Each year, my school (probably just like every other school in Japan) commemorates the day it was founded. The School Foundation Day. Recently, we celebrated the school’s 91st foundation day. In Japan, this means speeches.
In the morning, along with all the other teachers, I donned my snazzy black suit, carefully adjusted my silk tie and casually brushed the dust off my... white trainers? Yup, formal footwear optional. I opted for trainers, thank you very much. Probably because everybody is expected to change from outdoor shoes to indoor shoes pretty regularly, the attitude to the actual style of the footwear itself is very relaxed. I could have worn slippers if I’d wanted to. As long as I had a tie.
