5 ms·

The toothbrush analogy is weird, and untrue in most cases. And regardless, just one time stepping in crap, would make up for a lifetime of a few molecules hitt

by b112 10d ago

The toothbrush analogy is weird, and untrue in most cases. And regardless, just one time stepping in crap, would make up for a lifetime of a few molecules hitting a brush at random intervals. And of course, toothpaste is a cleaner, so it's not relevant. But I find this all amusing, because wherever you take your shoes off? That's where all this supposed crap sits from all these shoes left outside. Which means you are walking in your socks in that area, after shoe removal, and entering the house. So unless you levitate out of that area, your feet are still covered in this supposed crap. The shoe rule in Japan stems from damaging floors. And checking your feet, shoes or not, is just prudent. But your feet or clean looking shoes? Equally dirty.

samus 9d ago
Of course one should not put the feet down where the shoes are stored.
- b112 9d ago
  So do you levitate from the place you remove your shoes?
  - wahnfrieden 9d ago
    How much time have you spent in Japan? The bare foot never touches the genkan floor. It's alarming to do so. Since you can't imagine it, you could consider looking up some videos of their use before mocking what you consider a fantastical impossibility. In fact it's so easy that children and the elderly succeed at it.
  - naishoya 9d ago
    No, you actually step out of your shoes an up to a wooden platform which shoes never trod. And yes, the top and even many middle level dining establishments in Japan actually do require guests to leave their street shoes in an entry way, called a Genkan. Nobody steps with their socks onto shoe trodden surface. It's not a complicated but of geometry, you loosen your foot in the shoes to make them ready for stepping out from, then step up onto a raised and dirt free platform, then if you have good manners, turn around, lower yourself, and use one hand to collect and turn your shoes so that they are not in the direct line of traffic and are facing away from the house, so that one may step into them from the wooden platform without needing to step backwards as you exit. This is amazingly simple, done by literally millions of people every single day, multiple times, and has been this way for centuries in all kinds of weather and many styles of shoes. There is no dirt tracked in on your socks, there may be some 'stepping on the top of your own shoes' if you are in a rush and clumsy or a child. But grown ups rarely have much difficulty with this unless they are visiting from somewhere else and cannot be observant. Nearly every doorway in the country also has a handy long handled shoehorn to ease the donning of your shoes without requiring a seat. Community centers and elderly homes and some households with elderly residents will also have a small stool that is at an oblique angle between the 'dirty' shoe level and the clean wooden platform, allowing one to sit and take off shoes, then swivel without putting feet onto filth and stand again in the clean. I'm frankly astonished at the seemingly purposeful denseness of comprehension for a simple act of cleanliness. The 'filth will make us stronger' approach reminds me of the historical writings of the 10th-century Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who chronicled the Volga Vikings (Rus') and was the inspiration for the 'Viking morning bowl' scene from the movie The 13th Warrior. Just 'Ewww'
    - b112 9d ago
      I don't know. That other fellow had a point about the toothbrush. And if that's true, surely some filth is getting in, right? I mean, dirt moves on its own. Bacteria moves, and dirt comes with them. After all, how do you even know your soap is clean? https://www.today.com/health/recall/hand-soap-recall-2025-rcna224335 https://www.today.com/health/recall/hand-soap-recall-2025-rc... And the recall was for deadly bacteria. Probably a growth medium too. Modern soap has lots of ingredients, each could be dirty at source. So if your soap is dirty, how can your feet be clean? I'm still not convinced.
      - samus 9d ago
        The toothbrush is a moot point if you have a separate be bathroom and toilet. If they are combined the spread of fecal particles is curbed by flushing the toilet with closed lid. And in the end the toothbrush is flushed before using and then coated with toothpaste, which often contains detergents and microbial agenda, and which is finally flushed out. I don't think you can conclude from that incident that all soap is always contaminated. And even if it's not perfectly clean, in the end ist's all flushed away. I don't really get what your point is. Are you regularly eating from the pedestrian way?
        b112 8d ago
        My point was that you seemed incredibly positive that Japan houses o'clean, and the rest of the world is as apes, in caves, picking parasites off of each others backs. This obsession with shoes, doesn't cover the fly droppings, the dirt upon clothing, and the fact that your body is always covered in bacteria, your gut filled with bacteria, your lunch covered in it if you ever eat fresh greens, you will die without bacteria. I'm not suggesting you walk around with dirty shoes, that's silly. Yet I feel you are a city dweller, because the world is made of dirt, and a rural farm worker spends all day in it. To no harm to the worker. Dirt is natural. Concrete is not. So my point was just, you seemed a little upset at dirt. After all: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023
  - samus 9d ago
    The living area is usually elevated and so you can simply sit down, take off your shoes, and easily change into slippers that are ready at the edge of the living area. Or, one simply steps out your shoes (easy enough at least with sneakers) and to the living area. Easy to do unless one is infirm.
naishoya 9d ago
> But your feet or clean looking shoes? Equally dirty. Absolutely not equally dirty unless you have FILTHY feet. If so, take a bath.

by b112 10d ago

samus 9d ago

Of course one should not put the feet down where the shoes are stored.

b112 9d ago
So do you levitate from the place you remove your shoes?
- wahnfrieden 9d ago
  How much time have you spent in Japan? The bare foot never touches the genkan floor. It's alarming to do so. Since you can't imagine it, you could consider looking up some videos of their use before mocking what you consider a fantastical impossibility. In fact it's so easy that children and the elderly succeed at it.
- naishoya 9d ago
  No, you actually step out of your shoes an up to a wooden platform which shoes never trod. And yes, the top and even many middle level dining establishments in Japan actually do require guests to leave their street shoes in an entry way, called a Genkan. Nobody steps with their socks onto shoe trodden surface. It's not a complicated but of geometry, you loosen your foot in the shoes to make them ready for stepping out from, then step up onto a raised and dirt free platform, then if you have good manners, turn around, lower yourself, and use one hand to collect and turn your shoes so that they are not in the direct line of traffic and are facing away from the house, so that one may step into them from the wooden platform without needing to step backwards as you exit. This is amazingly simple, done by literally millions of people every single day, multiple times, and has been this way for centuries in all kinds of weather and many styles of shoes. There is no dirt tracked in on your socks, there may be some 'stepping on the top of your own shoes' if you are in a rush and clumsy or a child. But grown ups rarely have much difficulty with this unless they are visiting from somewhere else and cannot be observant. Nearly every doorway in the country also has a handy long handled shoehorn to ease the donning of your shoes without requiring a seat. Community centers and elderly homes and some households with elderly residents will also have a small stool that is at an oblique angle between the 'dirty' shoe level and the clean wooden platform, allowing one to sit and take off shoes, then swivel without putting feet onto filth and stand again in the clean. I'm frankly astonished at the seemingly purposeful denseness of comprehension for a simple act of cleanliness. The 'filth will make us stronger' approach reminds me of the historical writings of the 10th-century Arab diplomat Ahmad ibn Fadlan, who chronicled the Volga Vikings (Rus') and was the inspiration for the 'Viking morning bowl' scene from the movie The 13th Warrior. Just 'Ewww'
  - b112 9d ago
    I don't know. That other fellow had a point about the toothbrush. And if that's true, surely some filth is getting in, right? I mean, dirt moves on its own. Bacteria moves, and dirt comes with them. After all, how do you even know your soap is clean? https://www.today.com/health/recall/hand-soap-recall-2025-rcna224335 https://www.today.com/health/recall/hand-soap-recall-2025-rc... And the recall was for deadly bacteria. Probably a growth medium too. Modern soap has lots of ingredients, each could be dirty at source. So if your soap is dirty, how can your feet be clean? I'm still not convinced.
    - samus 9d ago
      The toothbrush is a moot point if you have a separate be bathroom and toilet. If they are combined the spread of fecal particles is curbed by flushing the toilet with closed lid. And in the end the toothbrush is flushed before using and then coated with toothpaste, which often contains detergents and microbial agenda, and which is finally flushed out. I don't think you can conclude from that incident that all soap is always contaminated. And even if it's not perfectly clean, in the end ist's all flushed away. I don't really get what your point is. Are you regularly eating from the pedestrian way?
      - b112 8d ago
        My point was that you seemed incredibly positive that Japan houses o'clean, and the rest of the world is as apes, in caves, picking parasites off of each others backs. This obsession with shoes, doesn't cover the fly droppings, the dirt upon clothing, and the fact that your body is always covered in bacteria, your gut filled with bacteria, your lunch covered in it if you ever eat fresh greens, you will die without bacteria. I'm not suggesting you walk around with dirty shoes, that's silly. Yet I feel you are a city dweller, because the world is made of dirt, and a rural farm worker spends all day in it. To no harm to the worker. Dirt is natural. Concrete is not. So my point was just, you seemed a little upset at dirt. After all: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49608023
- samus 9d ago
  The living area is usually elevated and so you can simply sit down, take off your shoes, and easily change into slippers that are ready at the edge of the living area. Or, one simply steps out your shoes (easy enough at least with sneakers) and to the living area. Easy to do unless one is infirm.

naishoya 9d ago

> But your feet or clean looking shoes? Equally dirty. Absolutely not equally dirty unless you have FILTHY feet. If so, take a bath.