Boot Girl
...written on 2000-10-14, @ 23:38:54
Saturday Sept 30, 200
We had training with John today. He had some very insightful things to say. We talked about what our goals are (personal, professional and future). Hide had the video camera set up in the room.
The class lasted from 9-12 and then we went downstairs to go to lunch. I had to go to the bathroom, so I went down the hall and at the door of the bathroom met one of the girls from the office. She was just stepping out of these big black rubber boots and into her own shoes that were on the rug outside of the bathroom.
I believe I've mentioned this custom before, but here it goes again. When you first come into a Japanese house there is a place where you take off your shoes and put on house slippers. You must take these slippers off when you go into a tatami mat room, and you take them off when you go into the toilet room, but when you go into the toilet room (the toilet is separated from the bathtub and shower), there are special toilet slippers that you wear while you are in there.
Ok, back to the big black rubber boots. I watched the young woman step out of the boots and noticed that the floor was very wet. I knew it was raining outside and I looked at the open window to see if perhaps it had come from there, but I didn't see anything obvious. The woman said "Dozo", which means please, go ahead. As I stepped into the big black rubber boots I thought, "Crap, this taking off the shoes thing is going to be a hassle sometimes". I went into the toilet stall and "assumed the position" (traditional Japanese toilets are a small ceramic bowl that sit in the floor so you must squat all the way down to the floor to pee etc.). I washed my hands and clomped my way back to the door in those big black rubber boots. The young woman was at the door with a broom and asked me (or so I thought) if my shoes were ok. I thought she was offering to clean them, but I wasn't sure and said I didn't understand. The next thing I knew she went flying down the hallway out of sight. Well, I came back to the office and a different woman was telling this story about me in the bathroom using the boots.
Apparently the first girl was cleaning the bathroom and that's what the big black rubber boots were for. She was trying to tell me that it was ok to use my own shoes in the toiletroom. The office got a big kick out of the story and gave me a new name, "Boot Girl".