Foreigners in Japan

It seems to be the case that nearly all westerners living in Japan adopt the shoes-off practice while in Japan and many continue it on returning to the west.

I suppose it is not hard to see why. For one thing, there Japanese accomodation will invariably have a genkan (entrance way where shoes are removed) and possibly a tatami floor (straw matting). What is more, any visitors they have in Japan will expect to remove their shoes anyway. They themselves will be used to taking off their shoes when they go practically anywhere indoors.

And of course, they often pick up that most truthful notion that wearing shoes at home is disgusting.