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American Hospital of Paris (10)

My social and private life in Paris (2)

Let me tell you about my social life within the Japanese community in Paris.
First, I'd like to mention Mr. M who was the ambassador of Japan then. He was actively involved when visa problem became complicated. I heard later on that he personally negotiated with both governments to solve the problems. He really cared about me since my arrival. He invited me to every party held by the Embassy. Thanks to these social gatherings I could add a lot of human connections immediately after arrival. He was not only an able diplomat but also a sportsman. He held a tennis tournament regularly at the Embassy. He also invited me to it. We played mixed doubles. My best record was runner-ups. My partner then was the wife of the official cook of the Embassy. I once played with Mrs. M (ambassador’s wife). I was too nervous during the game and the result was terrible. However she cared for us enough to participate in the post tournament party at a Korean restaurant.

I socialized with a lot of employees of Japanese corporations. Most of the CEOs of Japanese corporations were in mid 40s, my age then.
Therefore, I got along with them very well. There was a group consisting of the men born in 1950 or 51. I participated in the gathering of this group regularly. Some of the members lived in France for a decade. Their stories were worth listening to. I realized the certain aspects of French culture with the reality while listening their personal histories. Our favorite topic while drinking was one's own romantic adventures. A member talked before us his 10-year history of the encounter, life together and separation with a French woman. It was much more impressive story than fiction. We sometimes talked about episodes in business. I found that most of the successful businessman there in Paris were quite different from the "elite businessmen from Tokyo University" type.
Although they were mediocre academically, many of them were born“ leaders” like the captain of a college rugby team. They were not afraid of making mistakes. They learned from their mistakes and finally got good results.

Six months after my arrival, I was introduced in a Japanese community paper in Paris. My hobby was written as playing tennis in the article. Reading the article, several tennis circles invited me to join. I joined two circles and played tennis regularly on the weekends. There were people from various professions among my tennis friends;airlines,bank, pharmaceutical companies, accountants, architects, medias, etc.
We chatted over a bottle of beer after 2-hours of play. It was fun to listen to the people from profession other than medicine. I also offered free medical advice many times.
Most of the members were middle aged men, but there were some single women among the group. I sometimes too these friends out for dinner. It is not natural to dine alone at such restaurants, you know! I confess that twice weekly effective tax deductible money of Dr. Kido was used for these occasions.

My social life in Paris was very rich with good friends as I have told you above. Summing up, those two years in Paris seemed like a very long sabbatical leave in addition to the memorable work as the first Japanese family physician for the Japanese community in Paris. A sabbatical leave is a period of absence with pay every few years. You can do whatever you want during the leave, but most engage in intellectual activities like writing a book or participating in an educational program. For me it was a sabbatical leave, because it was a change from my 10 years at a national hospital and before a life long practice in Osaka.

The official reason for the practice in Paris was “an experiment of the ideal family medicine.” However, personally it was to experience myself the western culture which I've learned about since childhood, and to make the experience contribute the latter part of my life.
In Japan, Europe and the US are talked about in the same way. I've always felt that there is a considerable difference between the two cultures just like between Japan and the US. I've felt so from my personal experience in the US and the follow-up of European affairs with media and literature. My answer after 2 year life in Paris was "yes and no."
However, I believe there is a qualitative difference between imagining so, living in Japan, and feeling so, living in France. Since there is no space here to go into detail, so I'll tell you an interesting episode instead. It is how they feel towards each other's culture, including language. I found that French and American have an ambivalent feeling towards each other's culture. Although the French contempt for American culture is based on the feeling that Americans are vulgar, superficial, the French love Hollywood movies. (80% of movies shown in Paris are American made.) On the other hand, Americans make fools of themselves using traditional French language, which is an anachronism, but at the same time they love to use French expressions as an epigram. I benefitted from those ambivalent feelings as well. If I told a New Yorker that I was living in Paris for 2 years and spoke French fluently, he would show envy and praise me. The same reaction can be obtained from a Parisian by saying that I lived in New York for 3 years, (...bla bla bla).
The slight difference is that the reaction from the Parisian is somewhat cooler.

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