A (non) Scientific Look at Women's Shoes

Shoes in Japan can be divided into two categories: grandma shoes and fashion shoes. There's nothing in between. And both are worn no matter what the occasion: be it formal dinner, or grocery shopping, they adhere to their choices.

Grandma shoes are practical: low/no heel, securely fitted, supportive, in taupe or black. These are worn exclusively by old women.

Fashion shoes are not practical: high heels, badly fitted, cheap, with at least two trends (if not more) per shoe. They are meant to be disposable (since fashion changes so quickly here), and as such are made of cheap materials, and sold small-medium-large. It's next to impossible to find an actual shoe size on anything other than an athletic shoe- and I'm pretty sure they're only on those because they're sold in other countries as well.

The problem with selling shoes this way, is that it affects people's walks. When your shoes don't fit right, you adjust your walk to make them the least uncomfortable- usually resulting in an odd gait. In this country, it's clomping. People don't stroll down the street with their feet hitting heel-to-toe. They clomp, doing their best to keep their shoes on their feet. They also walk pigeon toed, from what I can only assume is blisters*. It's really painful to watch.

There's quite the dichotomy between the two styles, and it's really interesting to me that there is so little focus on how things fit in the fashion shoes. But I guess it shouldn't surprise me when most of the actual clothing around here (worn by women who are half my size) could double as maternity wear. This is definitely part of Japanese culture that I'm struggling to understand.