mais non, alain delon they're not

I just came across something called The Paris Syndrome. It appears that some young women from Japan suffer deep shocks when they visit Paris. Their (elaborate) romantic dreams of the city are shattered when faced with reality in the shape of a snotty native.

The article says: "For visitors from a country where relations between individuals are subject to a strict social code, the ordeal of being ignored by a surly waiter – or having a post office clerk deliberately misunderstand your attempts at French – must be painful indeed."

This is going to sound really bad now, but the inevitability of the whole thing is very funny to me. French people can be exceptionally rude, and Japanese people can get painfully embarrassed. Worst combo ever.

But then again you'd hope that people, wherever they are from, would be a little better at not taking things so awfully personal.