A Love Letter to Paris

I was feeling particularly nostalgic about my childhood in Paris tonight, and I remembered this speech I wrote when I was 17. It is pretty silly and a little cringeworthy, but I wanted to discreetly share it here.

Do you remember your first love? I just turned 6 when I met mine. Don’t worry, this speech is not about some sappy romance. I can’t tell when, how or why exactly I fell in love with Paris, but by the time I realized, I saw Paris in all my habits, my hobbies, myself.

I come from a little town in Japan in the middle of nowhere, that nobody has heard of. So moving to Paris, was as you can imagine, quite the culture shock. I still remember the first time I came to Paris. I fell asleep during the flight and when I woke up in the hotel, the first thing I saw was the elegant streets and fancy buildings of Trocadéro outside my window. The first thing I said was, “Am I in Cinderella’s castle?”. For 6-year old me back then, I felt like I fell in a Disney movie.

I guess moving to Paris is my own Cinderella story, and I am not simply talking about my wardrobe transformation after my mom discovered Les Soldes. France is my Prince Charming who gave me the wealth of art and culture.

The closest place to a museum they had near my Japanese hometown is called the “bridge museum” which was a museum in Akashi, a small city near my town, about a bridge we had there. Yes, just about a single bridge. Paris not only has over 130 museums, but what I find so wonderful about this city is how much they encourage young people to discover art. Most museums are free for those under 18, and to everyone every first Sunday of the month. My mother took to a museum every month and even though at the time, neither of us had any knowledge about all the paintings of the Virgin Mary at the Louvre that looked identical to us, I really believe this early exposure to art was crucial to the appreciation for art I have today.

The first summer I went back to Japan after moving to Paris, we visited one of my mom’s old friends. There, I noticed a fridge magnet of a sunflower painting she had, and told her that I really like this Van Gogh painting. This simple remark was quite the surprise to both my mom and her friend, it was unexpected that a 6-year old in some remote Japanese town recognizes Van Gogh. I was actually the first to recognize Van Gogh out of any of her visitors. My mom always tells me this story, saying how lucky I am to have grown up in such an environment, and how much Paris could change you in just one year.

Another thing I admire about France is that everyone has the right to healthcare and education, regardless of background. Paris has many public cultural centers offering classes with very accessible prices, that vary with your family’s income. Even for those that are better off, a week of tennis camp only cost 25€ a day, with lunch included! This is unimaginable where I come from, where only wealthy people learn to play tennis. With so many things I could do here, so many I wanted to do, and nothing stopping me, I just couldn’t help ending up learning over 7 instruments, trying over 20 sports. Oops.

One final way Paris left its impression in me is the voice it gave me. Parisians are known for always complaining. This culture is quite different from how back in Japan, we are taught to never question order and you must conform to society. But here, the protests and strikes that happen so often, that the metros never function, inspired and taught me it is okay to not follow the crowd, you should speak up no matter how small your voice seems. In Paris, I marched for gender equality. I marched for climate change, I marched for LGBT rights, I marched for everything I believe in. I marched for myself.

Looking at all the ways I am me today, and I am so happy to be, Paris is really the one fateful meeting that shaped my identity. Thank you, for showing me art that gave me new pair of eyes to discover the world. Thank you, for teaching me music with which I make so many joyful memories and meet wonderful people. Thank you, for opening all the doors for me and letting me be myself.

I want end on a quote by Hemingway: “If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life, it stays with you, for Paris is a moveable feast.”