In going into a Japanese house, one has to take off the clogs, sandals, boots, or shoes; and consequently it is more convenient to go in either of the former two as they can be slipped off without the least trouble. And also, as the socks are visible in wearing clogs, we seldom go out in shabby ones; but when we put on boots or shoes, we not unfrequently forget there is a hole in the sole of a sock, or it may be that we put up with worn-out socks believing there would be no need to take off our boots until we come home, and then, being suddenly called by business to a private house, we repair thither and on pulling off our boots, see with dismay the toes peeping out of the socks. Another disadvantage of boots when we visit a private house is that felt in winter, which has already been referred to in a former chapter; that is, though there are braziers for the hands, no provisions are made for the feet which are soon benumbed through the socks, which however thick they may be, are not so warm as the Japanese socks, especially when the latter are under cover of the _haori_. Still, boots and shoes are often unavoidable when we pay a chance visit; but then the boots should be elastic-webbed, for if we call with laced boots on, the servant who answers the door has to wait patiently in the draught until we take them off. The situation is aggravated when the visitor leaves; for then the host and his servant, and if he is a friend of the family, the wife and the children, will come to the porch to see him off and remain there until he leaves the house. If the caller has any tact, he will merely tuck in the laces and walk out with his boots flopping and tie them when he is out of the premises. Many visitors, however, think nothing of keeping the whole family shivering in the cold while they leisurely lace their boots, for probably they too are put to the same ordeal when they have visitors in laced boots. For their greater handiness in this respect shoes were at first almost exclusively worn; but now boots are supplanting them to a large extent on account of their superior ease in walking. As these disadvantages, then, attach to boots and shoes when we wear a _kimono_ or visit a Japanese house, clogs and sandals are able to hold their own against the invasion of foreign footgear, and are likely to continue in favour so long as we are obliged to go indoors barefooted or in socks only, which means, while the interior of Japanese houses is unchanged and people squat on mats instead of sitting in chairs. As it will be a long time before the interior can be Europeanised, the clogs and sandals will for many a year to come remain the national footgear of the Japanese. Our description of the Japanese dress would therefore be incomplete without a reference to the clogs and sandals.