Yikes! Whose shoes are these?!

Have you heard what it may mean if you find a pair of unattended shoes in Japan? Before I reveal it, allow me a short detour off the story.

Lately it has been raining like crazy, and when it rains I walk to work. Though I'm quite skillful at dodging ponds and such, it's difficult to avoid damp shoes. Later at office it is irresistibly cozy to the take the shoes off and wriggle toes freely under the desk in the midst of work. I bet many of you have done it and even more have wished to.

As it happens, the office floor is coated with a wall-to-wall carpet so that it is easy to walk around, get a refill of coffee, take a copy or go to the room next door, and at the same time leave behind the soggy shoes.

But behold! leaving shoes unattended in Japan can trigger a drama. I heard that one afternoon a cleaning lady had been vacuuming this office floor and suddenly freaked out screaming in a loud voice "Eeeek! Someone’s shoes are lying on the floor!!" but why?

Maybe you've guessed. A lone shoe-pair suggests that the owner of the shoes has committed a suicide! Nobody had jumped off the building that time but only visited another room. However, hearing that made me wonder why to take off your shoes before attempting a suicide?

In Finland, I suppose a typical thing to leave behind would be an empty bottle of vodka or a burnt-down sauna if anything – but no, not shoes. Then why Japanese have taken such a practice? Maybe you know but I didn't so I went through some discussion boards to see if there is a sensible explanation and found out the following:

1. Mythology: Japanese deem that ghosts (the spirits of the dead) don’t have legs. After dying a person can leave shoes off because he’ll become a legless spook. But do the ghosts wear any clothes in the first place? And why are they legless?

2. Religion and housekeeping: upon entering a house it is customary to leave shoes to the porch as means to avoid carrying dirt inside a Japanese house (tatami, the straw mat floors must have been difficult to clean before the revolution of vacuum cleaners), in other words coming from filthy space (outside) and entering a pure space (a house). Similarly that could symbolize the context of intended death: coming from filthy space (concrete world) and entering a pure space (heaven or a paradise). Hence, one reason to remove shoes might be a mean to avoid taking filth to the afterlife. If so, with all do respect, how about removing socks as well, for they tend to be just as stinky.

3. History: Continuing with tatami theme, since the tatami rooms were used for ceremonial purposes, they were the rooms were the samurai would commit hara-kiri whenever they screwed up something big-time. Think about it: you go into the clean room to kill yourself–spilling your guts all over the tatami floor–that's okay. But don't you be wearing your dirty shoes when at it.

4. Practicality: If some one finds the shoes it will be easier to track the body, especially if bloodhounds are available or if the shoes are pointing to the direction of corpse "Looking for me? Follow the direction of the shoes, please."

5. Media influence: Japanese TV-dramas commonly indicate a suicide by showing a scene where a pairs of shoes lie neatly on the ground.

6. Thoughtlessness: At the point where one has decided to take his life, thoughts are uncontrolled and less directed by justification. So one wouldn't think "Ok, at this point I'll remove my shoes" or the like, but it do it by intuition.

7. There is no reason: In any event, an act of suicide lacks of all logic so why to look for a sensible reason out of such trivial ritual!

Be as it may, suicides are not a matter of joking. In 2009 over 85 shoes pairs were left without owner everyday in Japan (relying on WHO stats), making also the traumatic reaction of the cleaning lady more understandable.

Conversely what could happen if one forgets the shoe ritual when making the final move? Then, meanwhile falling down from the 36th floor, a sudden recall: “Oh! Damn it! I’ve still got my shoes on! Uh, maybe I can still untie... SPLAT!”

Ok I’m off to look for a brighter sense of humor. Bye!