For Japanese people, France is a country that often enters the imagination quite early as a place of aspiration.
At the center of that image is, of course, Paris.
The Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs-Élysées, the Louvre. The very name Paris carries associations with fashion, art, luxury, and romance.
Even without having visited, many Japanese people can look at a Parisian streetscape and immediately feel that it looks “French.”
That image is shaped by more than famous landmarks.
French brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Dior, and Hermès are extremely well known in Japan. Even people who do not own any of their products may still have a strong sense that France is a country of fashion.
Food is another familiar part of the image.
French cuisine may bring to mind expensive multi-course meals, while croissants, baguettes, cheese, and wine are already quite familiar in everyday life in Japan.
French becomes even more visible in the world of cakes and pastries.
Japanese cake shops often use French names for their stores and products. They may look stylish, but Japanese customers sometimes have no idea how to pronounce them.
The fact that French is used so often also reflects a Japanese feeling that giving something a French name can make it seem a little more elegant or special.
Art is another major way through which Japanese people encounter France.
The Louvre is well known, and Impressionist painters such as Monet and Renoir have long been popular in Japan, with major exhibitions held repeatedly.
In school history classes, students learn about the French Revolution and Napoleon.
And there is also a particularly Japanese gateway into French history: The Rose of Versailles.
Through the manga and anime, some Japanese people first encountered Marie Antoinette, the Palace of Versailles, and the French Revolution.
As a result, even people who know little about French history may still be very familiar with names such as “Versailles” and “Marie Antoinette.”
In this way, a highly idealized image of France can take shape in Japan long before someone ever visits the country.
One phrase that symbolizes this is “Paris syndrome.”
It is not generally treated as an official diagnostic label. Rather, the term has been used to describe cases in which some Japanese visitors or residents experience severe culture shock or psychological distress when the Paris they encounter differs sharply from the Paris they had imagined.
Of course, most Japanese people who visit Paris do not experience anything like this.
Still, the very fact that such a term emerged says something about how strongly Paris has sometimes been idealized in the Japanese imagination.
In reality, some travelers are surprised by crowds and pickpocketing, or simply feel that attitudes toward customer service are different from what they are used to in Japan.
But Paris is not the only version of France that attracts Japanese people.
There is another, quite different kind of aspiration.
Southern France.
The countryside of Provence, lavender fields, stone houses, and the blue Mediterranean. Places such as Nice and the Côte d’Azur suggest a different kind of France: somewhere beautiful where life might move more slowly.
If the attraction of Paris is tied to fashion, art, and the experience of walking through a beautiful city, the attraction of southern France is often closer to a dream about everyday life itself.
Paris as a city to admire, and southern France as a place to imagine living.
For some Japanese people, both versions exist at the same time.
In Japan, people encounter France repeatedly through fashion, food, art, school education, manga, and film long before they ever travel there.
That is why France is more than simply another famous foreign country.
For Japanese people, France is a country onto which it is easy to project different kinds of ideals: the glamour of Paris and the slower, more relaxed life associated with southern France.
References
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, “Basic Data on the French Republic” and “Japan-France Relations”
- Atout France materials
- Louvre Museum materials
- UNESCO materials on World Heritage sites in France
- Materials on Impressionism and exhibitions held in Japan
- Materials on The Rose of Versailles
- Hiroaki Ota, “Paris Syndrome Today,” and related materials
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Overseas Safety Information on France
