September 20 2018

A Travelogue, Shiatsu in Paris (part 1 of 2)
Kazuo Watanabetranslation Hiroki Koizumi

From 20 to 23 August 2018, there was the opportunity for a Shiatsu workshop in
the capital of France, Paris. I wasnʼt really sure how it goes working out with thepeople who werenʼt familiar with Namikoshi shiatsu. But with a lot of support, I
could make it all four days workshop with a great result. Every morning in Paris, ahuge cup of hot chocolate was my kick-starter of a day. Here comes the report!

Hot chocolate in the morning

Monge StreetIn the middle of Paris, from Notre Dame Cathedral, walking down to the southfor 25 minutes along Monge Street, through the beautiful curvatures of buildings,and passing some brilliant Brasseries (Cafe restaurants), there was a triangularbuilding appeared. A little further to Mouffetard Street, you can see some local
people enjoining wine in front of each brasserie. Back to the triangular building,climbing up a spiral staircase behind the entrance. On the 3rd floor, this is theInstitute Français de Shiatsu (IFS). You can see Saint-Medal church from thewindow by hearing a clear tone of their bell. In the room, the white wall washolding a scroll of Japanese calligraphy which principal Michelle's wifeʼshandwritten. Then the hands-on room with sliding doors has such an elegant
interior decorated in Eastern and Western eclectic.
IFS was founded In 1996 by Principal Michelle Odrul. Today, more than 1001

students enroll every year, and they take 4 to 5 years to acquire skills andknowledge. Classes are 200 days a year. Taking a single unit of a course for 1 to 3days, then 5 days of self-study follows.
In the hands-on Room, there is a Namikoshi Shiatsu Pressure points chart andmeridian chart by Shizuto Masunaga sensei (heʼs the one the very first graduatedstudent of our school!), But neither Namikoshi nor ZEN, here they study Nakazono
shiatsu. This is one of shiatsu style that Principal Michelle, over 40 years ofexperience of shiatsu, has studied from Nakazono Sensei. He told me that itʼs notquite the same as Masunaga sensei's ZEN Shiatsu. This pressure point chart wasbrought back when Ms. Sayori Okada visited our chairman in 2004.

Institut Français de Shiatsu

Saint-Medal church from the window

Practice RoomNamikoshi shiatsu points

Principal Michelle always has been interested to study Namikoshi Shiatsu andgive the same opportunities to his students. But the time just went so quickly, hefinally set up all the environment to invite the Japanese shiatsu teachers after 202

years since the school foundation. As a start, visiting our school and took atreatment session at our treatment center, and met the chief manager Yuji
Namikoshi in 2016. Then he just realized that thereʼs a language barrier which isenough to be on his way expressing his passion.
In 2017, he sent an email to request his second meeting in Japan. It wascoincidentally delivered to me and I happen to become the responsible person forthis request. His email was a request for the second meeting. This time he wascoming with his interpreter, so he could talk about his plan with more details.
In April 2018, Principal Michelle has visited our school with his wife, three
instructors (David, Jacques, and Bertrand), and Ms. Matsuda, the interpreter.
Principal Michelleʼs passion and honesty made our chairman decided to accept
IFSʼs request readily. All the arrangement left was going to be my job.

There is a graduate living in France
who sends our chairman a Christmas
card every year. I was not sure about
the French shiatsu situation, so I wrote
her a letter, asking for some advice forthis coming shiatsu workshop in Paris.
Even my letter wasn't really the best,
but I received a polite reply. This is apart of it.
An advice from a graduate“Shiatsu is widely accepted in France.
Some magazine article said that eventhe celebrities receive it. But in reality,

the opportunities to receive the original Namikoshi shiatsu are limited.
Most of the therapists are under the influence of Masunaga shiatsu which basedon the theory that corrects deficiency and excess. They love theories. This would
be your big role to introduce Namikoshi shiatsu for the people who have believed inMasunaga Shiatsu. Just stay confident. I think the way of shiatsu is theclientsʻ sensation that comes from the full body shiatsu treatment with keeping thethree principles of pressure, right finger works, right direction of pressure, and therhythm.“3The day of my departure toParis-Charles de Gaulle (CDG) Airport.
My flightsʼ duration was roughly 12hours and local time to arrive was 5 pm.
When Iʼve got the arrival gate of CDG
Airport, I found a man holding a card ofmy name. I tried to speak up my very
first speaking in French. “Bonjour!”“Konnichiwa” The guy answered inJapanese. Both of us released out the
only words we knew.
During the cab ride to my hotel, my first guy in France taught me some Frenchwords. The basic way to say hello other than Bonjour, and how to count1 to 20. Why 20? Because I needed it to teach the abdominal region shiatsu.
In this vacation season in Paris, a lot of residents are out of the city and you
would see less traffic. I took only 40 minutes riding through the highway thatusually jammed, I was at my hotel which located between Notre Dame Cathedraland the building of IFS.
Principal Michelle was right there waiting for me. For the first time in six months.
We had a walk along Monge street toward the Saint-Medal church, and a little tourof IFS classrooms, then he took me to a brasserie, enjoyed both the dinner and thenight view of a church at Mouffetard Street. At that moment, I already started
feeling like we are close friends, but actually, it was our first time to have a realconversation. Their great gift of spending such a good time there made me relaxed
and loosened up all my nerves to make this so far.

In front of the Louvre

The Louvre
Continue to the part 2 of 24