those who follow this Japanese custom and clean less at home and those who do not

Everyone does what they want at home, but there are habits that are better than others and customs that, although you may like them more or less individually, may be a cultural custom specific to your region. Without going any further, there is one that raises blisters and that no one is completely clear about: take off your shoes when entering the house.

Without going any further, the map that you see below these lines and crowning the article is from Wikimedia: in green, the states that take off their shoes when they get home and in blue, those that do not. We tend to associate this habit with Japan and although it is probably the best-known country where it is applied, it is not the only one. Essentially almost all of Asia takes off its shoes, also North Africa and Canada.

The latest Wikimedia map on Which countries take off their shoes at home and which don’t

In fact, custom is multicultural and independent. Thus, in Japan they even have an area of ​​the house set up for this purpose, the genkanwith a step called agari kamachi where the sacred limit is established between the “outer world” (dirty) and the “inner world” (clean), as the digital media Nippon explains.

In Nordic countries the custom is more related to the weather: moving around the house with shoes full of mud or snow does not seem like the best idea. In the Middle East, the origin points to religion. Without going any further, the Quran has some verses like this from Allah to Moses: “I am your Lord; take off your sandals, for you are in the sacred valley of Tuwa.”

The question that bothers half the world: with or without shoes at home?

In the discussion forum You can see how some places have changed their tones over the years, such as Middle Eastern countries such as Pakistan or Afghanistan and more recently, the United Kingdom. More than a new custom (although COVID made some hygiene measures stay forever), it is that this habit was probably not well monitored. Although the British case is curious.

The world map of the tradition of taking off shoes at home. Seasia.co

a few years ago a Reddit thread echoed an original map from Seasia.co (which also had your articlefocused on Southeast Asia) much richer because it goes one step further. It’s no longer that there are places where they take off their shoes and others that don’t, it’s just that there are places where it seems wrong for us to do so.

In that small group appear Spain, France, Italy and all of central and southern America. Just the opposite of what happens in the majority of Asia and Africa: if you go to a house there and choose to leave your shoes on following your customs, you will be having a rude gesture. Here the United Kingdom finds its nuance: the norm is to leave your shoes on, but in some homes they prefer to take them off.

Shoes yes or shoes no? Leaving aside religious issues and focusing on practice, the reality is that taking off your shoes is a good practice from a hygiene point of view. This study from Macquarie University in Sydney makes it clear: up to 60% of the dust and dirt that accumulates inside a house comes from outside and enters, effectively, through the feet.

The pharmacist Álvaro Fernández account in El Periódico de Aragón that “99% of the shoes analyzed test positive for fecal matter” because well, we walk through places where there are traces of excrement and dirt. Microbiologist Jonathan Sexton of the University of Arizona, confirm for Very Interesting the presence in almost all soles of bacteria such as E.coli (present in 96% of cases) and Clostridium difficile. And not only microorganisms: according to The Conversation, Shoes have pesticides from gardens, lead from urban dust and carcinogenic asphalt sealers, all of that goes home. But there is no need to be shocked either: there are fecal bacteria in our mobile and that’s not why we leave it on the doorstep of the house.

Simply put: the best way to have a clean house is not to clean, it is not to stain. Prevention is better than cure. Of course, everyone in their house does what they want.

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Cover | Wikimedia