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No Shoes!!!
February 12th, 2004
I need shoes desperately and I can't find any here in Tokyo. The 2 relatively nice pairs of shoes I brought with me are over 4 years old now and starting to fall apart. Probably from the 1 to 5 miles a day I walk in Tokyo. I've been shoe shopping about 10 days over the last 2 months now and so far I've failed to find any.
The problem is Japanese feet are smaller than American feet. Supposedly the average size of a Japanese man's foot is an American size 8. The average in America is a size 10. All the department stores in Japan only carry to size 9 as do pretty much all the shoe stores. Note that I'm talking about nicer shoes. If I just want sneakers, tennis shoes or athletic shoes then I can go to a Nike or adidas store and generally they have size 10 but for dressier shoes, so far no luck. I did end up buying shoes that seemed like they fit. One was a pair of low boots, it only took one day to realize the really were too small as my feet were killing me. I tried wearing them for about 4 days hoping they would stretch but after that I couldn't take it anymore. I bought some more last week. They also seemed fine at first and they fit better than the boots. But, after a few days I started to notice the left foot, just below where the laces start is too tight and each day it seemed to get worse to where I can no longer where those shoes either as just a few steps and my left foot starts killing me. The right foot seems fine but I started noticing my right foot killing me later after I took the shoes off. Now that I've stopped wearing those shoes for a week that pain as gone away. The shoes are supposedly "made in italy" so I asked the store if I could order the next size up. They said they don't make any larger sizes. At first I thought they must be lying since I suspect Italians have feet similar to Americans but after searching for the companies on the net I have a feeling that maybe, even if these shoes are made in Italy they are specifically made for a Japanese company because I could not find the shoes or the company mentioned anywhere on the net except the store chain I bought them at. So, at the moment I'm stuck! The shoes I have that are wearing out are Rockports and I would have been happy to buy some more of the same but Rockport switched their style. They used to carry semi-business like shoes. Now they only carry upgraded athletic shoes for lack of a better description. Another big problem is shoes are EXPENSIVE in Japan or at least I'm not used to shoe prices. Most shoes are $150 and up. I've seen lots and lots for $400-$600 and even some as much as $2000!!!! WHAT THE HELL!! The Rockports I got 4 years ago were like $90 each and even at that I'm sure my dad would freak about those prices. Anybody know where I can get normal American size shoes in Tokyo? NEXT:[Changing Tokyo]
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