Oct 20, 2025
What's your favorite aspect of Japan's culture?
With Culture Day coming up next month, I'm curious to hear what tradition, habit, or value my fellow City-Cost bloggers most appreciate about living here. I know there's a lot to choose from, so if you have to mention a few things go right ahead!
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on Oct 20
The genkan in Japanese houses and buildings is the aspect of Japanese culture that I appreciate the most. You leave your soiled outside shoes behind and step up into a clean interior space. I appreciate the "courtesy sandals", rubber things placed in genkans for quick trips outside. When you visit public buildings such as community centres, educational facilities, and some institutional buildings, you get offered vinyl slippers. Before I step out of my house, I always think about my socks! Are they clean, not too worn (no holey things), and appropriate for the space at my destination? In my home country, Canada, manners vary. In most homes, you leave your shoes at the door. However, in homes, lowered entrance halls are rare. You leave your shoes in a heap in the entrance hall. Nippon.com provided an in-depth description of genkans in 2024. https://www.nippon.com/en/guide-to-japan/gu020004/
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