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Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

theguardian.com

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Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#131

Post by ericpauley »

embedding-shape wrote: post #130
hbcdbff wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also take my shoes and off and find it gross when people don’t. That said, I don’t think it’s really rational. Our houses are full of bacteria and dirt one way or another anyway. It’s impossible to avoid that without having some kind of airlock equipped with a shower in your porch.

> That said, I don’t think it’s really rational. Our houses are full of bacteria and dirt one way or another anyway. True, but I don't know about you, but we don't have literal rocks, sediment, dirt pee, or literal poop on our floors in our home, anywhere. But shoes do occasionally step on stuff like that no matter how small, and neither of those things I want inside of my house on the floor. But you're right that th…

> rocks, sediment, dirt pee, or literal poop

This is basically what dust is. It’s everywhere.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#132

Post by 50or05 »

JuniperMesos wrote: post #8

> Another user attracted more than 800 likes for suggesting that strict etiquette could perhaps be forsaken at such times: “It’s an emergency. I would just tell them: ‘Please step inside with your shoes on!’” This seems like the best policy in an emergency where 30 seconds actually matters. And I actually like the East Asian custom of taking one's shoes off before entering a house and adopt it myself.

It is apparently half of the world: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=122164174976929913&set=a... I didn't know this and surprised so many people dont take off their shoes.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#133

Post by tdeck »

swiftcoder wrote: post #74

It is mind blowing to me that the shoes-off-inside rule is so deeply entrenched that emergency responders remove their shoes at the front door

People in Japan not only take their shoes off at home, but also in many other places as well. Most elementary schools and many doctors offices, eye doctors, etc.. have you take your shoes off, although it varies from place to place. Some restaurants require you to take your shoes off. I once visited a radio station and they took their shoes off there too for some reason (no, I don't believe it was ESD related).

So people are already doing this multiple times a day at their own homes and form a habit that often doesn't require much thought to follow.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#134

Post by vikramkr »

djeastm wrote: post #123
fakedang wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most (literate, educated) Indians have been trained the same, and it has very little to do with religion. When you do accidentally step on a book though, each religion has their own format - Hindus touch the book then touch their head then chest in penance, Muslims lightly kiss the book or touch the book/bag and kiss their hand, Christians touch the book and cross themselves. This is something I've noticed is uniquel…

The behavior sounds like superstition. Is there a belief that something bad will happen if the ritual is not performed?

Can't speak for op for but me no - it was just ingrained as something disrespectful to do to books. Sometimes you've got a taboo like eating with your left hand that has a pretty clear reason for coming into existence (you use your left hand to clean up in the bathroom and before hand soap in the era of everyone dying from cholera might as well keep those functions as physically separated as possible) but this is more just something you would be disrespectful to do

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#135

Post by tdeck »

wodenokoto wrote: post #38
shdon wrote: post #7

In Dutch culture it is far more common to keep shoes on literally everywhere, so perhaps I'm biased, but I would think that in an emergency where every second counts, these people can be forgiven for not adhering to the strictest etiquette? I'm not surprised the person last mentioned in the article, who suggests exactly that, got 800 likes on their comment. I am surprised that it even needed to be said. Now I'm sudde…

I think we can roughly split paramedic visits into “patient needs to get out ASAP” and patient can’t get out alone or with help of friends and family”, so I would hope they keep their shoes on for the first type. But ambulances in with full sirens begging over their speaker-system to have pedestrians at Shibuya crossing let the vehicle through, is probably the worst thing about Japan. As for your second question, I’m…

> But ambulances in with full sirens begging over their speaker-system to have pedestrians at Shibuya crossing let the vehicle through, is probably the worst thing about Japan.

Unfortunately ambulances in Japan blare their sirens any time they are transporting a patient, and because they are free some people use them like taxis. So you may see an ambulance at 2AM driving down a residential street blaring their siren at full volume, going 5 mph while the medics call around to various hospitals to see who will take their patient with an upset stomach.

Once I passed a moving ambulance with the siren on...while slowly riding my bike down an otherwise empty road.

The result is that Japanese people seem to tune out the siren. If the driver isn't also on the loudspeaker telling them insistently to move aside, they assume it's not a "real" emergency.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#136

Post by tdeck »

f33d5173 wrote: post #30
cannonpr wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I can’t honestly personally understand taking your shoes off in an emergency, however I am sure they have gotten very efficient at it.. I can say that if they didn’t it would cause damage to the home, many Japanese homes, especially traditional but also in general just aren’t built to take shoes. Tatami mats, and even hinoki floors despite being “hard” for a softwood, is still a softwood, so some level of genuine…

Most shoes have rubber soles, to do damage to the floor it would have to be softer than rubber.

Tatami is very common in Japanese houses and I was told you're not even really supposed to wear hard-soled slippers on it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#137

Post by pezezin »

shoobiedoo wrote: post #113
ahartmetz wrote: post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't even need to go there, just look at Japanese websites.

I live in Japan and in the rare event that there is an online option when I need to do something related to government documents, banking, insurance, or the like, all I can think is-- "wtf is this, geocities?". It's always a clunky, awkward, boxed in mess of text that is a miracle in the case that it actually works. But that's just the way it is here. Lots of elderly, and the elderly prefer a nice helpful receptionis…

According to my Japanese GF, the elders don't understand it either. She had to setup some banking services for her dad and it was a painful mess, but doing it in person is equally annoying. So at this point it is a fucking mystery who actually likes the system and why nobody tries to change anything.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#138

Post by ACS_Solver »

bjelkeman-again wrote: post #77
vkazanov wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this how most of the world operates? :-)

In the Nordics (SE, FI, NO, DK) it is pretty much the same. A large part of the year your shoes are a mess and you don’t want that indoors.

However, protective equipment is taken seriously and then shoes stay on. Here in Sweden, of course ordinarily all shoes are taken off (for 8-9 months of every year they're wet and dirty) but if workers come in to do some work, they keep their shoes on because they're protective equipment. If you're having them come during a particularly dirty time of the year, you may want to cover your floor with newspapers or give them shoe covers.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#139

Post by odiroot »

swiftcoder wrote: post #74

It is mind blowing to me that the shoes-off-inside rule is so deeply entrenched that emergency responders remove their shoes at the front door

I always wondered what happens if police forcibly enter someone's flat in these places. Do they ram the doors and then politely take off their shoes before entering? I see a comedy potential.

Re: Please don't rearrange our shoes when we turn up, paramedics in Japan urge

#140

Post by embedding-shape »

ericpauley wrote: post #131
embedding-shape wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That said, I don’t think it’s really rational. Our houses are full of bacteria and dirt one way or another anyway. True, but I don't know about you, but we don't have literal rocks, sediment, dirt pee, or literal poop on our floors in our home, anywhere. But shoes do occasionally step on stuff like that no matter how small, and neither of those things I want inside of my house on the floor. But you're right that th…

> rocks, sediment, dirt pee, or literal poop This is basically what dust is. It’s everywhere.

Where do you live, where dust and pee/poop is the same? I'm fine with having small amount of the former inside, it's unavoidable, but the second is avoidable by removing your shoes.
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