The phrase "I wouldn't want to be in your shoes" threatens to take on a whole new meaning as summer kicks in, with an estimated one in five Japanese suffering from athlete's foot.
Drug makers are marketing athlete's foot medication at unprecedented levels, pumping money into TV commercials and beefing up store displays.
Sato Pharmaceutical Co. is spending three times more than last summer to pitch its new Lamaston MX. In TV commercials launched in April, Easter Island statues moan with pleasure as the ointment soothes their long-buried feet.