You’ve got foot odor. Your asian friend invites you to his or her house to eat dinner with their family. You are excited. “Wow, I get to enter an asian household.. I wonder what it’ll be like.” Stepping up the stairs, images of oriental things like paintings and Chinese Calligraphy race through your mind. “Do they have a table with chairs, or a kneeling table?” You continue walking up the porch, until finally the door opens. It’s exactly as you think it will be, but better. The priceless china, the beautiful paintings on the walls. The fan hanging over the sofa, and the staple personal computer in the other corner of the room. It is a sight that you will never forget, an immersive experience into the lives of your asian friends. However, you look down to see shoes and sandals sprawled across the entrance to the living room. “Oh… no…”
Remember a previous post about the pride asians have in their own country’s products? You know, that one that talks about how asians love Michelle Kwan, Yao Ming, and Yi Jianlian? Here’s the truth about the statement. It holds true for pretty much every asian product. Kids in Chinese and Vietnamese sweatshops toil hour after hour, day after day, to supply the world with casual and athletic running shoes. Needless to say, Asians are very prideful of items that their own kind have had to work to make. They will also work hard to make sure that these products are used to the max in order to outlast the “Made in China” moniker. There are many other reasons:
1) Cleanliness: Asians love a clean house. On New Years day, it is a sign of whether or not a family will be successful. They know what shoes have been through. If you have ever been to the men’s bathroom, you will know why shoes shouldn’t be worn indoors. What about that dog crap that you stepped on walking to school, or even that gum that stuck to your shoes while running outside? Asians have enough to worry about, and cleaning floors with shoe marks is not one of them.
2) Tradition: In many asian cultures, it is customary to take off one’s shoes upon entering a house or restaurant. Asian parents and elders will scold at you if they see shoes covering your feet in their households. Especially in Japan is this evident, where you will receive a pair of slippers upon entrance. They will also give you bathroom slippers to avoid those slippery puddles of urine. It’s a great idea if you really think about it.
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3) Geography and Location: A great deal of Asian countries are located near the tropic of Cancer, which is very humid and temperate year round. The coldest day in Southern Vietnam during winter is one of the warmest days of the year in Southern California. Asians have had to cope with living in these humid and wet conditions without damaging the inners of their houses (don’t forget the foot odor). Over time, this has caused Asian people to develop horrible sweat regulation techniques, which results in foot odor. We must also remember that households for the longest time have had hardwood floors. Carpet has only grown in popularity over the last 30 years.
Now imagine an asian person walking into a white household. “Do I need to take my shoes off?” “Oh no.. it’s alright.” The asian person continues walking through the room, extremely cautious of their every step and being careful not to ruin the delicate folds in the carpet. They think about all the dirt and grime in the carpet, and suddenly, the walls start to close in, cornering the asian and intimidating them with its evil dirtiness. The asian person will recover and play along for a while, until they finally can’t take it anymore. “Can I go to the restroom?” “It’s around the corner” “Alright.” They take their shoes off in the restroom. “Gosh.. I’m so glad I’m asian.”
There you have it. Asians have an in-negligible right to take their shoes off. Asian people have worked so hard to be able to produce shoes for the world. Their pride and spirit will be crushed if those shoes ever touch their own carpets. Not wearing shoes indoors also preserves cleanliness (which in America is seen as close to Godliness), tradition, and serves as a testament to adaptations asians have made to their geographical dispositions. Must I say the next sentence? No, but I will: Asians like Not Wearing Shoes Indoors.
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29 responses so far ↓
1 Dr. Chan // Feb 25, 2008 at 6:41 pm
i make my guests take off their shoes before entering.
2 Snobby // Feb 26, 2008 at 11:11 am
Where can I score a J-Me shoe rack, locally, like the one in the picture.
San Francisco.
3 Chinkygirl // Feb 26, 2008 at 3:44 pm
i hate it when i can’t find my shoes in the big lump in front of the door
4 J // Feb 27, 2008 at 6:05 am
Minnesotans also like to take their shoes off at the door. It’s because of the winter season and the dirt/slush covering everything. Northeast/Southern people just don’t care if you track the hobo’s urine from the subway into the house. I don’t understand why.
5 Anonymous // Feb 27, 2008 at 11:51 am
“The coldest day in Southern Vietnam during winter is one of the warmest days of the year in Southern California.” I find this statement inaccurate…Have you ever spent a day in southern China in wintertime?
6 Matthew C // Feb 28, 2008 at 11:58 am
I wish more people in Britain would adopt this most excellent custom.
I dedicated an whole blog to this subject.
7 BS96 // Feb 29, 2008 at 1:42 pm
In an invite to a party at my house, I stated that “mine is a shoes-off environment”.
Naysayers scoffed and said a shoes-off house party couldn’t be done.
But alas, it was. Arriving guests couldn’t kick off their shoes fast enough w/in a five-foot radius of the door.
8 Matthew C // Mar 1, 2008 at 2:32 am
BS96, I did exactly the same. I wrote on the invitation- “Shoes off at the door would be appreciated. Feel free to bring some slippers.”
Everyone took their shoes off and they all had a great time.
And I could not smell anybody’s feet.
9 StereoTypicalAsian // Mar 5, 2008 at 7:39 am
It’s cleaner that way. We let our non-asian people to keep their shoes on if that makes them more comfortable. We took the carpet out for that reason and replaced with hardwood. It’s much cleaner that way. Carpet traps all kind of dirts.
10 anon // Mar 6, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Taking off your shoes before entering a house is also common in Hawaii. But idk if that is because of hawaiian or Japanese influences.
… i never knew taking off shoes was an asian thing.. I thought all people did it….
11 ACanadian // Mar 6, 2008 at 3:20 pm
Am I to understand that the majority of North Americans DON’T take their shoes off when entering a home? If so, that’s freaking disgusting. And I’m typically known as a slob. It’s a matter of hygiene and respect as far as I’m concerned… shoes are naturally dirty from being in contact with everything from mud to dogshit to who knows what is lying on the ground outside… and having that shit tracked around one’s house can’t be good. Not to mention what that does to your feet… feet aren’t meant to be constrained like that for long periods of time. It’s bad for your bones and muscles, and it causes bacterial and fungal problems very easily.
And lmao @ the “reason” Asians take their shoes off being primarily because of pride in the products they produce. That’s the funniest stuff I’ve hard all day.
12 Amy // Mar 11, 2008 at 5:08 pm
@Anonymous:
” “The coldest day in Southern Vietnam during winter is one of the warmest days of the year in Southern California.” I find this statement inaccurate…Have you ever spent a day in southern China in wintertime? ”
No, that statement is actually correct. Note that the writer said “Southern Vietnam” and not Southern China. Southern China is right next to Northern Vietnam.
In Southern Vietnam, the lowest temperature in the last 20 years or so was 20 degrees (Celcius).
It’s much colder in Northern Vietnam though.
13 anonymous // Mar 18, 2008 at 5:05 am
Personally it’s not just about hygiene or customs, the main factor is comfort.
Why would you want to bring dirt and grime into your house anyway? The point of wearing shoes is precisely to shield your feet from unclean stuff so that you won’t arrive home with shitdirty feet and mess up the whole house.
In fact, if I feel it is neccessary, I wash my feet after taking off my shoes once I reach home.
14 Anonymous // Mar 21, 2008 at 4:44 pm
It’s crazy to wear shoes indoors! It’s not an Asian thing. Wearing shoes indoors is just another non-sensical American thing. I live in Canada and i don’t know anyone who wears shoes indoors (Asian and white people included).
15 Anonymous // Mar 21, 2008 at 4:44 pm
It took me two and a half years before I gave in to my wife and went with the not wearing shoes indoors thing. I’m used to it now but my White friends still hate it.
16 Anonymous // Apr 4, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Is this not normal????
17 Naldak // Apr 5, 2008 at 4:26 am
I thought it was mostly americans that kept their shoes on in the house. In Canada you can really insult someone by not taking off your shoes when entering.
“Dude, wft? Where you raised in a field? Take off your damn shoes!!”
18 Anonymous // Apr 17, 2008 at 4:13 pm
Maybe it IS an American thing, because in Hungary, everyone takes their shoes off also.
19 Anonymous // Apr 24, 2008 at 1:36 am
I’m Canadian and i can also attest to us Canucks never wearing shoes at home. That where you raised in a field quote pretty much sums it up.
But i also don’t think it’s just an American thing because i’m pretty sure it’s common for British people to leave their shows on at home. At least in my experience it seemed that way.
20 Matthew C // Apr 26, 2008 at 3:12 am
Yes, sadly British people do tend to wear shoes at home.
Younger people are fortunately more inclined to take them off.
With my blog, I am seeking to challenge the British attitude.
21 Emi // Apr 27, 2008 at 3:44 am
My mom would shoot down anyone who dares to wear shoes inside her house.
22 Gen // Apr 28, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I’m black British and its strict shoes off inside my home. come on! the ground outside is so dirty! you just don’t know what you could be tracking through the house.
23 me // Jul 10, 2008 at 7:53 pm
this post so right. asian women single handedly or should I say double footedly killed my foot fetish. i always admired some the asain chicks on my campus, they always dressed in fine clothing and heels on regular school days. however i was in an office with an asian female coworker and we were sitting in close proximity and I noticed her sandles, the odor could have only been her feet. i had another experience wataching the nba finals with a few asian women. they entered the dorm in fancy high heel pumps. then they plopped down on the couch and and took off their shoes and up came the funk!
24 Eric // Aug 6, 2008 at 5:34 pm
This is so true. If you go to any Chinese party the first thing you notice is the 50-something odd shoes by the doors.
25 Scott // Aug 14, 2008 at 2:40 pm
I wonder how many ‘Asian’ countries you have visited? How many ‘children have you witnesses working in sweat shops? Your terms seem to apply to ‘Made in China’ as tho it’s China that has child labour. Well you’re totally wrong there. Chinese children are far too busy to work in sweat shops, they are studying; this is one of the reasons ‘Asians’ have the highest score of all in most subjects like maths etc. How many Asians have you met with stinking feet? And as for cleaning house on New Years Day, houses are cleaned every day, the tradition you refer to is cleaning out anything unnecessary for the coming year…and it’s not January 1st, but Lunar New Year. Carpets a modern trend? Hardly, they’ve also been made in China for over 1,000 years! They are unnecessary in many homes and, as you rightly say, hold dirt. If you haven’t visited China, you should, but visit ordinary Chinese and you will find a totally difference from your impression and staged TV shots of Chinese village workers.
26 Pojtir // Aug 21, 2008 at 5:20 am
I’m swedish and in Sweden it’s considered extremely rude if you don’t take off your shoes when going into someone elses private home, mopping the floor with the perpetrators jacket to clean it is a fully acceptable punishment. Besides, why would anyone want to keep their shoes on in doors when you have walked around in them for who knows how long? To walk in on a carpet is even worse, although I don’t understand how anyone would want a carpet in their home (lived for two days in an apartment in London where the bathroom had a carpet… sick).
27 fromthe808 // Sep 8, 2008 at 2:18 pm
you also save time, energy, and money on electricity by not always having to vacuum. so its good for the environmentreser and your health in the long run.
28 fromthe808 // Sep 8, 2008 at 2:19 pm
environment*
29 Nhi // Sep 19, 2008 at 5:37 am
This is sooo true! I can’t stand shoes. xDD
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