The Japanese community and interest in Japanese culture is very strong in Paris, the French capital renowned for its cosmopolitan and chic attitude towards life. Yet sometimes it's necessary to look further than the ubiquitous chains of maki restaurants, and delve into the Japanese heart of Paris to discover a truly fascinating cultural experience.
Take, for instance, the authentic Japanese 'traiteur' Nana-Ya in the affluent Paris district of the 16th arrondissement. While the French word 'traiteur' translates into English as 'delicatessen', just one look around Nana-Ya will have you stumped for an accurate translation for this smorgasbord of Japanese cuisine. With ready-made meals and all the products you could want from Japan, Nana-Ya is something of insider's knowledge.
We met a Japanese student at Nana-Ya one afternoon, and whilst stocking up on supplies, she agreed to share her story of life in Paris: In a typical story, she had first arrived in France to take a French course France, and was initially studying at a French course Lyon. Now in her third year of living in France, she'd moved to Paris for a change of pace from her work with a Japanese tour agency. Life had certainly taken a different course, because in Paris she'd found a job working as an au pair for a French-Japanese family, and now working with children takes up most of her time. While she's able to continue her studies with French courses in the mornings, she'll be enrolling in a French course Montreux to further improve when the family goes on their annual skiing holiday in Switzerland. |
The historical cross-cultural links between Japan and Paris date back to the late nineteenth century, and it's thank to Japanese art of the period 1880-1930 that Western art has some of its most creative and iconic images from names of the calibre of Matisse, Renoir, Toulouse-Lautrec, Corot, Cezanne, and Monet. Either directly influenced by Japanese masterpieces, or actively involved in collecting such works, these French artists have distinctly stamped the impression of Japan on the European imagination.
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