UCLA
Center for East Asian Studies
Japanese Youth and Popular Culture
December 7, 1999
New York Times || Japanese Youth Culture || News File Index
Tokyo Journal
For Chic's Sake, Japanese Women Parade to the Orthopedist
By Calvin Sims
TOKYO -- A few weeks ago, Tomomi Okawa, a 25-year-old office clerk, was driving home from shopping when she crashed into a concrete pole, killing a friend who was riding in the passenger seat.
Ms. Okawa, who sustained head injuries, told the police that she could not brake properly because she was wearing six-inch high-heel boots that have become the latest fashion rage among young Japanese women.
Despite sprained ankles, and worse, there is nothing these days like the thick-soled shoes and boots for young, style-conscious women in Japan.
Three months ago, thick-soled shoes were blamed for the death of Misayo Shimizu, a nursery school employee, who police said tripped while wearing sandals with four-inch cork soles and fractured her skull.
For many Japanese, these deaths were an alarm signal of the dangers posed by wearing shoes with elevated soles, which only a few years ago were four inches but are now often eight inches. The elevated shoes come in a wide variety of styles, ranging from hot pink sandals for summer to black leather boots for winter. The shoes cost between $70 and $200. Sales of platform shoes in Japan are estimated to be $100 million a year.
Despite stumbling down stairs, slipping on pavement, and tripping over their own feet, many Japanese young women said in recent interviews that they were willing to risk the twisted ankles, broken bones, scuffed knees, bruised faces, and other dangers associated with wearing the trendy platform shoes.
"I've fallen and twisted my ankle many times, but they are so cute that I won't give them up until they go out of fashion," said Miwako Kimura, 15, who was wearing beige corduroy boots with six-inch block soles.
"I like them because they make me tall and make my legs look long and shapely," said Aiko Kiuchi, whose black six-inch-sole boots allow her to stand 5 feet 6 inches tall. "You can't imagine how great it feels to see the world from this height."
Doctors at the Tsukiji Seikotsuin Orthopedics Clinic said in a recent interview that the number of women visiting the clinic for treatment of injuries sustained while wearing thick-soled shoes had increased 20 percent in the past year.One patient, who sprained her ankle last year but continues to wear the platform shoes, was asked if she was not afraid of falling again. I am only 5 feet tall, she said, "but with thick-soled shoes I look better."
She added, "In the commuter train, the level of my eyes is higher than middle-aged men, who are so arrogant in the office."
As the number of injuries involving high-soled shoes increases so has the government's concern. The Japan Consumer Information Center, a government-financed agency, has issued a report warning the public of the dangers the shoes pose and giving tips on ways to prevent accidents.
"The possibility of falling is great because of their instability," Dr. Yoshiro Musha, chief of orthopedics at Omori Red Cross Hospital, wrote in the consumer report.
"The shoes are not appropriate for walking for a long periods or for running," he said.
Among the masses of people in Shibuya, a bustling district of Tokyo known for its night life, hundreds of young women tower above the crowds, aided by platform shoes, which often weigh as much as three pounds each, making walking extremely cumbersome.
Many of these young women look as if they are about to topple, as they proceed ever so slowly with calculated, small steps. Some of them do not hesitate to grab the shoulder of a friend or a passerby to maintain their balance.
Particularly disturbing to many Japanese are the number of young women who wear the elevated shoes while attending to their babies. After seeing a young mother clad in thick-soled sandals carrying a baby down subway stairs, Yoko Togashi, a salaried worker, was so outraged that he wrote a letter to the editor of Yomiuri Shimbun.
"She is free to wear any type of shoes to injure herself by falling, but how can she put the baby at risk?" Togashi said. "Regretting after losing the baby is too late. She should use her brain more."
Teruko Ishii, a professor at Aoba Gakuen Junior College, whose research focuses on clothing-related health issues, conducted a poll of women students at her college and found that 23 percent had fallen while wearing thick-soled shoes. Nearly half of those who fell suffered fractures or other serious injuries.
Ms. Ishii said the young Japanese women who wear platform shoes resemble the oiran, a type of high-class prostitute of the Edo period (1603-1868). The oiran were known for their public processions in which they wore spectacular kimonos and high clogs called takageta. Attendants accompanied the oiran to help them maintain balance.
"Today, the young woman are walking just like the oiran, but that doesn't seem to bother them," Ms. Hanada said. "They are so intrigued by fashion that they cannot judge whether or not these shoes are practical."
Concerned that the rising number of injuries could lead to lawsuits, platform shoe manufacturers, which are mainly in the Nagata area of Kobe, have started attaching warning labels to the shoes.
One company's label reads: "Because the heels of the shoes are high, please be careful when you run or go up and down the stairs. Be especially careful when you drink because you can be wobbly. We, the producers, will be very happy if you keep these points in mind when you enjoy the trendy fashion."
Many young women say they wear the shoes despite the objections of their parents and boyfriends, who dislike it when their girlfriends can look down on them.
"Having big feet used to be shameful for women, but a turnaround has occurred," a fashion writer, Ririko Amakasu, said in a recent column. "It is cool and I am envious." She went on to say that the girls don't care about "the longstanding notion that girls must be shorter than boys."
Kana Matsumoto, 15, who owns four pairs of the brick-size shoes, said that her mother disliked her eight-inch sandals so much that she confiscated them to prevent her from wearing them.
"She gave them back to me after I caught her wearing them around the house when she thought no one was home," Ms. Matsumoto said. "My mother is very curious."
