Doctor Who Comic Strip

Yesterday, I bought the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. This month's comic strip is set in Tokyo. I am not going to spoil your surprise by telling you who the returning villains are, but I am going to make a few comments on the artwork.

The Doctor and his companion, Amy visit a Tokyo apartment and remove their shoes before entering. So far so good, but there are some inaccuracies about shoe removal.

None of the apartments depicted in the strip appear to have a genkan. That is the step that separates the outside zone from the inside. In fact, in one scene the characters enter an apartment with their shoes on and discarded shoes are visible on the floor of the apartment! The artist seems to be under the impression that Japanese people enter their homes with their shoes on and then take them off before stepping onto tatami mats!

In one scene a Japanese school girl has her feet up on a couch in an office with her shoes still on. Even in a shoes-on location, a Japanese person would remove their shoes before putting their feet on a seat. I know most people have never been to Japan, but it ought to seem obvious that people who are strict about not wearing shoes in homes would not put outside shoes on seats.

There is also a Japanese character putting her slipper-shod feet on a tatami mat. That is not correct Japanese etiquette. You remove your slippers before stepping onto a tatami mat. They can be forgiven this one, however, because occasionally Japanese people break this rule.

I know it is only a comic strip, but it would not take that much effort to find out on Google how the Japanese shoe-removing custom actually works.