To a terrified world the I Am Turning Japanese panic of 1993 seemed to come from nowhere. It started when a wall in Mexico City was spray-painted with the slogan "Me estoy volviendo Japonés". Within seconds a subway station in London was defaced with the graffito "I am turning Japanese" and the side wall of a Paris cafe received the words "Je deviens un Japonais". Virtually at the same time, worldwide, the same slogan appeared on walls, hoardings, fences, and highway flyovers. It is believed this came from a "new wave" cult of synthblokes from 1980 called The Vapors.