Shoes and You
The holiday season begins right after Thanksgiving, and in the U.S., gathering and other events are held actively until Christmas day. In Japan, it is the season for year-end parties. It's been three years since I moved to Chestertown, and I'm slowly getting used to life here. After enjoying fresh local oysters at a friend's house, we went to a party to which many locals had been invited. The house we went to was
beautifully furnished and decorated.
The best thing about Chestertown is that you can walk anywhere in town.
It is a real pleasure to walk through this historical and beautiful small town
and feel the changing seasons depicted on the river.
Whenever I visit such a beautiful house, I always have an issue.
I don’t know whether to keep my shoes on. Owners of the house said to me,
“You can either take your shoes off or wear them, it is up to you. I'm not as strict
as you are." Strict, indeed I am strict. No shoes in my house.
I was quite hesitant to take off my shoes. Most Americans don't take off their shoes even in their homes. Every time I go to someone's house, I hesitate whether to put them on or take them off. I struggle with my behavior, wondering what to do between
my ingrained habits and the habit of wearing shoes in other people's homes.
In Japan, the entrance door is usually a front door opening out or a sliding door.
When you pull the door open and enter the house, you will see an earthen floor space. There, you take off your shoes and step onto the raised floor. Then you change into indoor footwear. Most houses in the U.S. have an opening in door. A doormat is placed outside to clean your shoes, and then you push the door to enter the house. Shoes are not taken off. I tried to convert my house to the Japanese entrance structure by stripping the floor to create steps, but found it impossible. I couldn't come up with an idea,
so the bare floor has already been exposed there for three years,
and the entranceway is unfinished.
The entrance halls in Japan have such a stepped structure that it is challenging to put on shoes. I once accompanied a group of Americans visiting Japan on business.
They visited several local textile mills, where designers from well-known fashion houses struggled repeatedly to put on and take off their fashionable boots.
I remember feeling sorry for them.
I am reminded of two stories I have seen on TV about shoes strictly prohibited.
In the American TV drama Sex and the City, Carrie Bradshaw lost her $485
Manolo Blahnik shoes in episode 9 (season 6, 2003) when she was invited to
a baby shower at a friend's house where shoes are strictly prohibited. Invited guests must remove their shoes outside the apartment door. Carrie refused. But everyone does, except Carrie, so she gives up and takes off her shoes to enter. But when Carrie goes out the front door to leave, her shoes are gone. What a mess. The story depicts the critical difference between the single woman's obsession with shoes for her identity
and the basic concept of a married woman raising a child.
The other is an episode of the HBO TV series Succession, in which the Roy family boss, the grandson of Logan's brother, Greg, is on a large luxury boat in episode 10 (season 2, 2019). When Greg decided to get on the boat wearing his boat shoes,
he was told that shoes are strictly prohibited. Apparently it is customary not to wear shoes on the boat. (Strictly prohibited because oil and dirt from shoes will damage
the teak wood?) Since Greg was not a member of the Roy family from the beginning, he had no idea about the customs of the upper class, so he tried to adapt by imitating the boat shoes that rich people wear in the summer in Maine and the Vineyard,
but he made a blunder. The Roy family looked down on him.
Surprisingly, many countries have the tradition of taking off shoes
before you enter a home.
Which countries have the custom of removing shoes at home or in places of worship? Eastern Europe, Southeastern Europe, Asia, Turkey, Iran, Arab countries, Canada, Germany, Switzerland, Scandinavian countries according to my Google search.
The main reason for the "no shoes" culture is to keep dirt from the outside of the house, but there is also a climate-related origin to the custom. As for Japan,
because of its hot and humid climate, houses are built to allow air to pass under
the floor and to keep the floor dry. Inevitably, there is a difference in level between
the outside and the inside of the house. This "going up" entrance seems to have
become one of the reasons for taking off shoes, and has become a necessity of life
as a means of making the house more comfortable.
Perhaps another different concept, the reason for a shoe-wearing culture is that shoes are part of the body and mind? Is it a gesture that symbolizes personality?
You see people on TV putting their feet on the table (with their shoes on!)
and making a phone call...is this a gesture of confidence?
In France, they do not make customers sit high on chairs to polish their shoes.
I heard on a radio program that the custom of polishing shoes from above
is not allowed by French pride.
The habits of keeping shoes on and not wearing shoes are influenced by
the environment in which each of us was born and raised,
and I think that these influences are deeply rooted in our consciousness.
Shoes may have physical, social, and psychological importance.
The physical object of shoes has led me to explore the relationship
between our history and identity.
Month of November scarf is “Shoes and You” Inspired by Manolo Blahnik.
Thank you for reading my newsletter November, 2023.
11/29/2023
-Yuh Okano
