In 2020, Covid-19 attacked people everywhere in the world, and it caused a tremendous number of casualties…in Japan as well.
Japan eased the alert for that in late May, but now the number of infections are increasing again, so some people say this might be the 2nd wave.
However, the situation of Japan is better than in Europe or in the US, in spite of Japan being much closer to China, and being one of the most popular destinations among Chinese tourists.
That’s why lockdowns, like what other countries did, was not implemented in this country. The alert was only a request for people to stay home – it’s not mandatory.
Honestly, I had a strong fear until last month while watching the situation of Italy, Spain, France and the UK. And when the cluster happened in NY, I was so sure it would happen in Tokyo very soon.
So far, it has not happened in Japan. Of course it’s horrible that nearly 1,000 people have died so far (late June). And there is still suspicion that Japan has not carried on enough tests compared to other countries…
But it’s obvious that the rate of victims in Japan is far less than that of Western countries.
Compared to other Asian countries like Taiwan, or South Korea, Japan was so behind when it comes to the measures for Covid-19. So I don’t want to say Japan is doing well. I always criticize the current Japanese government (LDP) for their slowness. Still it’s possible to say…Japan is better than Western countries in spite of the fact that Japanese government was not better at handling it….DEFINITELY NOT.
There are some possible reasons people discuss. I read an article about the change (mutation) in the virus in European countries. Allegedly many of the Japanese casualties were infected by the European type virus because more Japanese students travelled in the late February to March when they graduated from colleges (school year starts in April in this country).
I don’t know about biology or medicine at all, so I cannot say anything, but some Japanese habits could have been factors to prevent the virus from spreading to more people.
So this time, I would like to talk about the Japanese sense for “shoes” in a sanitary aspect.
Japan has a strict BORDER for shoes-on or off. That is very specific.
You got to this blog, so I think you already know Japanese people don’t wear shoes in their houses.
I lived in England and France in the past, so I know nowadays many Westerners also change from shoes to slippers or something indoors.
However, I still find complete differences between Japan and the rest of the world including other Asian countries…even in the countries or regions where people have the habit of taking their shoes off when going inside. Korea could be similar with us… I am not so sure because I have never been there.
I have not been in China either, but I can assert that they are different about this habit from my experience in socialising with Chinese students who were from many parts of China when I was studying in England.
That’s actually “the BORDER” Japanese people have in mind everywhere and sometimes we discreetly mind when we see people from other countries not respecting it.
For example, in Thailand where I stayed for several weeks twice, I saw their habit of taking their shoes off before entering rooms.
In temples, too. I had to take my shoes off when entering the buildings in which Buddha statues were enshrined.
But I was a bit confused. Because there was NO BORDER. People removed their shoes in front of the shoe shelves and then went toward the entrance of the building.
That allows people to walk barefoot or with socks on the path where other people step on with shoes.
“It’s meaningless…” I muttered to myself, because the path was already CONTAMINATED with everybody’s shoes and it CONTAMINATES everyone’s bare sole or socks… and the CONTAMINATED bare soles and socks eventually CONTAMINATE the inside…
And in some western countries, I saw some people have habits of taking their shoes off “AROUND” (means, no strict border!) the entrance, then changing to slippers. However, they sometimes step in the room to tie the laces!! Actually my ex partner was French, and he was exceptionally careful about sanitation contrary to typical French people, so he always took his shoes off at the entrance. I was relieved. But one day I caught him tying the laces of his shoes sitting on the sofa in the living room… then I couldn’t help it and said, “What are you doing?! Then this room is CONTAMINATED!!”
That’s Japanese sense, actually. Sounds too much?…Well, not every Japanese is so sensitive and they do not panic if you do not do it their way. They understand. And actually I didn’t find the “BORDERLESS” habits overseas annoying. It was just a difference to me.
But you need to keep it in your mind, you should follow this rule in Japan except in Western style hotels or facilities (many western style private houses also have this rule).
How do Japanese people respect the “BORDERS” for shoes?
Here is the Google search result of Genkan (玄関）which means “entrance space” of Japanese houses.
So, you can see the small space which is slightly lower than the hallway.
I drew a typical entrance space of an average condo in Tokyo.
Your shoes are only allowed in the small space. You MUST NOT cross the border without removing your shoes. It’s the last thing you can do in Japanese residence.
Besides, your foot without shoes should cross the border immediately. You MUST NOT stand on the shoes area, otherwise your feet are not allowed inside because you trod on the “shoes area (kutsunugi 靴脱ぎ）”.
That’s the way it is.
Japanese people think of shoes as really dirty
Aside from my personal experiences with Westerners, some scenes from American dramas or films are full of behaviours which startle Japanese people.
Japanese people sometimes stay in hotels (mostly Western styles unless they specifically want to stay in Japanese style), so they are used to keep wearing shoes inside bedrooms (Many Japanese tourists bring their own slippers for travelling overseas, though).
And of course everyone knows Western people don’t have the entrance space for removing shoes in their houses.
So, what gives Japanese a huge shock in films….?
A. Jumping into beds wearing shoes, touching the arms of the back of sofas with shoes, etc…
Very very shocking, indeed.
Especially, beds.
Sometimes, I saw drunken people fell asleep on beds without removing shoes. Their shoes were completely between the sheets on the bed…
It really disgusts Japanese people.
Many Japanese take a shower or bath every night. It’s basically because they don’t want to POLLUTE their futons or beds.
If you read Japanese language, you might come across typical complaints about young/modern parents’ carelessness.
That is, on trains, young/modern parents allow their children to turn their bodies around to see the views from windows on the seats. Then their shoes TOUCH the seats! At least parents can remove the shoes and hold them!!
The complaints are always seen in the media. I’m in my 40’s, so I remember the time when the Internet didn’t exist, and those complaints were always on the reader’s post corner of newspapers or magazines, and now, on the Internet board. Very typical.
Anyway, many Japanese people even feel upset about seeing kids’ shoes touching the seat.
To be blunt, that’s one of the typical complaints about Chinese tourists in the past 10 years…
I saw a Chinese tourist mother stood her toddler with its shoes on the seat!!! Unbelievable—–!
That’s not me complaining, I have seen such complaints on the Internet countless times. I am so sure that Westerners do the same thing but the number of Chinese tourists is overwhelming.
I also came across a twitter post with a picture in which his 4-year-old kid was chilling out in a big business class seat of long distance flight. The shoes of the kid were on the edge of the seat because of the big size of the seat and the short height of the kid.
Now it’s not hard to imagine that the post was full of comments criticizing him for the lack of father’s responsibility.
“Why didn’t you remove the shoes of your son? You can afford the business class seat but you and your family are suitable for a coach!”
“Your behaviour as a parent is not classy enough for the seat!”
Yeah…I felt like those criticisms were caused by jealousy to some extent, but it really disgusts Japanese to see someone’s shoes touching the seat (especially that it’s a bed in flight).
Later on, I saw the father posted another tweet to apologize!
Japan is a hard collectivist country. It is said that many Asian countries are also collectivistic, but in my opinion, Japan is by far the hardest. From my point of view, Chinese people are much closer to Western way in this respect.
Do you think it could explain why Japan is way better than Western countries while the politicians are so incompetent?
