A Silly Shoe Story...

Now we all know that Japanese people never wear shoes inside (slippers only or inside shoes at school) and Japanese people know that we do wear shoes inside... But I had a lot of difficulty explaining in class today that there are no rules about where you wear your shoes. Sometimes I wear my shoes inside and sometimes I don't. Sometimes I wear slippers, sometimes I have bare feet. Sometimes I even go outside in bare feet! ("You go outside with no shoes?!!!"). They never go outside in bare feet!

The class was about "must" and "mustn't". These were the sentences provided in the text book:
In Japan:
You mustn't wear your shoes inside.
You mustn't wash in the bathtub.
You must drive on the left side of the road.

In America:
You wear your shoes inside.
You must wash in the bathtub.
You must drive on the right side of the road.

When the students asked me if I wore my shoes inside in Japan, I pointed to the first rule.

The students were a little confused about washing in the bath until I explained it was so the floor doesn't get wet. And I found out that Japanese people don't wash in the bath because other people in the family use the water. It also works because their whole bathroom is a giant shower with a bath next to it.

They were rather amazed that we had a few things in common - like driving on the same side of the road and we both use degrees celcius / kilometres / kilos.

But they just could not comprehend that I don't wear special slippers to go to the toilet!! "So what do you wear when you go to the toilet?" "Whatever is on my feet at the time - sometimes shoes, sometimes bare feet."
The way they giggled behind their hands and repeated it to each other made me feel like I had said something scandalous! I must admit that I didn't really comprehend their reaction! I also made some fast readjustments to my thinking, "this is actually important, who would have thought putting on a pair of slippers to go to the toilet would have been that important?!"

I now have the dilemma that I now know how important this is to them, so maybe I should start putting on toilet slippers.... Honestly, it just seems more trouble than it's worth - it's another shoe change into a pair of plastic slippers that usually look quite small, just to go to the toilet. (I have discovered that my size 8/1/2 feet are huge! Ladies LL (Large Large) shoes are about a size 7 and they don't make ladies shoes any bigger than that!).

In Japan - so many rules about shoes
In Australia - wear whatever you feel like!

It will be interesting to how much has rubbed off when I return to Australia.....

By the way, did you know that you often have to take your shoes off at restaurants and in fitting rooms at shops? At restaurants there will sometimes be lockers, otherwise they just go in the entrance. No, I haven't lost any shoes yet, but then again, I don't think anyone would want giant shoes! I guess that also makes it easier to tell them apart. All the kids at school have their name written on their shoes!