When Do Americans Take Their Shoes Off??

I was at a school farewell party two weeks ago and was sitting next to a teacher I haven’t talked to that much. We were having a conversation about Japanese verses American customs and we got on the topic of shoes. He asked a very difficult question (because it has no clear answer): “When do Americans take their shoes off?”

If you don’t know already every Japanese house has an entranceway that is slightly lower (by about 6 inches usually) than the rest of the house where your shoes are removed and left until you leaves again. Schools have lockers right at the entrance where you change to slippers or indoor only shoes. So my teacher wanted to know, since we don’t have this sort of entranceway in Japan normally, what is the cue for us to take off our shoes? I said that anytime was ok but that wasn’t enough for my teacher.

He said, “Do Americans eat dinner with their shoes on?” I said sometimes.

“Do they sit on the couch with their shoes on?” Sometimes, but they usually take them off to put their feet on the couch.

“Do they go to the bathroom with their shoes on?” Well, sometimes. (In Japan there are different slippers for the bathroom!)

“Do you only wear them on the first floor?” Anywhere is ok, I answered. But I added that my family often took them off once we entered to keep the house cleaner.

Then, here is the kicker. My teacher asked “Do Americans SLEEP with their shoes on?” Haha, I about cracked up right in front of him when he answered that. With all my answers, he still seemed unsatisfied!