November 10, 2004
Watch your feet
To visit a Japanese home is a true honor, but it can be difficult for a foreigner when it comes to “feet habits”. In a traditional Japanese house there are four different areas with four different “feet rules” so to speak. In a Japanese apartment there are usually just three areas. I’ll explain to you more closely.
When you enter a Japanese house you leave your shoes in the hall on “ground level”, you take a step up (but you’re still in the hall) and put on your slippers. If you enter a room with tatami mats (traditional straw mats) you must take of your slippers. When entering the bathroom you leave your slippers behind and put on a new pair just to be used in there. A regular Japanese apartment doesn’t have tatami mats, which makes it easier with just three different areas.
In Sweden it’s very simple. You take off your shoes at the door and let them stay there as long as you’re indoors. That’s why it was hard at first to adjust and take off my shoes or slippers several times while visiting a Japanese friend. In my apartment in Shin-Koiwa I made it simple and don’t wear slippers at all…
