Paris is idealized in the Japanese media and is depicted as a “magical place [...] where everybody looks like a movie star” 29. Chelsea Fagan already supported this idea in a 2011 online article of the periodical The Atlantic30, in which she added that the image of the French capital displayed in Japanese movies and advertisement was full of positive preconceptions and prejudices of the 19th century 27 Appendix 7 28 Le HuffPost/AFP, “Paris: vendre la capitale française aux japonais, c'est simple comme 'bonjour',” Huffington Post (2013), accessed on 30 Oct. 2014 29 J. Hopton, “Paris syndrome: the Japanese Tourist's Curse,” 5 Dec. 2013, Redorbit, accessed on 2 Nov. 2014 , l.11 30 C. Fagan, “A First-Class Problem for a First-Class Vacation,” The Atlantic, 18 Oct. 2011

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era. She described Paris' displayed image as that of a “quaint” city in which citizens, and especially women, are “non-threateningly attractive,” “thin, gorgeous [and] unbelievably rich”. To Fagan, the Japanese audience would essentially retain from the media that “the Champs-Elysées,” “the Eiffel Tower,” “Louis Vuitton,” the famous fragrance “Chanel,” and the numerous cafés are the most representative elements of the French capital. Moreover, the author of the Huffington Post online article highlights the fact that Japanese editors tend to use catchphrases. About three thousand titles of travel books and magazines including the words “Paris” or “Parisienne” have been found on the internet, such as “Paris' small hotels,” “Walking in Paris,” “The codes of elegance of Paris' trend,” “Looking for cute things in Paris,” “Well-matched outfits in the way of Paris,” “A stroll in the gourmet Paris,” “The secret Paris of Parisian women,” and “The Parisian women love of life lesson”31. To summarize this point, editors and the media on the whole would attempt to present Paris as a “perfect” city for the Japanese audience thanks to phrases and images that would fill in their expectations. However, we may suppose that the vision the media display of the city may be artificial and not representative of the reality. The Paris Syndrome could give evidence of such a mythical and idealized image of the French capital. Mathis Sommer argues that Paris is the most idealized city in the media and that this vision is part of the international popular culture. In his 1991 work called L'idiot du voyage32, Jean-Didier Urbain talked about myths and prejudices that would blur the relationship with travel. He asserted that tourist marketers played a significant role in any trip through the manipulation of potential tourists. To him, the tourist industry would share positive preconceptions so as to better appeal to the audience. However, such altered information does not seem to represent reality. For most researchers, they are, in a way, “lies” invented to hide what could deter potential tourists. Urbain described this process as the “manipulat[ion] of imagination”33.

31 “Petits hôtels de Paris, Marcher à Paris, Les codes de l'élégance à la mode de Paris, Chercher des choses mignonnes à Paris, Tenues bien assorties à la façon de paris, Balade dans le Paris gourmand, Le Paris secret des Parisiennes, La leçon de joie de vivre des Parisiennes,” Huffington Post (2013) 32 J.D. Urbain, L'Idiot du voyage. Histoire de touristes. (Paris: Plon, 1991) 33 J.D. Urbain qtd. in V. Blanchet, Résumé, Atelier québécois de géopoétique, (Montréal: La Traversée)

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The Japanese vision of the French capital is said to be maintained by the type of media they consult -such as advertising, touristic brochures, movies or pictures. According to the president of French-Japanese medicine society, Mario Renoux, the Paris Syndrome would even have been created by the media. He claims that the latter would nourish the fantasy of the Japanese people who see Paris as a 19th century city in which women are all “models dressed in Vuitton”. The author of the article on “odditycentral.com” reinforces this idea by enhancing the fact that the Paris Syndrome would set in because of the ditch existing between the expectations of Japanese tourists and the reality of Paris: The Paris in the movies is almost entirely different from the one that exists in real life today. Sure there [is] a lot of gorgeous sights to explore and photograph, friendly people, and delicious foods, but just like any other city in the world, it has its rotten apples.34

While Paris is neither a perfect city nor an awful one, the appearance of a Paris Syndrome among Japanese tourists seems to be influenced by the power of the media which focuses their publications on positive and dreamlike elements that would attract the audience in order to ensure and maintain the touristic dynamism of the French capital -especially as it is considered the most attractive European city. This way, Japanese tourists would arrive in Paris with a disturbed and altered vision differing greatly with what they would discover surrounding them.

2. The gap between Japanese tourists’ vision of Paris and reality Most researchers argue that the Japanese tend to consider Paris as a beautiful city full of grace and wonders, hence its nickname of “City of Lights”. In her book Nââânde!?, Nakamura Eriko defines it as “the most beautiful city in the world” and “the capital of refinement and romanticism”35 in the popular Japanese culture. While these last terms may seem poetic and may make foreigners dream, they were not invented for romantic reasons. The well-known expression “City of Lights” is said to refer to the numerous lights that are spread throughout Paris. However, such lights do not exist for aesthetic reasons but were put in place in the 17th century by first police 34 Sumitra, “The Paris Syndrome – A Bizarre Psychological Condition Affecting Japanese Tourists?” Oddity Central (2012), accessed on 2 Nov. 2014 35 Nakamura, 2

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Lieutenant General of Paris, Gilbert Nicolas de la Reynie, in order to keep prowlers away and avoid criminality in the city. Such a fact may frighten off foreigners hence the maintain of a dreamlike image of the city in the media. As stated earlier, the reality of Paris seems to be quite different from the preconceptions given in the media. According to Chelsea Fagan, the latter tends to leave out the bad sides of the city and to focus on what tourists expect to see in order to satisfy them and appeal to them better. Culture shock may be a rather usual event for any person travelling far from home -especially from a continent to another whose cultures differ on many points. However, in the case of the relation between Japanese tourists and the French capital, it seems that the contrast between the promise of the media to potential tourists, the latter's expectations, and the realities encountered on the spot could greatly affect both tourists and the city's tourism. John Hopton highlights the fact that this gap is what can make Japanese tourists feel they are not where they are supposed to be. They may feel ripped off and manipulated by the tourism industry. To Hopton, the appearance of the first psychosomatic symptoms of the Paris Syndrome are due to “the realization that the actual Paris is far cry from that depicted in the themed coffee shops and advertising of Japan” 36. What he means here is that Japanese tourists would begin to feel ill-at-ease after having discovered elements that they did not expect to see because these ones are not usual in their own country, and because the media did not inform them about their existence. For many researchers, the Japanese would rather tend to believe deliberately in a blurred image of the French capital without seeming to question the veracity of the elements detailed in the media. When they arrive in Paris and realize that the city does not look like the idyllic "postcard" image described in the media, some of them fall into delusion. Several researchers studied the different elements that may be the most striking for tourists visiting Paris. To give an example, Eriko Nakamura contrasts the idea of “postcard” image with “Roissy's dirty hallways” and the “grumpiness of a cab driver”37. Travel writer Kitty Bean Yancey and writer Mathis Sommer both assert that the deep shock felt by some Japanese tourists would be mainly due to the movies broadcast in Japan that display Paris as a “magical,” “romantic[,] and lovely” 38 36 Hopton, ll.25-26 37 Nakamura, 2

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“wonderland”39. The author of the Huffington Post article supports this idea and writes that the vision of the city given in magazines, movies, and other media could make Japanese tourists believe in an almost flawless city without thinking about potential drawbacks. They would expect so much to encounter a marvellous city that they would feel strongly disappointed when realizing it is not that “perfect”. To not fall into clichés, we may also suppose on the contrary that they may be aware of a gap existing between both countries, but that their desire to visit the city is overpowering. According to Bean Yancey, Paris has naturally numerous imperfections “as in any big city”. Among these weak points, researchers have the most often listed social problems such as harassment and inequality, but also behavioural ones such as some people's irritable, rude, disdainful and ignoring behaviour towards visitors. The city and its inhabitants are also said to be untidy with the presence of graffitis on the walls and dog dropping on the pavements. For Eriko Nakamura -a Japanese writer living in Paris-, “pats on the back” (“à coups de grandes tapes dans le dos”), the “rare meat” (“viande saignante”) eaten by people of Paris during “smoke-filled meals” (“repas enfumés”)40 and blowing one's nose noisily would be the most striking elements for Japanese visitors who are not used to such a way of life. An online article on “RelaxNews.com”41 also lists several behavioural elements that seem to be nonexistent or unbelievable in Japan: "telling aloud about one's life" ("raconter sa vie à voix haute"), "smoking where it is prohibited" ("fumer où c'est interdit"), "putting one's shoes on the seat" ("mettre les pieds sur les banquettes"), "jostling someone without excuses" ("bousculer d'autres passants dans la rue sans s'excuser") and obscenities such as insults, spitting on the floor or giving someone the finger. According to the author of this article, the people of Paris would have a bad reputation in the eyes of a majority of tourists -French and worldwide ones. Chelsea Fagan made an even harsher -and maybe quite exaggerated- description of the people of Paris' behaviour. She accused them of a lack of attention towards visitors and said that they were usually 38 K. Bean Yancey, “Japanese tourists fall prey to the 'Paris Syndrome',” 10 June 2011, USA Today, accessed on 2 Nov. 2014 39 Sommer, ll.8-9 40 Nakamura, 6 41 Relax News, “Cauchemar des touristes, les incivilités des Parisiens mobilisent les autorites françaises,” Huffington Post (2012), accessed on 30 Oct. 2014

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“treating tourists like something they recently scraped from the bottom of their shoes”42. The TV commercials for the French periodical Le Parisien are good examples of the previously described behaviours. They display elements such as for instance a lack of courtesy or a lack of cleanliness in a humorous, exaggerated, but still realistic way. The motto of the periodical is “better to read one than meet one”. While it may look insulting and too general, it may be a funny way to deal with the details and imperfections frequently criticized by tourists. It may also be a way of letting the people of Paris know how they are seen by their visitors. To make short, a Japanese woman called Aimi reported in the Press Agency Reuters that “the Japanese find the French character is the complete opposite of their own”43. She recounted having felt shocked by what the people of Paris consider normal and unconscious details of daily life. Psychologist Hervé Benhamou supported this idea in the newspaper Journal du Dimanche and claimed that the encounter between “the idea” Japanese people had of Paris and “the reality of what they discover[ed]” was responsible for the Paris Syndrome that he defined as “a crisis” 44. The author of the Huffington Post article went further in the discussion and asserted on the contrary that the beauties and wonders of the French capital displayed in the media were not guilty for the appearance of the first psychosomatic symptoms. To him, the latter would rather be due to what the media intentionally omit to show or hide. However, we will see that the existence of a deep gap between Japanese tourists' expectations and the reality may also depend on their level of demand.

3. Japanese tourists’ expectations and needs As said previously, many Japanese people's potentially idealized and prejudiced vision of France may be greatly nourished through the media. In a 2011 online article on the website “owni.fr” 45, the author focused on the clichés that are spread throughout France and across the world. He gathered several maps of France showing how tourists potentially tend to see its different regions. The map which 42 Fagan, ll.34-35 43 Reuters, “'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock,” NBC News (2006), accessed on 15 Oct. 2014 44 H. Benhamou qtd. in Reuters, “'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock,” NBC News (2006) 45 Topito, “La France vue par les japonais,” 12 June 2011, Owni, accessed on 2 Nov. 2014

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displays the Japanese's vision of France46 enlightens the fact that the latter would be essentially interested in the capital's typical places and figures. According to Topito, the author of this article, Japanese people tend to see Paris as the city gathering great monuments such as the Eiffel Tower, places as the Champs Elysées, and great names such as Jacques Chirac -who is rather well-known in Japan thanks to his numerous visits during his French presidency. But what seems to be the most attractive for the Japanese are fashion and beauty shops. We saw earlier that they are usually attracted by all sorts of shops and especially by the world of fashion, which is deeply rooted into the Parisian culture. For Topito, the Japanese's potentially prejudiced vision of the capital would gather names such as Cartier, La Durée, Vuitton and Chanel. As the map emphasizes it, their knowledge about France would be very limited to elements such as villages, red wine or Loire castles. The author used funny terms and expressions -such as “Mignons petits villages” or “C'est beau la France”- to highlight the fact that apart from clichés, foreigners tend to have a restricted knowledge of France. Taking this into account, we can guess that Japanese tourists' needs might be very specific. As mentioned earlier, they would be blurred by the positive, pleasant and idealized elements they often see and read about Paris in the media, and they would naturally expect to encounter them when visiting the city. However, to avoid falling into excessive clichés, we may suppose that their needs and expectations may also depend on their own cultural habits. According to researches by Paris Tourist Information Office, Japanese tourists take a great attention to the safety of the place where they put up. Being afraid ofthe unknown and needing protection, the latter would be less motivated by new districts, theme parks and excursions at night. The CCI and the CRT observed as well that Japanese tourists needed to be surrounded, helped and reassured by their hosts during their trip because the framework of the French capital is a rather unknown one to them. Studies found that these tourists generally expect to be provided precise information in their language, cleanliness, comfort, and high quality services. Moreover, we may guess that the fear of the unknown may also restrict tourists' needs and expectations. This is what Stephen Bochner has noted. According to him, any individual tend to “have a preference” or to be attracted by people who “are 46 Appendix 8

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similar to themselves”47, that is to say to those who share their own tastes, culture, beliefs and values. This is also what the researchers of the “Agence Attractivité de l'Alsace” (AAA) have observed. They declare that the welcoming of Japanese tourists abroad has to be very similar to “Japan's reception standards” to be successful. Many Japanese restaurants such as “Foujita 2”, “Nodaiwa”, “Matsuri”, “Matsuda” or “Kaiseki” can be found in the French capital. While their presence in France -and especially in the capital- may show the country's interest in Japanese culture, it may also support the idea that it is important for Japanese tourists to find things to which they are used to in order to avoid feeling lost in a foreign place that completely differs. The existence of such establishments may be favourable both for locals who can enjoy it during a meal, and for Japanese tourists who can find refuge in it so as to not feel too much disoriented and misplaced in Paris. Furthermore, the film director Saé Shimai established a theory according to which Japanese tourists would focus on four concepts to judge a touristic place. First, they would question their hosts's thoughts and judgement about their personal habits and behaviour. Shimai has called this first step “seken” which means “what will people say”. Then, Japanese visitors would concentrate on the way their hosts live, communicate and welcome arrivals. They would study the whole atmosphere reigning in the place visited and the way locals accept and integrate new comers. This second step corresponding to the analysis of the host city's environment and ambiance is called “kûki,” which means “air” or “atmosphere”. Japanese tourists would also examine the place physically. “Ba”, meaning “the place,” is the name of the third step during which they would compare the reality of the city being visited with their previous knowledge and potential preconceptions about it. Finally, the fourth and final stage of Shimai's theory is “tatemae”, meaning “what we have to say or do”. During this phase, the Japanese would study their own ability to adapt themselves to their hosts' way of life. After having explored the latter's uses and habits, they would try to learn about living in the visited city so as to fit in appropriately. To summarize what we have seen in this part, Japanese tourists' expectations of a host city would depend on their potential knowledge about it, on their personal needs and on their cultural habits. 47 S. Bochner, “Culture shock due to contact with unfamiliar cultures,” Online Readings in Psychology and Culture (Bellingham: Western Washington University, 2003) Unit 8, chapter 7.

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As we saw in the third part of this research, Japanese tourists would rather be very demanding and critical about touristic places. We will now see that their expectations may reveal their nation's popular notion of what is "the norm" and that it may greatly differ from the European and especially the French one. The fourth part of this research will deal with the significance of visitors and hosts' cultural habits.

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IV.

Different notions of the norm

1. Cultural differences As we have seen previously, the Japanese have precise codes and habits in their country that they consider normal. According to BBC journalist Caroline Wyatt, they are used to living in a rather polite and calm environment and the discovery of the Paris way of living proves to be a deep trauma because it greatly differs from their customs. Wyatt gives two examples of shocking behaviours for foreigners that can often be met in Paris: “a rude taxi driver” and “a [Paris] waiter who shouts at customers”48. Elements that the French and the people of Paris consider as details because they are used to encountering them in everyday life tend to be shocking for foreigners and especially for Japanese tourists. Wyatt indeed highlights the fact that Japanese people's shocked reaction towards the people of Paris' behaviour differs from other tourists' who can sometimes laugh at what strikes them. She argues that nationalities' contrasting attitudes towards Paris culture are due to their own cultural education. She makes the distinction between Western and Eastern cultures which are really distant both literally and figuratively. To her, Paris people's potentially unpleasant behaviours tend to be laughed at by Westerners while Easterners such as the Japanese rather consider this experience as "a nightmare". We will see the environmental and behavioural elements that make Paris and Japan culturally different, from the most obvious ones to the most difficult to overcome.

a. Environmental differences a. 1. Paris: a multicultural city Amandine Coyard, the editor of the website “DozoDomo.com” 49 first notes that the multicultural side of the French capital may be tiresome and exhausting for Japanese tourists. She enhances the fact that a high number of different nationalities can be encounterd in Paris. To her, it makes it a very culturally-open city, but it may 48 C. Wyatt, “'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese,” BBC News (2006), accessed on 2 Nov. 2014 49 A. Coyard, “Vivre en France, ces choses qui choquent les japonais,” 2 Dec. 2013, Dozo Domo, accessed on 31 Dec. 2014

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also blur the distinction between locals and tourists. According to writer Eriko Nakamura, Japanese people are not used to spending much time in foreign countries and are generally not bicultural. She argues that her “cultural duality” (i.e. Japanese and French) has helped her get used to the Paris way of life and to face the potential appearance of any psychosomatic symptom caused by culture shock. However, Coyard reports that it is generally not the case for most Japanese tourists. The latter are said to often complain about other tourists asking them their way in Paris because the distinction between who is and who is not French is quite impossible to guess due to the high multicultural level of the city.

a. 2. The barrier of language The barrier of language is among the obvious obstacles to overcome for most Japanese visitors. An online video on “Dailymotion.com” 50 indeed stresses the fact that the latter are not accustomed to deal with French formalities. In this report for the French broadcast “66 Minutes”, Miki, a young Japanese tourist, can be seen trying to understand a receptionist's recommendations and attempting to read a document -probably written in French- he provided her. We may guess that reading such a paper might be a hard task because Japanese tourists may be not consistently helped by their hosts. Amandine Coyard supports this idea with the example of the acquisition of a visa that is considered very difficult, inefficient and long by Japanese tourists. On the whole, dealing with French documents and formalities seems to be quite difficult for the Japanese -even for those speaking a little bit French- who have just arrived in the French capital.

a. 3. The level of modernity Being a French expatriate in Japan, Coyard had the opportunity to get into Japanese culture so as to better point out its differences from French culture. Among her study can be distinguished the domain of technology. It is a significant component that is not as much developed in France than in Japan. In terms of modernity, Coyard has for instance noted the fact that Japanese women are used to paying great attention 50 “Les Japonais à Paris.” 66 Minutes. M6, FR. 22 Aug. 2009, accessed on 30 Oct. 2014

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to beauty products such as face lotions. However, such goods cannot necessarily be obtainable in France where women do not use the same beauty techniques and products. Other technological components that may appear insignificant to Westerners seem to be taken into account by Japanese tourists who are used to advanced technology. When they find out that the level of technology is lower abroad, we can guess that they might feel a bit disoriented. Such a difference may affect any Japanese tourist, but is nevertheless not the most striking element.

a. 4. The notion of time The idea of time, evolution and future can also explain the culture shock experienced by some Japanese tourists visiting Paris. Amandine Coyard explains for instance the existence of completely different notions of time between the French and the Japanese. They depend on the season and on the continent. She highlights that the sun sets at 7:30pm in summer in Japan, while it sets at 10pm in France, hence the late opening hours and service of restaurants. Eriko Nakamura has noted that this gap existing between many countries could be problematic for Japanese tourists. The latter are often said to be well-educated and to always arrive on time. Nakamura reports for instance that her hosts in Paris interpreted her punctuality as a “lack of manners” 51. I have personally lived a similar experience during a holiday trip in Paris. The director of the hotel I had booked seemed surprised and angry to see me arriving on time. It seems clear here that such a dealing with the notion of punctuality seems to be specific to Paris. In that case, it can be guessed that Japanese tourists may probably question their own cultural habits and usual definition of promptness. Besides, the notion of time also seems to be significant in terms of past and future. As we mentioned earlier, Japanese tourists are fascinated by Paris as the Romantic city of the 19th century while the French rather tend to be inquisitive about Japan's innovative and forward-looking perspective. According to French composer Pierre Barouh, Japan is an “anachronistic” 52 country. What is meant through this word is that the Japanese tend to focus on their roots as well as to concentrate on constant 51 “un manque de savoir-vivre”, Nakamura, 8 52 P. Barouh qtd. in J.M. Thiébaud, La Présence française au Japon: du XVIème siècle à nos jours (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2008)

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evolution and future projects. Despite its will to evolve, this country relies on a strong belief in the past (such as religions and rites in temples) and tends to be captivated by the images of Paris' Romantic side diplayed in the media. To put it in a nutshell, a strict notion of punctuality, a respect of rituals and of traditional customs seems to be implanted into the Japanese mind. While their disappointment when discovering the present life in French capital may be due to a potential innocence, their strong cultural attachment to the roots may also be an obstacle to their integration in Paris.

a. 5. The notions of what is dirty and what is clean The belief in the current existence of the 19th century French capital and its numerous nicknames of "Ville Lumière" or "Ville aux fleurs" provides it with a beautiful and clean popular image across the world. According to several researchers, the presence of animal excrement or butts on the pavements in Paris are for instance really shocking for the Japanese. Their surprise may be due to their belief in an ideal city, but also to a distinction between the Paris and the Japanese ways of dealing with cleanliness. Aïmi, a Japanese student who has spent several years in a French high school, has reported in the French periodical Trois Quatorze53 that she had been really struck by French high schools' dirtiness. She gives the examples of the toilets' bad condition, of the numerous chewing-gums glued under the tables, and of papers thrown on the floor. She explains in this article that Japanese students are usually asked by their teachers to clean their school every day: “we are divided into three groups: the first group cleans the classroom, the second one cleans the toilets, the third one cleans the teachers' room and it changes every day!”54. The Japanese's usual strict care and attention to cleanliness contrasts with Paris' so-called “dirtiness” and “leniency”, and it may be badly received by Japanese tourists who have demanding expectations.

53 Aïmi, interview, “L'esprit français et l'âme japonaise,” Trois Quatorze 53, Pie France, accessed on 3 Feb. 2015 54 “On est répartis en trois groupes: le premier groupe nettoie la salle de classe, le second les toilettes, le troisième la salle des profs, et on tourne chaque jour!”, Aïmi, interview, question 13

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a. 6. Dangerous situations Being a rather well-organized and well-educated nation, Japan strictly condemns incivilities such as robberies. We saw earlier that Japanese tourists tend to ask for safety and comfort in their holiday destinations. However, pickpockets are omnipresent in the French capital and especially in the metro, which is a highly used means of transportation. Amandine Coyard asserts that people are often warned against potential thieves in Paris and that such an announcement seems strange for a Japanese tourist because according to her, there is much less danger in Japan. The presence of Romanians -and especially of children sent by their parents- asking for money in front of supermarkets is an inconceivable thing for the Japanese. Incidentally, a 2009 article on the website "observers.france24.com" 55 relates that three French teenagers had tried to rob video games from a shop in Japan. The authors of this article declare that it was considered an event because it is uncommon to encounter such a behaviour in Japan. The occurrence of incidents in the French capital is said to be much higher than in Japan. Not being used to encountering robbers and pickpockets in everyday life, Japanese tourists often report to be shocked and traumatized by the high level of danger in Paris. The television coverage of the French broadcast "66 Minutes" highlights that "usual theft attempts" are lived as "physical aggressions"56 by Japanese tourists. The level of confidence in transportations in Japan seems to be much higher than in Paris. The Japanese are indeed often seen taking a nap in the metro. While French people are used to meeting pickpockets in the capital and are prepared to defend themselves -by holding their bags in front of them for instance-, the Japanese seem to be very sensitive and deeply affected by such events.

b. Behavioural differences b. 1. Physical behaviour In terms of behaviour, we saw earlier that freelance writer Thomas Bertrand witnessed the shock felt by the Japanese at the contact of the people of Paris. According to film producer Saé Shimai, the Japanese have difficulties communicating 55 T. Bertrand, and D. Pulvermarcher, “Des voleurs français font la une,” France 24 (2009), accessed on 29 Dec. 2014 56 66 Minutes, 6:48

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with “external”57 people. She describes them as cold and withdrawn towards what differs to them. Caroline Temple supports this idea by adding that the latter define themselves according to what and who surrounds them. They position themselves as simple viewers of the scene and do not try to affirm themselves. The concept of “Tanin”, invented by Takeo Doï, suggests the idea of distance and coldness with “unknown people”58. Most researchers argue that the Japanese are indeed very protective and vigilant when they meet foreign people or when they go abroad. Writer Nakamura Eriko underlines that they hardly ever receive people in their homes which are often small. She explains that this withdrawn behaviour is part of their culture. In Japan, people are not used to leaving their door wide open to anyone and it is rather delicate and difficult to become closer to them. The Japanese seem to favour privacy and intimacy to social relationships. Yohan Demeure defines the meeting of their discretion and refinement with the people of Paris' way of living as a “confrontation”59. In her list of the elements that shock Japanese tourists in Paris, Amandine Coyard recounts for instance that drinking alcohol at any moment of the week is striking and unbelievable for a Japanese -especially before going to work whereas Paris people are sometimes criticized -in popular culture- for going to pubs and bars at any time to drink a glass of beer or wine. To sum up this point concerning the physical behavioural differences between the people of Paris and the Japanese, Stephen Bochner has found that the distance separating the tourists' culture and that of their host country plays a significant role in the way tourists will adapt (or not). He calls this the “culture-distance hypothesis”. To him, the farther two countries are, the greater the cultural differences tend to be.

b. 2. Verbal behaviour Being poles apart, the usual French physical behaviour and the Japanese one can differ greatly as we have tried to show in the previous paragraph. This way, the 57 S. Shimai, “Qu'est-ce que le syndrome de Paris?” 27 March 2010, Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, accessed on 21 Dec. 2014 58 C. Temple, “Moi japonais et culture française : situations d'interculturation et traits de personnalité,” Sept. 2010, Université de Genève, accessed on 2 Jan. 2015 59 Y. Demeure, “Le syndrome de Paris, résultat d'une idéalisation?” Citizen Post (2014), accessed on 23 Oct. 2014

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social interaction may face impediments and be strictly limited. Amandine Coyard explains that the dialogue between unknown people is a shocking fact for Japanese people who are used to accentuating the physical distance. Sumitra, the author of the 2012 online article on “odditycentral.com”, describes the French as being rather direct and inconsiderate people who are “free about speaking their minds” 60 whereas the Japanese tend to be “mild-mannered” 61 and to pay attention to their interlocutors so as to not offend them. As a consequence, the French verbal behaviour is said to be “hard to digest”62 for Japanese tourists. In his online article on “adala-news.fr”63, Reith Saji highlights that Japan is indeed well-known for the politeness, kindness and gentleness of its inhabitants, especially towards visitors. On the contrary, he underlines the fact that the people of Paris would rather be indifferent and verbally bad-mannered no matter the circumstances. Sophie Amsili and Carole Ferry support this idea and define them as loud and complaining people who do not hesitate to express their feelings instantaneously. Interrupting someone who is talking is considered impolite in French culture but is nevertheless common in any discussion. However, Japanese tourists pay attention to such a detail and may interpret it as a verbal aggression. In her book Nââândé!?, Eriko Nakamura gives the example of politics as a conversational topic and explains that the Japanese rarely discuss it for fear that diverging opinions may turn into conflicts. To summarize this point concerning the differences between the French and the Japanese verbal behaviour, we may stress the fact that each nation does not deal with language, words, expressions, and conversation topics in the same way, and that it can play a key role in the emergence of the Paris Syndrome's symptoms.

b. 3. Non-verbal behaviour Similarly, the non-verbal behaviours of the people of Paris and the Japanese could prove to be obstacles to communication. Each nation's way of thinking makes them react differently in front of the same events. That is what Eriko Nakamura explains in her book when she says that the Japanese tend to feel guilty when 60 61 62 63

Sumitra, l.35 Sumitra, ll.35-36 Sumitra, l.20 R. Saji, “Pourquoi le syndrome de Paris touche principalement les japonais?” 31 Oct. 2012, Adala News, accessed on 21 Oct. 2014

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something bad happens. In this kind of situation, she reports that the people of Paris are rather inclined to free themselves of guilt and to blame the other. In the video report of the French broadcast “66 Minutes”, the Japanese family that is followed gives evidence of such a difference. It shows a Japanese woman travelling with her daughter and her son-in-law in the metro and their encounter with pickpockets who try to rob her handbag. She reports feeling sorry: “I'm sorry to disturb everybody. I was daydreaming.”64. According to Yuko Morimoto Yoshida, non-verbal cues can indeed be misinterpreted from one culture to another. In her book Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, she has listed and defined the main non-vocal signs that the Japanese use: eye contact, smiling, signs with the hands, nodding and laughing. Through her work we can indeed observe that the same non-verbal elements have a different signification for the French. The use of fixed and direct eye contact is said to be badly perceived by the Japanese who can interpret it as an act of intimidation or a threat. On the contrary, it is usually maintained in France to communicate sincerity, honesty, and truthfulness. Being a rather polite nation, the Japanese sometimes try to avoid frankness so as to not offend their interlocutor. In general, a smile is used by anyone to express happiness. In Japan, it may inform that the listener does not understand what is said, that he feels “embarrassed” or that he “[does] not agree with [the speaker]” 65. In France, a smile is essentially used to show contentment or to joke, but French people usually do not smile when they express a contradictory opinion. Conversely, they seem to be rather more categorical and not concerned by what their interlocutor will think about them. In her work, Morimoto Yoshida explains that Japanese women's discretion is what differs from French women with the example of laughter: “Japanese women generally cover their mouth with one hand when they laugh.” 66 While the latter seem to pay attention to other people's looks by staying reasonable and moderate when they laugh, French women are commonly less reserved and can laugh openly -sometimes with their mouth wide open-, shamelessly and confidently in public. For the Japanese, we

64 “Je suis désolée de déranger tout le monde. J'étais dans la lune.” 66 Minutes, 6:33 65 Y. Morimoto Yoshida, Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008) 217 66 Morimoto Yoshida, 217

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can guess that such a behaviour may be shocking and be interpreted as crude, illmannered and impolite. Nodding has also a different meaning for the Japanese and the French. In Japan, people are said to nod to signal that they are listening to their interlocutor. For the French, a nod may have a similar meaning but may also indicate that the individual agrees with the speaker. On the contrary, the Japanese do not tend to express their opinion and rather stay discreet and reserved. As for hand gestures, Morimoto Yoshida gives in her work the example of a hand waved in front of one's face. She highlights the fact that for the Japanese, such a movement means refusal. In France, it seems to be a little more intricate because it can have several meanings. When people wave their hand several times quickly in front of their face, it generally indicates that there is an awful smell. When they shake their hand only one time and slowly, it rather means something like "Forget it!". Another example is that of the movements people usually do to invite someone to approach. In Japan, Morimoto Yoshida explains that people “extend their hands with the palm down and move the fingers back and forth toward the palm” 67. In the present case, the direction of the palm is what changes the meaning of the gesture because the same one is used with the palm up when it is addressed to a young child or a pet. For the French, this second move is the one they use to invite someone to approach. We may guess that for the Japanese, seeing someone doing such a movement towards them may be taken as an insult as it is used in their country only for pets and children. Hand gestures have to be observed in communication situations to be understood appropriately. To summarize this part concerning the cultural differences between the Japanese and the people of Paris (or more generally the French as a whole), we may conclude that difficulties of communication do not only depend on verbal cues but also strongly on nonverbal ones. French writer Jocelyne Sourisseau highlights from her personal experience the fact that misunderstandings can appear in conversations because of what she calls “codes” and “relational systems” 68. She underlines that such confusion does not rely on the way one speaks the interlocutor's language, but rather 67 Morimoto Yoshida, 217 68 J. Sourisseau, Bonjour/Konnichiwa: Pour une meilleure communication entre Japonais et Français (Paris; Budapest; Turin: L'Harmattan, 2003) 9-11

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on soundless cues that the listener does not know or does not use in the same way in his country.

2. The subjectivity We have seen so far that Japanese tourists' negative shock leading to the Paris Syndrome is said to be due to many elements. According to Yohan Demeure, a writer for the news website “Citizen Post”, the emergence of such a mental illness may also depend on Japanese people's subjective opinions. To him, the people of Paris' tend to consider their cultural habits as normal things while they may strike Japanese tourists. He explains that elements that seem insignificant such as a waiter's disregard and lack of attention towards customers can be very hurtful, irritating and badly-taken by Japanese visitors. For Jean-Marie Thiébaud, such negative observations greatly contrast with the French tourists visiting Japan who often report being positively surprised by the cleanliness of the streets, the country's level of modernity, the politeness, and the courtesy of its inhabitants. In his work, he argues that all of these good points are specific to the Japanese and make the country a “perfect model of modernity” (“le modèle parfait de la modernité”), as well as a “reference civilization” (“civilisation de référence”)69 for foreigners. However, this vision of Japan is purely subjective and belongs to Thiébaud's opinion and personal experience. Moreover, it is important to note that, despite negative reports, the Japanese tend to be still attracted by the French capital. As we have seen previously, the media can play a significant role in their touristic choices. However, according to a study carried out by Paris Tourist Information Office, the motivations of Japanese potential tourists depend on their age. Young people have been reported to be more attracted by modern means of information such as movies, television and the internet while older people would rather consult travel guides and magazines. It seems here that individuals' tastes should be taken into account so as to not create generalities. Stephen Bochner indeed argues that culture shock can vary according to the tourist's individual personality. He called his theory the “ABC theory of culture shock”. As the term “ABC” suggests it, it is divided into three parts. The first one 69 J.M. Thiébaud, La Présence française au Japon: Du XVIème siècle à nos jours (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2008), 11

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concerns the letter “A”, which represents the “affect”. Bochner explains that the reactions of tourists in a different culture are often described as negative because of the loss of familiarity and the degree of anxiety that they feel. He nevertheless highlights that such a negativity could differ from a person to another, and could be reduced thanks to hosts' counselling for instance. The second part of his theory deals with “behaviour” in the letter “B”. We saw above that behavioural habits could greatly differ from a culture to another and that it could lead to significant misunderstandings. What Bochner underlines in the present case is that negative shocks such as the Paris Syndrome may be avoided depending on the individual's ability to adapt in a new environment. Some people tend to accept cultural differences more quickly and to fit in another country more easily. According to the ABC theory of culture shock, visitors can be more or less able to accommodate to objects, people, relations, gestures and other cultural elements in a foreign country. As for the letter “C”, it means “cognition”. The capacity to accustom and conform to another culture can be done through the maintain of positive reactions concerning the cultural differences encountered. For Bochner, people could indeed better suit in foreign countries if they cultivated certain concern, interest and toleration for their host country's habits. To summarize his theory, Stephen Bochner declares the following thing: “what we feel will affect what we do and think, and vice versa cubed” 70. What he means in this quote is that tourists' potential adaptation in a foreign country may depend on their own goodwill. We will see in the following part that, while Japanese tourists' reactions may differ from a person to another, it may also rely on the hosts' notion of hospitality.

3. The notion of hospitality and its relativity The hospitality of a host country may be among the most important points that tourists take into account when they visit a foreign country. The Japanese are said to be very demanding in terms of comfort and welcoming, and they may have a strict judgement over the people of Paris' hospitality. Jean-Pierre Blat, the director of a tourism campaign called "Do you speak touriste?", claims that each nationality of tourist needs to be received differently. He asserts that hosts have to respect specific 70 Bochner, 10

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“cultural codes” depending on tourists' usual expectations in terms of hospitality. He illustrates this idea by saying that “we do not welcome a Japanese or an Italian in the same way”71. In that case, we may guess that welcoming tourists may not be an easy matter for hosts. It can be wondered if hospitality has one and unique definition, or if it is a matter of adaptation that is relative to visitors' expectations which have to be studied by the host country so as to better receive and satisfy them. Several researchers have investigated the notion of hospitality. Veronique Cova and Jean-Luc Giannelloni both argued in their 2008 study that this term has two definitions. They described it as a way to live together shaped by rules and laws, but also as a more specific and larger field whose objective was to receive an audience in order to make it live a unique experience. We may deduce here that the term “hospitality” would have no fixed definition and would rather be a subjective notion revolving around several factors. Bob Brotherton endorsed this idea and wrote in 2006 that it was based on four simple questions: “where?”, “why?”, “when?” and “what?” 72. He explained that hospitality depended on several elements such as the place where the tourist is received, tourists' and hosts' behaviour and relations, the occasion during which hospitality occurs and the products offered by hosts. To him, this notion is not shaped in the same way according to the place, the time, the people involved and the reason of the trip. He added that hospitality also depended on what he called “la sainte Trinité” or “the holy Trinity”. He believed that this notion turned around three items: “bedding”, “drinking” and “food”. To him, hosts should bear “the holy Trinity” in mind so as to ensure tourists' well-being, and good relations between visitors and hosts. He described these three items as the living wage of any tourist. This argument had been inspired by Jim Hepple, who claimed in 1990 that food, drinking, and the general atmosphere of the visited place represented one of the most significant elements characterizing hospitality. To him, this notion relied on four main features. He suggested that the presence of a welcoming person in the visited country was also necessary to guiding tourists and helping them find landmarks. Then, he argued that 71 “on accueille pas de la même manière un Japonais ou un Italien”, J.P. Blat qtd. in Agence France Presse, “Do You Speak Touriste?” (2013) 4-5, Comité Régional du Tourisme de Paris, accessed on 27 Dec. 2014 72 B. Brotherton, “Some thoughts on a general theory of hospitality,” Tourism Today 6, 2006: 7-18

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the interaction between tourists and their hosts was important, and that a good relationship was one of the keys of a nice trip. Finally, Hepple declared that safety, moral and physical comfort had to be considered vital elements. While hospitality seems to be primarily based on vital needs, Cova and Giannelloni added in 2008 that it would also depend on tourists' expectations and wills. They suggested that a successful relation between visitors and hosts could be ensured if the latter knew considerably what would please and satisfy their guests. For them, hosts should have a large knowledge of other nationalities' cultural habits and expectations, and should try to respect them so as to alleviate the effects of a potential culture shock. They wrote that such specific features should be taken into account in order to “satisfy [visitors] flawlessly and generously” 73. Besides, we saw earlier that tourists tend to criticize the people of Paris' behaviour towards them. John Hopton emphasized this idea and wrote in 2013 that Japanese tourists coming to Paris would rather expect to be welcomed in the same way as in their country. They do not seem to question foreigners' notion of hospitality. However, Hopton underlined that the Japanese would have their own “standard approach”74 of what is hospitality. He noted that such a notion could indeed greatly differ from a country to another. He humorously claimed that Japanese visitors in Paris “[would not] usually be doted in the same way as at home” 75. We may suppose that such a diverging way of welcoming tourists may contribute to the emergence of the Paris Syndrome among Japanese tourists. However, Bob Brotherton had previously disputed the subjectivity and relativity of hospitality in an article for the periodical Tourism Today in 2006. He had declared that “tourism [could] exist without hospitality” 76. He believed that tourists could fulfill their vital needs by themselves without counting on their hosts to accompany and serve them: “people travel to an area to walk and take their own food and drink”77. From his point of view, visitors' complaints about their host country's hospitality seem to be quite unjustified. We may suspect them to be pretexts that 73 V. Cova, and J.L. Giannelloni, “Hospitalité et Consommation Touristique,” 2008, Cergam-Fea, accessed on 20 Nov. 2014 74 Hopton, ll.18-19 75 Hopton, ll.19-20 76 Brotherton, 10 77 Brotherton, 10

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would have been created by tourists so as to avoid assuming that their disappointment is partly their fault. Conversely, Lilia Touzani denied the tourists' own responsibility in her 2014 study. She argued that they would be as much guilty of the culture shock as their hosts' quality of reception, and the touristic destination. 78 What she called “individual factors” of the culture shock -that is to say the tourist's personality, his expectations, his experience and his preparation before travelling- should be taken into consideration. She situated “touristic hospitality” at the same level, and she asserted that it was also composed of several elements which could be obstacles to tourists' integration and adaptation in a foreign country: the difference of language from a country to another, communication difficulties, the cultural and behavioural habits of locals, the latter's usual way of welcoming guests, and the relationships between visitors and locals. As for the place where it occurs, she suggested as Brotherton, Cova and Giannelloni that it could play a great role in culture shock. The atmosphere of the host place, its weather, its technological and industrial level, and in a broader context its economic and political situation should be taken into consideration to judge how culture shock appears. To sum up, researchers do not seem to have found a way to define precisely what hospitality is, and what it entails. In that case, it may be supposed that this notion is relative and depends on who judges it, who practises it and where it takes place. In the case of the Paris Syndrome as well as in any type of culture shock, the appearance of psychosomatic symptoms, and the negative or positive travel accounts may depend on each tourists subjective opinion and personality. It seems that hospitality is a term that cannot be standardized and generalized to a unique definition, and is a rather open notion which relies on the situations and the nations involved.

The notion of hospitality seems to be very specific and so it is difficult to determine it precisely. As we have seen in the previous chapter, it is important for hosts to take into account the habits and cultural standards of tourists in order to provide them an adapted welcoming, a pleasant and comfortable stay, and to receive a positive feedback. In the next part, we will deal with statistics and Japanese tourists' 78 Appendix 10

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travel accounts in order to analyze their level of satisfaction when visiting the French capital.

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V.

Feedback

1. Satisfaction First, it is important to note that few Japanese tourists provide reviews of their trips to Paris. I did not obtain any information neither from the Japanese Embassy in France nor from Japanese tourists, which is the reason why this part will focus on my personal observations and on researchers' statistics. As the Japanese seem to be rather discreet people, they tend to not express their opinion openly, even on the Internet where most people are used to talking more freely than in real life. On the well-known website “Trip Advisor” 79 -which lists hotels, restaurants, and bookings in order to allow people to prepare their travels- can be found a section called "Paris Trip Tours" in which tourists give their opinion about their trips to Paris. Among 38 pages of travel reports and 375 recommendations, there is no Japanese review but especially South and North American ones. On this website, there are 26 pages of five-star rated travels over the 38 pages total which represents over half tourists' opinions. Researchers indeed noted that most tourists visiting France report being satisfied by their trip with an average of 62% of positive feedback. However, we may wonder why the Japanese seem to be that discreet about their stays in Paris. As we have explained earlier, the reputation of France is rather positive in Japan despite the existence of the Paris Syndrome. In her book The Japanese and Europe: Economic and Cultural Encounters80 written in 1996, Marie Conte Helm acknowledged that the Japanese coming to Paris in the 19th century were generally pleasantly surprised by the food and the general atmosphere reigning in the French capital. In a report, the journalists of the French news TV-channel BFMTV supported this idea and added that this favourable image was in constant evolution. They defined France as “definitional of what luxury and refinement are” 81 for most of Japanese tourists. According to the researcher Evelyne Lehalle, the latter's level of satisfaction is rather high with an average of 89.9% in 2014. 79 “Paris Trip Tours,” 2010-2015, Trip Advisor, accessed on 27 March 2015 80 M. Conte Helm, The Japanese and Europe: Economic and Cultural Encounters (London, New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012) 15 81 “synonyme de luxe et de raffinement,” BFMTV, 0:29

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For Chloé Gonzalez, the first trip is generally reported as more satisfying than a second one. She declares that tourists coming from a far country tend to give an even more positive feedback than those living in neighbouring countries. Through her research, she observed that Asians were statistically the most concerned by this way of functioning. Having travelled a long distance, the Japanese, Chinese, and Indians are said to be the most satisfied category of tourists by their first trip in France. This is what shows the following graph comparing tourists coming for the first time to France to those who already came. Japanese tourists are among the most satisfied nationalities by their first trip (situated just behind Russia, Swiss and Maghreb).

It is also important to point out that, according to this graph, Asians and especially the Japanese seem to be noticeable exceptions. Most tourists who have 56

already visited France tend to be more satisfied than those who visited it once. Conversely, the Japanese report being more satisfied by their first visit of France (with an average of 55.7%) than by the following ones (49.8%). The director of the "Do you speak touriste?" campaign, Jean-Pierre Blat, nevertheless claimed that tourists on a whole tend to have positive opinions about Paris and to come back again in the French capital with a satisfaction rate of 97%. To put it in a nutshell, Japanese tourists seem to be rather prudent, restrained, and not to give their opinion openly. We may suppose that this behaviour may be specific to the Japanese, who -as we saw some pages before- would care about the look and reactions of the others. While most of these tourists are said to be satisfied by their first French trip, the Paris Syndrome still exists and affects some Japanese people. In the present case, we may imagine that Japanese tourists' discretion regarding their trips to Paris may be due to a potential disappointment. In the following part, we will study that they are actually not always positively surprised by France and its capital.

2. Dissatisfaction While most Japanese tourists tend to have a better opinion of the visited city during the first trip than during the following ones, other studies prove they would be among most disappointed nationalities by their trips to Paris. Europeans have been reported as providing the most positive reviews of their French trips with an average over 63% while Asians are said to be the less satisfied with a 48% satisfaction rate. According to Thomas Deschamps and the CRT, Koreans and Japanese appear as the most disappointed audience with the respective averages of 86% and 90%. These percentages seem to be rather high but are actually the lowest compared with other nationalities', such as Middle East people who declare being satisfied at 99%. 82. The OETP observed a similar phenomenon with a satisfaction rate of only 51.6% on 1104 Japanese respondents concerning the opening hours in the French capital. It represents barely more than a half of the answers83. What this study points out is that the less

82 Appendix 11 83 Appendix 12

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satisfied nationalities tend to be those whose travel was essentially motivated by shopping. Having a great esteem of France before their trip, we may imagine how high Asian people's disappointment could be. According to Evelyne Lehalle, most tourists, all nationalities confounded, consider that Paris' most satisfying elements are its monuments, its museums and the cultural diversity of the services offered, while the quality-price ratio and opening hours are what seems to perturb them the most. Thomas Deschamps -in charge of Paris' Tourist Information Office's statistical information- insists on this idea and writes that about 97% of worldwide tourists recommended the French capital in 2014. He claims that French people should stop self-criticizing their capital because the positive image and successful touristic dynamism of Paris is globally maintained. He reports that Asians' disappointment -and especially Japanese tourists'- is mainly caused by the quality of reception, and the services offered by the French capital that they would judge to be poor compared with their own that Deschamps describes as “on the top of the range” 84. Besides, the RATP Group -which is the Autonomous Operator of Paris Transports- ensures that, for Japanese tourists, robberies in public transportation are among the most shocking and unsatisfying elements that they could encounter in Paris. With an average of 97%, the great majority of the people questioned by the RATP Group report having witnessed in the metro at least one uncivil event within a month. Moreover, as we explained in the chapter concerning cultural differences, language also seems to be an obstacle for Japanese tourists. According to Masami, a 45-year-old Japanese tourist interviewed by the online journal NegroNews, the Japanese would be afraid of not understanding their hosts. They would tend to criticize the people of Paris' potential lack of attention towards their language difficulties. For Masami, language became a “social barrier”85 which led her to withdraw into herself, and to reduce communication only to her family through the internet. She reports having felt “deeply alone”86, and we may guess that the French capital and its inhabitants may have greatly fallen in her estimation. The author of a blog article on 84 T. Deschamps, “Clientèles touristiques : études des segmentations,” 30 April 2014, Welcome City Lab, accessed on 27 March 2015 85 “une barrière sociale,” Masami qtd. in NegroNews, l.86 86 “Je me sentais profondément seule,” Masami qtd. in NegroNews, l.89

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the website “Wordpress”87 supports this argument and admits that such a downturn could make the reputation of Paris fall as well as the satisfaction rate. According to his studies, France would be the most attracting country for the Japanese before their trip with a satisfaction index of 77 points -which is the highest rating number. By contrast, it is no more than 69.6 points after their return home. Such a fall of 7.4 points shows that the Japanese's previous expectations may have not been filled during their trip, and that France would be rather disappointing for them. The AAA and the ORT noted that Japanese tourists would nevertheless tend to not express their dissatisfaction during their trip, but would rather wait to be back home. While the image of France and Paris is rather good in Japan, tourists' potential complaints and negative reviews may contribute to build it a less prestigious reputation. As a consequence, a survey carried out by the matrimonial agency “O-Net” 88 proves that 47% of young Japanese tourists would prefer travelling in Japan than abroad because they would find it reassuring. Despite their positive impressions during their first trip abroad, the Japanese tend to be less favourable to a second trip to France according to Chloé Gonzalez. Such a result may be explained by the length of their trip which may not always allow them to adapt the culture of the city. This way, they may keep in mind the drawbacks of the city which may repulse them from coming back again. In the following part, we will observe in more details the causes of Japanese tourists' mitigated satisfaction level in the French capital.

3. Causes a. Tourists vs immigrants The length of the stay may change Japanese tourists' satisfaction level. According to Paris Tourist Information Office, they would make the shorter stays in Paris with an average of 2.6 nights spent in Paris per trip. Only 9.1% of them are said to stay more than a week. In the TV report for the broadcast "66 Minutes", the journalist declares that the shortness of Japanese tourists' trips in Paris nevertheless 87 AFP, “La France déçoit les touristes japonais,” 11 July 2008, L'Antre du Yoshi.wordpress, accessed on 30 Dec. 2014 88 Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris, “Le tourisme des jeunes : comportement et hébergement à Paris,” 2011, Paris Info, accessed on 24 Dec. 2014

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allows them to have a rather pleasurable stay, especially because they may have not enough time to feel the first psychosomatic symptoms of the Paris Syndrome. Gonzalez supports this idea and adds that Asian tourists usually visit the most impressing sites of the French capital on a short length of time, and that it provides them what she defines as an “amazement” that is difficult to renew 89. Such a way of visiting Paris would make them accumulate positive feelings and leave out the possible shocks and disappointments. Chloé Gonzalez also explains that Japanese tourists tend to find a second trip quite boring because most wonders have already been discovered during the first visit, and there is no more surprise effect. On the contrary, John Hopton claims that the usual shortness and intensity of Japanese tourists' trips may lead them to exhaustion. They have not enough time to accustom and to adapt French culture due to a “lack of vacation time” 90. According to Paris Tourist Information Office, Japanese tourists come seasonally. More than 45,000 of them have been counted in Paris hotels in January and March. In Japan, students and workers have two weeks of vacation time in each of these months, hence the large amount of visitors in the French capital during these periods. About the same number of tourists have been noted in Paris in July and August, which is the time of a Buddhist festival in Japan called “O-bon,” allowing the Japanese to rest for six weeks. To summarize these observations, most of these people tend to take advantage of their short holiday periods to visit and see as many things as possible in a brief length of time. John Hopton calls their trips “exhausting” and their schedules “grueling” 91. To him, it can be a significant element in Japanese tourists' judgment of Paris, and their satisfaction rate. However, one may wonder what would differ if most of these visitors stayed longer. Caroline Temple argues that most Japanese come temporarily in France and that only 25% of them try to fit in the Paris society. The coming of Japanese immigrants is, according to Yves Colombel and Daniel Oster, a relatively new phenomenon in development. In 2004, the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs 89 “un enchantement,” C. Gonzalez, “L'adéquation de l'offre touristique française à la demande étrangère : un enjeu des politiques en faveur de l'activité liée au tourisme,” May 2012, Entreprises.gouv, accessed on 26 Mar. 2015 90 Hopton, l.31 91 Hopton, ll.32-33

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counted 35,000 Japanese people staying in France for over three months. Most of them were staying for a period between one and five years. For Colombel and Oster, the coming of the first Japanese immigrants has developed especially thanks to the setting up of Japanese enterprises in France which were over 400 in 2011. According to a News Digest92 study, there were 420 Japanese enterprises and 30.947 million Japanese immigrants in France in 2010. For researchers, most of these people come and set up in France for professional reasons. Colombel and Oster observed that they could be found especially in the “beaux quartiers” 93 of the Île-de-France region, which are situated in its center and west where economic and cultural development is more progressive. In a 1996 survey, the Japanese Embassy already reported that most of the Japanese living in France were situated in Paris. Although it still seems to be the case nowadays, it is important to note that Japanese immigrants are nevertheless a minority compared with tourists, hence their nickname of “migratory business elite” 94. Such terms may suggest that setting up in Paris is reserved to the richest. Despite the slowly increasing number of Japanese immigrants in Paris, researchers do not evoke the potentiality of a Paris Syndrome affecting them. We may suppose that contrary to tourists, who are rather attracted by culture and entertainment (shopping, visits, etc.), their professional motivation may make them face culture shock rather as an additional element than as an obstacle.

b. The impatriate syndrome Japanese immigrants are said to represent a minority compared to tourists. While the latter visit the French capital for a few days and go back home, immigrants deciding to return home may face a significant problem called “reverse culture shock”. Elena Nebreda, the author of the guide How to Survive Reverse Culture Shock, writes that such a mental trouble is caused by a necessary “re-adaptation process”. She explains that immigrants returning home have to re-adjust their behaviour to their native environment after having learnt new behavioural skills abroad. According to most researchers, the “reverse culture shock” or “impatriate syndrome” is the negative 92 France News Digest, 2010, SARL France News Digest, 93 Colombel and Oster, 35 94 “élite économique et migratoire,” Colombel and Oster, 35

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accessed

on

14

Jan.

2015

consequence encountered by the tourists who overcame culture shock's stages abroad. This is what Susan C.Schneider and Jean-Louis Barsoux illustrate in a graph95 gathering the different stages of culture shock, from the very beginning of the trip to the return home. First, Schneider and Barsoux highlight the fact the idea of going back home is exciting and thrilling for immigrants. They may feel overjoyed to find their family and friends again. For Elena Nebreda, the “reverse culture shock” begins when immigrants realize at the contact of their close home relations that their habits have changed abroad. She claims that such differences appear too suddenly: Changes naturally happens throughout our lives anyways, and we are normally used to absorbing it gradually, little by little. It is when big life changes come, such as moving back home, that we get to see many of these changes together and in a more abrupt manner [...] 96

In this quote, Nebreda suggests that the transition from the host country to the home country is too brutal and full of immoderate differences separating the former immigrant to his family. Her research is based on the example of a 47-year-old Peruvian woman called Rosa. The latter reports that she felt sad, alone and abandoned in her home country because her family and friends did not understand her new behavioural habits that she learnt and acquired abroad. The difficulty for them is, according to Northeastern University's researchers, to re-learn their native behavioural habits while integrating what they have learned abroad. On the contrary, Nebreda claims that all the objectives achieved abroad (i.e. learning a new language, trying to adapt a foreign culture, etc.) do not seem to be useful anymore at home for immigrants. As a consequence, the first symptoms of “reverse culture shock” are an uncomfortable feeling in their native environment followed by sadness, the sensation of being left out by their family, and a feeling of uselessness. Moreover, Elena Nebreda adds that the people who are affected tend to feel depressed in their home country because there is nothing new for them. She highlights the fact that they already know the language, the social habits, the way of life used there and how things function; that is why they find uninteresting to re-adapt to it, as proves Mike's account. This 32-year-old American man reports in Nebreda's book that he did not find any pleasure going out with his friends after having lived in Brazil.

95 Appendix 1 96 E. Nebreda, “I am going 'home', why is this hard for me?” How to Survive Reverse Culture Shock (London; New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012) 9

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Nebreda explains that tourists' “universe [...] vastly [expands]”97 abroad at the contact of a different culture, and the idea of finding back their native notion of normality may dissuade them from returning home. It seems that tourists on a whole tend to get used to the discovery process encountered abroad, and may not want to end it. Taking all these elements into consideration, going back home may be not that exciting and attracting for tourists. In the precise case of Japanese immigrants, the author of the NegroNews article declares that the impatriate syndrome may also be due to the fact that they have a certain pride. According to the American anthropologist Ruth Benedict, the Japanese have a specific notion of shame and disgrace, and they may consider their return home as a failure. They may feel weak of not having resisted and overcome the difficulties of culture shock. In Japan, shame has several roles. On the one hand, Benedict notes that it has the ability to help people learn Japanese social rules of life. On the second hand, she insists on the fact that it can lead to suffering and isolation. While trying to adapt oneself to Paris culture may not be an easy matter for Japanese settlers, they seem to consider returning home an even worse fact. To them, avoiding culture shock abroad would be a sign of weakness making them feel ashamed, embarrassed, and uncomfortable to have failed in their process of adaptation. While the impatriate syndrome can affect any immigrant, we have noted in the course of this research that the Japanese may be even more sensitive to brutal cultural changes. To summarize, it seems that the harder the adjustment to a foreign culture is, the harder the return home can be.

97 Nebreda, 12

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Conclusion Several features make the Paris syndrome a unique type of culture shock. First, it may be due to the fact that -despite similar symptoms- the people affected report certain disappointment, while those suffering other traveller's syndromes -such as those discussed in the introduction- rather feel a pleasant surprise effect. Besides, contrary to other syndromes which may affect any tourist, the Paris Syndrome concerns the contact of two distinct groups of people: the people of Paris and the Japanese. Most research prove that Paris is the only city which provokes such a reaction from Japanese tourists. Some argue that it is mainly due to the image the media usually display, which is said to be idealized. Conversely, they claim that a city as New York City could not be concerned by such a syndrome because the media tend to give it a realistic image, with its assets and its drawbacks. For Sumitra, New York would “have embraced [its] darker side”98 contrary to Paris whose atmosphere would be that “of a little girl’s music box”99. Mathis Sommer nevertheless adds that any other city having “the same level of overwhelming positive media portrayals” 100 as Paris could be concerned by such a similar syndrome. To her, it all depends on the media. Moreover, Caroline Wyatt's 2006 study for the BBC News website showed that out of about one million Japanese tourists per year, only twelve of them were affected on average. These low numbers suggest that the Paris Syndrome may not be that significant. According to specialists, the place where the syndrome appears may depend on where the tourists come from. A Japanese woman called Makiko Itoh declares more strictly that the Paris Syndrome would rather be a matter of trend. To her, it would be “just another word for culture shock” 101 that would be used by the Japanese, and that talking about such a phenomenon would have become “trendy” in Japan. As we saw earlier, the existence of the Paris Syndrome does not seem to dissuade Japanese tourists from travelling to Paris who still consider the French capital 98 Sumitra, l.18 99 Sumitra, ll.18-19 100Sommer, l.34 101 M. Itoh, “What are the cultural and social reasons behind the Paris Syndrome,” 31 May 2013, Quora, accessed on 6 Apr. 2015

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as the top destination in Europe. However, the "Agence France Presse" claimed that the potential insecurity problems reigning in Paris may have negative consequences on the economic and touristic dynamism of the city. Researchers observed in 2013 that the dangers affecting tourists -such as pickpockets in the metro for instancethreatened jobs in the French capital. It seems here that the Paris Syndrome could have more negative consequences for Paris than for Japanese tourists. While the low number of travel accounts from Japanese tourists who visited Paris may assume a certain amount of shame of having failed overcoming culture shock abroad for some of them, we may hypothesize that such discretion could also be a favour to help maintain the economic and touristic success of the French capital. On the contrary, some researchers argue that the Japanese tend to criticize and express negative opinions about their trips once back home. For Jean-François Sabouret, the director of the Asia Network, Japanese tourists' interest in Paris, despite the existence of the Paris Syndrome, may be explained by a natural appeal to “difference”. He called this process "the splits hypothesis" ("l'hypothèse du grand écart" 102). It consists in being fascinated by opposed things. Such a way of functioning may be compared to magnets. According to the website "supermagnete.fr" 103, magnets usually attract them more than they repulse them. It seems to work in the same way for Japanese tourists who seem to be attracted by the French capital, even though most of them are aware of the Paris Syndrome and its symptoms. Their will to visit Paris may be maintained by the media through the myth of a contrasted city situated between the 19th century's romanticism, and the people of Paris' current taste for transgression. While the second point may repulse Japanese tourists -whose culture is said to be strictly based on politeness and good manners-, they still seem to be paradoxically attracted by the first point. We may deduce that a specific connection exists between the Japanese and Paris. It could be called the “attraction-repulsion relation”. Japanese tourists continue to come to Paris in large numbers each year. However, no efficient solution has been found yet to fight the Paris Syndrome. Since the late 1980s, psychiatrist Hiroaki Ōta has open a specialised consultation for the 102 J.F. Sabouret qtd. in M. Rovere, “Le Japon, une passion française,” Marianne (2012), accessed on 5 Feb. 2015 , l.70 103 http://www.supermagnete.fr/faq/Est-ce-que-les-aimants-s-attirent-autant-qu-ils-se-repoussent#des-exemplesconcrets

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people suffering it in order to help them recover from the most important symptoms (such as depression and obsessive tendencies). More recently has been launched the “Do You Speak Touriste?” campaign by the CCI and the CRT. A guide 104 and a website105 have been created in 2014 in order to inform Paris commercials about tourists' expectations and needs when they visit the French capital. On the website, each nationality has a specific section in which is given some advice to better welcome each of them. Practical sentences are listed in several languages for Paris commercials, hoteliers, restaurant owners, and taxi drivers who have public service obligations and are the most often in contact with foreign tourists. Similarly, the website also provides potential tourists practical information such as converted currencies and units of measurement. To make short, the “Do You Speak Touriste?” campaign is above all a mean to facilitate communication between the people of Paris and visitors. According to Masami's personal experience, the key to overcome culture shock was indeed to maintain social relations and communication. She declares on the website “NegroNews.com” that the difficulties of communication with the people of Paris could be compensated by a daily interaction with close friends and family (through the internet or by phone), and that it is what helped her overcome the depressive symptoms of the Paris Syndrome. Besides, erasing some clichés about Paris and giving it a more realistic image in the media -by evoking poverty in some districts, and globalization for instance- may anticipate and help reduce Japanese tourists' disappointment when visiting the city. However, trying to get rid of the Paris Syndrome would also alter the “attraction-repulsion relation” that is specific to the Japanese and Paris. Being either a real mental illness or a myth exaggerated in the media, the Paris Syndrome nevertheless contributes to such a complex relation. Paradoxically, it may be what encourages Japanese tourists to come to Paris out of curiosity or to test themselves. What we previously qualified as the Japanese “innocence” could rather be defined here as an intense and aware curiosity. To put it in a nutshell, it is quite difficult to understand the Paris Syndrome in its entirety, and to find a way to avoid it, because the Japanese seem to be mysterious and almost inscrutable people. In such a puzzling situation, the real solution may be precisely to not search a solution. 104 Appendix 9 105 http://doyouspeaktouriste.fr/index.php#&panel1-1

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Bibliography 1. Culture shock and reverse culture shock 1.1. Books J-L. Barsoux, and S. C. Schneider, Managing Across Cultures (Edinburg; Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 1997) 188. S. Bochner, and A. Furnham, Culture shock: Psychological reactions to unfamiliar environments (London: Methuen, 1986) M. Conte Helm, The Japanese and Europe: Economic and Cultural Encounters (London; New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012) 15. E. Marx, Breaking through culture shock (London: Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 1999). Y. Morimoto Yoshida, Culture Shock! A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette (Tarrytown: Marshall Cavendish Corporation, 2008) 217. E. Nakamura, Nââândé!? (Paris: NiL, 2013) E. Nebreda, “I am going 'home', why is this hard for me?” How To Survive Reverse Culture Shock (London; New York: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012) 9. K. Oberg, “Cultural Shock: Adjustment to New Cultural Environments,” Practical Anthropology 7. Curare 29 (2006): 142-146. J. Sourisseau, Bonjour/Konichiwa: Pour une meilleure communication entre Japonais et Français (Paris; Budapest; Turin: L'Harmattan, 2003) 9-11. 1.2. Periodical A. Viala, H. Ōta, M.N. Vacheron, P. Martin, and F. Caroli, “Les Japonais en voyage pathologique à Paris : un modèle original de prise en charge transculturelle,” Nervure 5 (2004): 31-34. 1.3. Web  Articles : J. Hopton, “Paris Syndrome: The Japanese Tourist's Curse,” 5 Dec. 2013, Redorbit, 2 Nov. 2014 Northeastern.edu, “The 4 Stages of Culture Shock,” Northeastern University, 29 Oct. 2014 67

R. Saji, “Pourquoi le Syndrome de Paris touche principalement les Japonais?” 31 oct. 2014, Adala News, 21 Oct. 2014 Wikipédia, “Syndrome de Paris,” 15

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 Online periodicals : S. Amsili, and C. Ferry, “Le 'syndrome de Paris', mystérieux mal des Japonais,” 7 Aug. 2013, Europe 1, 15 Oct. 2014 K, Bean Yancey, “Japanese tourists fall prey to the 'Paris Syndrome'”, 10 June 2011, USA Today, 2 Nov. 2014 A. Coyard, “Vivre en France, ces choses qui choquent les japonais,” 2 Dec. 2013, Dozo domo, 31 Dec. 2014 Y. Demeure, “Le Syndrome de Paris, Résultat d'une Idéalisation ?” Citizen Post (2014), 23 Oct. 2014 A. Levy, “Des japonais entre mal du pays et mal de Paris,” Libération (2004), 26 Oct. 2014 J. Métreau, “Youcef Mahmoudia : 'Les voyages ne rendent pas fou',” 4 Aug. 2006, 20 Minutes, 11 Jan. 2015 Negro News, “[La Parole est à vous] Le Syndrome de Paris,” 25 Jan. 2015, NegroNews, 27 March 2015 B. Plackett, “The Great Paris Delusion,” The Connectivist (2013), 2 Nov. 2014 Relax News, “Cauchemar des touristes, les incivilités des Parisiens mobilisent les autorités françaises,” Huffington Post (2012), 30 Oct. 2014 Reuters, “'Paris Syndrome' leaves tourists in shock,” NBC News (2006), 15 Oct. 2014 68

Sumitra, “The Paris Syndrome - A Bizarre Psychological Condition Affecting Japanese Tourists?” Oddity Central (2012), 2 Nov 2014 C. Wyatt, “'Paris Syndrome' strikes Japanese,” BBC News (2006), 2 Nov. 2014  Studies : C. Temple, “Moi japonais et culture française : situations d'interculturation et traits de personnalité,” Sept. 2001, Université de Genève, 2 Jan. 2015 L. Touzani, “Le rôle central du choc culturel dans les expériences d'hospitalité touristique,” 2014, Archives ouvertes HAL, Université de Grenoble - Institut supérieur de gestion, 19 Nov. 2014  Forum : M. Itoh, “What are the cultural and social reasons behind the Paris Syndrome,” 31 May 2013, Quora, 6 Apr. 2015 1.4. Press conference S. Shimai, “Qu'est-ce que le syndrome de Paris?” 27 March 2010, Maison de la culture du Japon à Paris, 21 Dec. 2014 1.5. TV Report “Les Japonais à Paris.” 66 Minutes. M6, FR. 22 Aug. 2009.

2. Historical studies 2.1. Book J-M. Thiébaud, La Présence française au Japon: Du XVIème siècle à nos jours (Paris: L'Harmattan, 2008) 2.2. Web  Article : Direct Matin, “Pourquoi surnomme-t-on Paris la Ville Lumière?” 11 Apr. 2014, Direct Matin, 27 Oct. 2014 69

Wikipedia, “Japonais en France,” 31

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------ “Relations entre la France et le Japon,” 31 Dec. 2014  Studies : Observatoire Economique du Tourisme Parisien, “Le shopping, un pilier du tourisme à Paris,” 2014, Paris Info, Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris, 16 Nov. 2014 Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris, “La clientèle japonaise à Paris,” Nov. 2014, Paris Info, 24 Dec. 2014 3. Multiculturalism 3.1. Books Y. Colombel, and D. Oster, La France - Territoires et aménagement face à la mondialisation (Paris: Nathan, 2011) 35. K.A. Juffer, “The first step in cross-cultural orientation: defining the problem,” Crosscultural orientation: new conceptualizations and applications, ed. R.M. Paige, (Lanham (MD): University Press of America, 1986) P. Pedersen, 110 Experiences for multicultural learning (Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, 2004) H. Tajfel, and J.C. Turner, “The Social Identity Theory of Intergroup Behavior,” Psychology of Intergroup Relations, eds. S. Worchel, and W. Austin (Chicago: Nelson-Hal, 1986) 40. 3.2. Web  Article : Japon en France, “Liste de restaurants par région,” 2010, Le Japon en France, 31 Dec. 2014 4. Hospitality 4.1. Periodicals B. Brotherton, “Some thoughts on a general theory of hospitality,” Tourism Today 6, 2006: 7-18. J. Hepple, M. Kipps and J. Thomson, “The Concept of Hospitality and an Evaluation of its Applicability to the Experience of Hospital Patients,” International Journal of Hospitality Management, 9 (1990): 305-318. 70

4.2. Web V. Cova, and J-L. Giannelloni, “Hospitalité et Consommation Touristique,” 2008, Cergam-Fea, 20 Nov. 2014 5. The media : reputation and clichés 5.1. Periodical  Articles : C. Fagan, “A First-Class Problem for a First-Class Vacation,” The Atlantic 18 Oct. 2011 Le HuffPost/AFP, “Paris: vendre la capitale française aux Japonais, c'est simple comme 'bonjour',” Huffington Post (2013), 30 Oct. 2014 M. Sommer, “Paris Syndrome: Could Any Other City Produce This Bizarre Affliction?” City Lab (2011), 2 Nov. 2014 5.2. Web  Articles : AFP, “La France déçoit les touristes japonais,” 11 July 2008, L'Antre du Yoshi.wordpress, 30 Dec. 2014 T. Bertrand, and D. Pulvermarcher, “Des voleurs français font la une,” France 24 (2009), 29 Dec. 2014 Topito, “La France vue par les japonais,” 12 June 2011, Owni, 2 Nov. 2014  Forums : “Paris Trip Tours,” between 2010 and 2015, Trip Advisor, 27 March 2015 “Vous et la naïveté nippone?” 23 Aug. 2005, Forum Japon, 29th Dec. 2014

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 Interview : Aïmi, interview, “L'esprit français et l'âme japonaise,” Trois Quatorze 53, Pie France, 3 Feb. 2015  Summary : J.D. Urbain, L'idiot du voyage. Histoire de touristes. (Paris: Plon, 1991) qtd. in V. Blanchet, Résumé, Atelier québécois de géopoétique, (Montréal: La Traversée) 5.3. TV Report “La France est bien perçue au Japon.” BFMTV, FR. 6 June 2013. 14 Jan. 2015. 5.4. TV commercials “Le Parisien (les 3 pubs),” Youtube, 24 Feb. 2012. “Parisian - Better to read one than to meet one,” Youtube, 4 May 2008. “Publicités Le Parisien,” Youtube, 18 Oct. 2013. 6. Statistical studies 6.1. Periodicals AFP, and L'Expansion, “Ces pays qui font de la France la première destination touristique mondiale,” L'Expansion (2013), 30 Dec. 2014 France News Digest, 2010, SARL France News Digest, 14 Jan. 2015 M. Skrovec, “Le tourisme japonais en Europe, un bon remède contre la crise,” Les Echos (2010), 30 Dec. 2014 6.2. Web Agence d'Attractivité de l'Alsace, and the Observatoire Régional du Tourisme, “Japon - Fiche Marché - Outil d'aide aux professionels du tourisme,” Oct. 2014, Clic Alsace, 9 Feb. 2015 T. Deschamps, “Clientèles touristiques : étude des segmentations,” 30 April 2014, Welcome City Lab, 27 March 2015

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C. Gonzalez, “L'adéquation de l'offre touristique française à la demande étrangère : Un enjeu des politiques en faveur de l'activité liée au tourisme,” May 2012, Entreprises.gouv, 26 Mar. 2015 ------ “Venir d'un pays lointain réduit fortement la probabilité d'être très satisfait d'un nouveau séjour en France,” May 2012, L'adéquation de l'offre touristique française à la demande étrangère, 29 Dec. 2014 E. Lehalle, “Fréquentation des sites culturels à Paris,” 18 July 2014, Nouveau Tourisme Culturel, 27 March 2015 < http://www.nouveautourismeculturel.com/blog/2014/07/18/frequentation-sitesculturels-paris/> Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris, “Le tourisme des jeunes : comportement et hébergement à Paris,” 2011, Paris Info, 24 Dec. 2014 7. "Do You Speak Touriste?" campaign Agence France Presse, “Do You Speak Touriste?” (2013) 4-5, Comité Régional du Tourisme de Paris, 27 Dec. 2014 Chambre du Commerce et d'Industrie, and the Comité Régional du Tourisme de Paris, “Do You Speak Touriste?” 2013, Do You Speak Touriste, 2 Dec. 2014 8. Miscellaneous books D. Hallépée, J-F. Guédon and C. Grimaud, La culture générales par les citations: Les bons esprits, les cancres et les nuls se cultivent (Paris: Les écrivains de Fondcombe, 2014). E. Zola, Au Bonheur des Dames (Paris: Hachette Education, 2010).

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Appendices Appendix 1: S.C. Schneider, and J.L. Barsoux (1997)

Appendix 2: Observatoire Economique du Tourisme Parisien, p 27 (2014)

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Appendix 3: Magasin “Au Bon Marché”

Appendix 4: Cafe-restaurant “Le Rocher de Cancale”

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Appendix 5: Chocolate shop “A la mère de famille”

Appendix 6: Emile Zola's fictive shop “Au Bonheur des Dames”

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Appendix 7: “Les principales sources d'information consultées avant le départ par les jeunes touristes,” Office du Tourisme et des Congrès de Paris (2011)

Appendix 8: “La France vue par les Japonais,” Topito (2011)

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Appendix 9: Guide “Do You Speak Touriste?”, Chambre du Commerce et de l'Indutrie et Comité Régional du Tourisme de Paris, 2014, p14

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Appendix 10: “L'expérience du choc culturel,” L. Touzani, 2013, p228

Appendix 11: “Un très bon taux de satisfaction... cachant des disparités,” T. Deschamps, 2014

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Appendix 12: “Taux de satisfaction des touristes à Paris concernant les horaires d'ouvertures de l'offre culturelle en général,” Observatoire Economique du Tourisme Parisien, 2014, p39

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LECLERC Joy The Japanese Puzzle: The Unavoidable Paris Syndrome scenario?

Culture shock is a common phenomenon for tourists. Recognized by Dr Hiroaki Ōta in the 1980s, the Paris Syndrome is characterized as a specific type of culture clash. It has been defined as a mental illness affecting some Japanese tourists visiting Paris. While some argue the people of Paris' notion of hospitality is responsible for it, others assert that the Japanese's cultural habits and expectations are also involved. However, no real and efficient solution against it has been proposed yet. The purpose of this study is to apprehend in detail the puzzling Paris Syndrome in order to understand why such phenomenon concerns specifically the Japanese and the French capital, what its consequences can be, and if it is avoidable. As the title of this research suggests it, the Paris Syndrome is a more intricate problem than it seems to be.

Keywords: culture shock, Paris Syndrome, psychosomatic disease, tourist market.

Jury: Céline Sabiron, Philippe Mahoux-Pauzin

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