A closer look
Paris syndrome is a genuine psychological condition experienced primarily by Japanese tourists who are completely traumatized to discover that the French capital is a sprawling, gritty metropolis rather than the romanticized, accordion-filled wonderland depicted in movies. Every year, the Japanese embassy in Paris has to repatriate a handful of citizens suffering from hallucinations, dizziness, and intense anxiety brought on by the sight of actual Parisian waiters being actively rude to them. It turns out that relentlessly romanticizing a city built on top of millions of human skeletons and a notoriously unreliable metro system leaves people utterly defenseless against the harsh reality of dog poop on the sidewalks and transit strikes that paralyze the entire country every other Tuesday
