(目次 = Table of contents)
The First Thing to Do When You Come Home in Japan
There is a custom that people take off their shoes at home in Japan. It was natural for me to live with this custom and I hadn’t doubted anything about it until I learned that there are countries where people don’t take off their shoes at home. The first thing I do when I come back home is to take off my shoes and to wear slippers for indoor use, but there are also Japanese people who don’t use slippers after taking off their shoes at home because of tatami rooms or just their preference. (It is regarded as bad manners to walk on tatami mats with slippers.)
About Shoe Shelves or Lockers at Schools in Japan
If you like to watch Japanese animation, you might have seen that there are shoe shelves or lockers at schools and students use them when they take out indoor shoes from the shelves and put them on after taking off their outdoor shoes. My husband seemed to be surprised when I told him the indoor shoes system at kindergartens, elementary, middle and high schools in Japan. On the other hand, students can keep wearing their shoes at universities and colleges in general.
A Culture Shock for Me
I still remember that it was shocking for me to see that people kept wearing their shoes at home in American dramas or movies when I was still a teenager. A few years later, I had a chance to join a homestay program to study English in the U.K. At the time during my U.K. stay, I felt it was okay to keep wearing shoes at home after I got used to it. However, presently I prefer taking my shoes off at home since I can’t feel relaxed with shoes. There are some other beneficial points, and one of them is helping to reduce the frequency of cleaning floors because taking off shoes can prevent dirt and dust from coming into your home.
Westernization Didn’t Change All Lifestyles in Japan
People’s lifestyles in Japan have been westernized and it’s very common for people to use chairs and beds instead of square Japanese floor cushions and futon on tatami mats. It depends on the individual how often they clean their rooms, and I can understand that some people think it’s okay to clean floors less often if they take off their shoes at home. As far as I know, people with babies or small children try to keep floors as clean as possible because babies or small children lick their hands very frequently and put toys into their mouths after crawling and playing on floors.
What I Have Been Curious About
Me
I have heard that there are more people who take off their shoes at home in the U.S. after COVID, but it is not so common, right?
Do you think American parents don’t mind very much if their baby is crawling on the floor after they’ve walked around with shoes?
Husband
That’s how I grew up in the U.S. I don’t think people care.
Japanese people are too strict about cleanliness.
Me
…Well, that’s how I grew up….(T_T)
My husband hardly catches a cold or gets sick. He insists that his current immune system is strong because his family didn’t take off their shoes when he was a baby. His actions such as crawling on the floor and putting some small trash into his mouth may have helped him to make his immune system stronger. I wonder if his immune system is genetically strong in the first place, or if it became strong thanks to his special training when he was a baby.
