No Business Like Shoe Business

Whenever I live in a city where driving is not an option, I always wear comfortable shoes to hike to work (black Chucks for me and gray Nikes for Cindy) and then we change into our heels once we get in the office. I do this for two reasons: 1) not wanting to get blisters on my feet and 2) not wanting to ruin my heels.

I really feel at home because this seems to be common practice in 75% of the women here in NYC. However, Japanese women do the exact opposite. They wear their 4-inch hooker high heels/CFM boots walking all over the city but once they get to work, they change into these hideous orthopedic slippers. I really don't get it. They even wear heels while hiking or going to parks. While Japanese women often looked at me (and all my American friends who did the same) with such obvious disdain after taking a glimpse at our flip flops mismatched with our work clothes, in the end they're the ones with painful bunions - which is also why podiatry is such big business in Japan.