JAPAN: The creator of minty footwear hopes to abolish smelly shoes and feet in Japan

Record ID: 464180

  • Title: JAPAN: The creator of minty footwear hopes to abolish smelly shoes and feet in Japan
  • Date: 27th January 2008
  • Summary: YUKIO AOYAMA, MINTY FOOTWEAR PRODUCER, WORKING IN HIS OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) YUKIO AOYAMA, PRESIDENT OF S.A.I. INTERNATIONAL, SAYING: "In Japan, it gets pretty muggy in summer and even hotter and hotter due to global warming. Businessmen here tend to wear leather shoes and I think many of them are troubled with their foot odour." MINTY FOOTWEAR PRODUCTS
  • Embargoed: 11th February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Japan
  • Country: Japan
  • Topics: Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA6C38O29MVVZOZDL687XF9610F
  • Story Text: A Japanese shoe maker develops a sponge that fits in a shoe and is imbued with mint at the heel, allowing the wearer to pump mint fumes in the shoe every time he or she walks.
    Ever worried if your feet smell-- especially when you have to take off your shoes before friends or colleagues? Well, at least in Japan, such situations are very common as it is custom for one to take his or her shoes off inside homes, Japanese-style bars and restaurants, and that has left many worried about foot odour.
    Now a Japanese shoe maker says a sponge that is imbued with mint can help abolish smelly shoes and feet.
    The mint in the sponge, which is fitted inside a shoe, is located at the heel. This allows the wearer to pump mint fumes with the pressure of the heel every time he or she walks.
    The sponge has provided relief for Mayumi Miura, who was always worried that her feet might smell in front of colleagues.

    "When I wear stockings or pantyhose, they get musty, and that worries me when I have to take off my shoes in places like Japanese-style bars, where somewhere in my mind, I'd always feel like 'Geez, do my feet smell?' But ever since I started using these insoles, I'm not worried any more," the 38-year-old said. Miura has been using the insoles for last few months.
    Some restaurant owners agree that the mint-puffing insoles can even help their businesses.

    "Many female customers wearing these types of boots seem to worry about their foot smell and refuse to take their boots off. So even when we have empty seats available, they don't want to sit," said 59-year-old Hisako Washio, who runs a Japanese-style bar and restaurant in central Tokyo.
    Yukio Aoyama, who started distributing the minty footwear to Tokyo shoe shops a few weeks ago, said that the products could be much sought out for by Japanese businessmen.

    "In Japan, it gets pretty muggy in summer and even hotter and hotter due to global warming. Businessmen here tend to wear leather shoes and I think many of them are troubled with their foot odour," he said. Aoyama is president of Tokyo-based S.A.I. International, which produces and distributes the minty insoles.
    A pair of minty insoles cost about 3,000 yen, or 28 U.S. dollars. An insole keeps pumping mint fumes out for about six months, Aoyama said.
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