Somewhere in the march of progress, we lost sight of our feet. Though there are cutting-edge running shoes incorporating space technology for maximum performance, many of us gladly choose low-tech gear in the name of style. We are willing fashion victims, but the damage can be more serious than many realize.
Not so long ago in Japan, the media was making much of young girls dangerously tottering on towering platform boots and sandals, with atsuzoko-related injures widely cited as examples of fashion's folly.
That precarious trend was followed by the current vogue for mules, whose popularity is easily recognized by any city commuter exposed daily to the loud clip-clopping of the mule-shod masses.