Work Shoes

These work shoes were put here between the bars in this window to either air out or dry out. Click to enlarge to get a better look at the shoes. This type of shoe is worn by construction workers, gardeners, etc. Any worker who climbs on a ladder or walks on roofs would need this kind of shoe. The soles of the shoes are rubber or plastic and are grooved so that they are slip-proof. (Bars are put on most windows especially those on the first floor of the house.)

Rubber gloves drying on a back porch.

Shoes on the Roof

It rained today so I didn't go out to take pictures. I took this picture on my way home from the class observation the other day. Click on the picture to enlarge it. I've been wondering if they're still there on this blustery rainy day.

Why would anyone put shoes on the roof like this? There is a balcony around on the front.

Japanese Restaurant

At this Japanese restaurant, we had to take our shoes off. Fortunately, there were locked compartments for our shoes. (My shoes were taken by mistake while we were on vacation in August. See "Inside a Thatched Roof House".)



This is the key in the lock. We put our shoes in two separate compartments and removed the wooden keys.



There were no slippers provided so we walked through the restaurant on shiny, beautiful wooden floors. Papa had socks on, I was barefoot. We sat near the windows. These are the seats across from us. We stepped down to sit. There was a well under the table so we didn't have to sit Japanese-style (on our shins). We sat on cushions on benches. There was tatami or grass mats under the table.


There was a shoe horn provided to use on the way out.



In the vestibule, there was a place to put umbrellas. It wasn't a rainy day. These cheap white umbrellas were left here.

World Heritage Site: Inside a Thatched Roof House

On the way out of the area, we came across a thatched roof house in town. It allowed visitors to come in to look. As we walked in, a little sparrow flew into the entry hall where we had to leave our shoes. She lit on this ledge and patiently watched us. She had a nest of babies on another ledge. Actually, I took this picture as we were leaving.




This hearth was in the middle of the main room downstairs. The kettle was hanging from a ceiling beam. Look through the rooms at the outside door leading to the garden. Only wood and glass separate the inside from the outside. Shutters are still used at night and during storms.

Despite all the windows and doors, the house was rather dark. I was surprised to see the darkly stained wood throughout the house. I had never seen that in Japanese houses.




This was the eave of the roof outside a window downstairs. Note the metal brace.




The only way up to the upper floors were ladders like this one.




This picture was taken from the top of the steps looking down to the first floor. It was a very steep climb. There wasn't much head room at the top because of the beams. Up to the third floor was a shorter climb.




I'm glad I made it up to the third floor. This was the ceiling or the inside of the thatched roof.




Unfortunately these pictures turned out fuzzy. It is the inside view of the top of the roof. It was totally dark up there! The camera and I couldn't focus on anything. We didn't stay up there long.



The house was a small museum of items from long, long ago. On the first and second floors, there were bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling, but it was so dark it was difficult to take pictures. (It was allowed.) I managed to get a picture of these coats that were hanging from the ceiling. They are made of straw. They were used in the snow and in the rain.




Can you guess what this is? It is a pillow. I have seen these in movies of times long, long ago. They prevented "bed hair". You have probably seen how women wear their hair with kimono. Women were able to sleep and keep their hairstyle intact by lying on their sides. This pillow was put at the base of their skull under their ear.


We stumbled around in the dark for a while before deciding to leave. I stumped my toe twice and had to hobble down those ladders. I made it to the entrance only to find that my shoes were gone! The last thing I wanted was to put shoes on my aching toes, but I had to walk to the car. It was dark down there in the entrance. I couldn't believe my eyes or hands. I looked on and fingered every shelf. Several times.

Papa ran out onto the street. He looked for the woman who took my shoes by mistake. Meanwhile, I had plenty of time to try to get an adequate picture of the bird and her nest. It was a shot in the dark, so I was lucky one picture turned out.

Fortunately, I had another pair of shoes in the car. The shoes that were taken were old and dusty. They weren't worth going back for or having them sent to me. We left with just a good story. We laughed and speculated about the woman who took them by mistake. Wonder when or if she noticed? Wonder if she went back for her shoes? Bless her heart! The shoes she left behind were cleaner and newer. Mine were mighty old and worn down. It's hard to imagine she didn't feel the difference. I have to say that my old shoes were pretty comfortable and I kinda miss them now!

If there had been a suggestion box, I would have suggested better lighting in the entry hall or flashlights for the shoe cabinet. But then again, "such kind of things" (a common phrase my students here used to use) never happen here!

Preparing Summer Vegetables For Sale

The farmers in the field behind our house dug potatoes and left them for a couple of days. They then gathered them and loaded them onto their truck. They took them to wash and to sell.

There are other farmers in the neighborhood. One couple has been farming near our house for over 30 years. They sell their vegetables in a vegetable stand in a parking lot on the north side of our house. Both of them work in the fields and take turns sitting in the stand selling their vegetables. They usually sit in the back. There are two chairs in the front. Customers sometimes sit there to chat with them. The stand is open from 8:00 to 6:00 during the summer months. Their lunch break is from 12:00 to 1:00. The stand is closed in the winter.




Here she is preparing edamame for sale.




Here he is in the morning going off to get more vegetables.




These shoes have always interested me. They fit snugly and have very flat rubber soles. I'm sure they prevent slipping. I have seen construction workers and gardeners wear them, too.

School Days: More School Pictures

Students change into their indoor shoes at the entrance of the school. There are shelves for students to store their street shoes. Their indoor shoes stay in the shelves at night through the week. On Friday, students bring them home to wash.
There are two entrances at this school and each grade and class has its own area for shoes. Each student has his own shelf to put his shoes. It has his student number on it.




This is a shelf to dry artwork. It is rolled into the classroom and then out into the hall for the papers to dry.




I took this picture to show you the soap in the net hanging on the faucet. This sink is in the hallway outside the clasroom.




These baskets of sports equipment are in shelves along the wall on the way to the gym. See the American footballs?




These hula hoops and unicycles are at one of the entrances. There are more at another entrance.

Houses: Leave Your Shoes at the Door

In the entry hall of a Japanese home, there is a space to leave your street shoes. Slippers are worn in the house. Guest slippers are set out for visitors.

When you enter a Japanese house, you almost always have to step up into the house from the entry hall. You need to take your street shoes off before stepping up. According to Baba, that space is considered to be the outdoors so you don't step there in slippers, in barefeet or in socks. According to Baba, wearing socks is considered polite. Holes are embarrassing for everyone.

Here is how I enter: I take one shoe off and step up into a slipper. Then I slide the other shoe off and put the other slipper on. It takes good balance! Then I turn around and turn my shoes so the toes point toward the door. "That's manners." If you forget to turn your shoes around, the host or hostess will do it for you. That's courtesy. Some people take their shoes off and stand on top of them before putting on slippers. That seems easier.

Shoes that need to be tied are difficult to handle, but are not impossible. We have a stool in our entrance hall. I've seen them in catalogs so people are buying them. Shoes with velcro are easy. Clogs would be the easiest, but they're not comfortable with all the walking we have to do in Tokyo!

Houses: The Shoe Box

Here is the inside of Baba's shoe box, kutsubakko. See all the dust? That's street dust that is left at the door. I took the picture before we cleaned so you could see why we leave our shoes at the door. This shoe box is the cabinet on the right in the picture above. It is used for the family's shoes. Guests' shoes are left on the floor in the entry hall.

Note: In English, we would call this the "shoe cabinet". Papa translated it directly from the Japanese when I first met him so we call it the "shoe box" in English.

Houses: No Slippers on Tatami

Slippers are worn on wooden floors, rugs, tile and linoleum, but not on tatami. Slippers are left at the door of a washitsu, a room that has tatami or grass mat flooring. Slippers are also left at the door of the toilet. See the blog entry about toilets.

Oops! I forgot my manners! I staged this photo to show you the tatami. I should have turned the slippers around before taking this picture. Shoes and slippers are placed outside a door so that as you're leaving a room or house they're easy to slip into.

Wishing for a Sunny Day

There must be something important at this kindergarten tomorrow. The elementary school is having their Sports Day so maybe this school is having theirs, too. Why do I think so? See the white things hanging in the window? They are tera tera bozu made like the ghosts we make out of Kleenex. Tera tera bozu are hung in the window when you want a sunny day. So, before a picnic or an important outdoor event children sometimes hang these in the window so it won't rain.

Notice the shoes outside. This classroom opens onto the playground. Children and their teacher take their shoes off before going inside. The potted plants outside are tomato plants.

Note: I may change this photo later with one that shows the tera tera bozu better. After school, Little Brother said his class made some today, too.

School Days: Sports Day

The official time for Sports Day is in October, but both Big Sister's and Little Brother's were this May. Today was the junior high's. No ribbons are given to individual students. For this junior high, there were five teams, red, green, yellow, white and blue. They were competing with each class and grade. The teams got points for the number of "winners" of the events. There were mostly races and relays. There was tug of war.

Big Sister is part of a volunteer club that goes to nursing homes and festivals to perform Japanese dances. They perform at Sports Day, too. Members of other classes were taught a dance to perform with them. Here is a picture of Big Sister dancing just with her club members.

The other picture is the scene outside a conference room. Parents went in to get out of the sun to eat their lunch. they took boxed lunches. Street shoes are not worn inside the school so everyone left theirs outside the door. Looks like a lot of people went on home for lunch. There were a few of us eating our lunch outside in the sun, too.

School Days: Indoor Shoes and Cleaning Cloth

At school here, children take off their street shoes and leave them in shelves by the entrance. They wear indoor shoes that are used only for school. Kindergarteners and elementary school students in our area wear this type. Junior high students at our neighborhood school use regular sneakers. They wear them only inside the school and gym.

Children take a terry cloth towel called zokin. It is folded and sewn into a rectangle. They use it to clean the floors of their classroom and halls. The zokin sometimes has a name tag and a hoop for hanging. At Little Brother's school, the zokin is hung on a bar across the front of their desks to dry. Clothespins were taken to fasten the cloth around the bar.

Still after all the cleaning they do, the shoes get pretty dirty. They are brought home each Friday to wash. He brought them home today because of Golden Week. Now after three weeks of school, his shoes look nothing like this. They are gray. The zokin was gray, too. Imagine how dirty it would be if they wore street shoes in the school!

Another School Year

School starts in April here in Japan. There is about a two week vacation between the old school year and the new one. Cherry blossoms bloom during that time.

Children walk to school. They have a lot of things to carry the first week of the new school year. Each has its own bag. There is usually a schedule that tells students what to take each day.

One thing they have to have the first day is their indoor shoes. When they get to school, they take off their street shoes and put them on a shelf at the entrance. They then put on shoes that they only wear indoors at school. They are usually slip-ons made of canvas and rubber. They are kept at school on the student's shelf at the entrance. They are brought home on Fridays to be washed and dried. They are carried in bags like the ones in the picture. The one on the left is an old style. The new styles like the one on the right are cooler, huh?

Parents take house slippers to school for PTA meetings, class observations or open houses. They take off their street shoes and carry them in a plastic bag. I am sure that most people have a pair of slippers especially used for school visits. I have a pair that folds up and easily fits into my purse.