8/7/2006

Ok, here is one for the foot fetishists among you. Yes, these are my feet you’re going to look at. Consider yourselves warned.

You may have heard of tabi - the shoes and socks that seperate the big toe from the rest of the toes. Some Japanese construction workers wear them as part of their outfit and many people, when dressed up in kimono, yukata or hakama will wear tabi socks with geta sandals.

I went a bit nuts in a souvenir shop in Kamakura. They were selling geta sandals (none of which fit, giant gaijin that I am) and colourfully patterned tabi socks, which were some cheap price like 5 for 2000 yen, I can’t remember. So, I bought 5 pairs of tabi socks and here they are:

These are obviously just touristy souvenir tabi, but the patterns were so cute that I couldn’t resist. My favourite is probably the green ones with ducks.

If they look a bit uncomfortable in the photos, then you’d be right. They sold them up to 25cm in size, and I guess I’m 25.5cm, so they’re a bit tight to begin with but loosen as you wear them. I don’t think that these ones were terribly well designed as they can be quite vicious at pulling apart the big toe from the others, then scrunching the little toes together. Some of the socks also have strange ideas about just how long toes usually are.

They’re made from a polyester and cotton blend too, so it feels a bit plasticky against your skin.

But still! They’re very kawaii and were cheap and I can wear them with my geta sandals and tabi shoes.

Geta? Tabi shoes? Chidade, you have geta? Show them to us!

Ahh. Well! One day. One day.