I very much like the fact that Japanese people take their shoes off in the house, but there are times when being obliged to do so in a public building can be a hassle, or at least less than ideal. For example, at M Jr.’s recent elementary school graduation ceremony, I dusted off my suit (purchased for a friend’s wedding about 25 years ago, it cost about 500 quid from Aquascutum in Selfridge’s on Oxford Street and is still going strong) for one of its rare outings. Although a lot of schools are dispensing with the shoes-off-indoors policy because it makes evacuating in an emergency either too time-consuming or messy when the kids come back indoors, on this occasion I was obliged to carry a spare pair of shoes. This isn’t a problem if you’re just wearing an everyday outfit, but I don’t think it looks great to wear a suit with slippers or trainers (sneakers, that is), even though a lot of Japanese men compromise by doing exactly that. I partially solved the problem by wearing Crocs in the car and up to the entrance of the school sports hall, changing into my “proper” leather shoes, then leaving them on when we went outside, with the excuse that I wouldn’t go back inside with my now dirty shoes on. (Another thing I often do – for example, at school open days – is to just wait until there’s no one looking when I enter the building and walk straight in without changing my shoes at all, rebel without a cause that I am.)
In a similar way, when I take M Jr. II to his ballet lessons, rather carrying spare shoes or wearing the slippers provided, I simply walk around inside with my socks on. Particularly in the run-up to the annual ballet class show, these lessons can go on for as long as two or three hours, so I often take my laptop, secrete myself in one of the empty classrooms in the same building (which also functions as a cram school), and do some work. This picture was taken in the upstairs loo, and as you’ll know if you live in Japan or have spent time here, toilets often have an extra pair or three of dedicated slippers, which you’re supposed to change into when you have to answer the call of nature.
Not long ago, I took a break to use this toilet and realised why it is that wearing dedicated toilet slippers is actually a good idea. The floor was pristine, so there was no danger of stepping in a puddle of water or the splashes from someone having washed their hands the sink, but as a man, my aim from a standing position isn’t necessarily 100% accurate all the time, and sure enough, I managed to miss the urinal – not with a deluge, I might add, but with enough wee to make walking around in my socks for the rest of the time that I was waiting for M Jr. II not quite comfortable.
So the moral of the story is, either take some spares or use whichever ones are on offer, even if they aren’t a perfect match for your outfit.
