Paris / France

It has been almost a year since I unexpectedly moved from London to Paris, the city of flowers. Our French clients often asked me how I found living in London and Paris. If I am asked by French, I naturally give my honest impression that, "Living in Paris is perfect. Innumerable restaurants serve delicious meals of the highest quality, marche (markets) on the street corners provide fresh and colorful seasonal ingredients, and a thirty-minute drive will take you to the suburbs of Paris where a beautiful countryside, from which begins an unending vista of medieval castles and ruins as well as village chapels. I really love this fertile and affluent country." Both Paris and London have nearly everything, including verdant parks, suburban villages and old castles, moderate climates, cultures and history, easy access to arts, sports on lawns and open societies with law and order. It is very difficult to say which is better. If I were to express the differences, London is a business-like capital of investment and finance, while Paris is a historic city with fresh creativity yet maintaining traditional cultures and arts based on a slower life. They are like Tokyo and Kyoto in Japan.

In the historic city of Paris, there are restrictions and rules for buildings and their maintenance, and so the beautiful streets that fan out along the Seine are well organized and maintained by the country and the city. Under these restrictions, people in Paris tend to live in this small city of only a small number of square kilometers, for convenience. The city is replete of major museums, including the Louvre, Musee d’Orsay, Pompidou Centre, Musee de l’Orangerie, Musee Marmottan Monet, Picasso and Rodin. In addition, the Opera National de Paris, temples, palaces, theaters, famous restaurants and hotels, nightclubs, and prestigious clothing and accessory brands are also concentrated here, giving the city its tremendous appeal. It is also worth remembering that in many parts of the city, there are fine quality specialist shops that have been developed over the years by residents whose sense of beauty and eye for quality have been refined in this environment.

Apartments in Paris have pretty courtyards, and similarly courtyards with water are shared by houses located along the streets of Kyoto, which are laid out as a grid. Also, it seems there are commonalities between the finest restaurants or teahouses in Kyoto, which refuse to serve customers who lack a proper introduction, and the recognized restaurants of Paris which are choosy in who they serve. In many aspects, I deal with the French of Paris with much respect, as if they were people from Kyoto in Kansai.

The Eiffel Tower The Arc de Triomphe Burgundy The Louvres

Marubeni Group magazine "M-SPIRIT" VOL.28 (July, 2005)