Comments on: How To Find Shoes That Fit You In Japan

By: Sosa

Sosa — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:28:28 +0000

If you’re after sports shoes, from experience only Nike and Adidas are available in Japan.

I’ve recently ordered from http://www.hippie-cocco.com – a web-shop based near Nagoya. Order online and pay takyubin cash on delivery. Great for sizes 30 – 32.

By: Gearing up for Japan - Holding Pattern

Gearing up for Japan - Holding Pattern — Tue, 20 May 2008 01:30:37 +0000

[...] I’m not so sure that I won’t be sorry later. Some solace came in a post from Thomas on how to get shoes in Japan but I’m not so sure his tip will work for women’s shoes. I’ll keep my fingers [...]

By: john k

john k — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 10:29:25 +0000

Doesn’t always work.
I have tried this at the big dept stores such as Hanshin. They just say, sorry not in stock….so can you order some my size for me?…oh sorry, we can’t do that as this size is not stocked in japan…line.

I did get one outlet to ship over my size and style tennis shoes direct from US no less!!

So, I’ve had hit and miss results myself.

Being a 28~29cm..depending on fit and maker.

By: Josh

Josh — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:18:42 +0000

American stores like Timberland and The North Face carry big size shoes and clothing but you may have to pre-order them. You do not get charged if you try them on and they don’t fit right either.

Also try Murasaki Sports – sometimes they have large sizes.

By: Mike

Mike — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 05:46:13 +0000

Man, my feet are the same size and every time I’ve gone to Japan I’ve always made sure to bring extra pairs of shoes since I knew it would be almost impossible finding something my size. Anyway great tip!

By: Turner

Turner — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 15:08:47 +0000

Nicely done. No longer will I time my buying shoes with visits home.

By: Charles Jannuzi

Charles Jannuzi — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:32:11 +0000

Nissen catalogue and online stocks a lot of oversized items for men. But for the most part, the shoes max. out at 28 cm.

At a sporting goods store, I was able to find Mizuno basketball shoes that ran up to 30.0 cm in size. I don’t wear that size, but the catalogue carried them. So it sometimes helps to ask to see the Mizuno and Asics catalogues if you have to shop at smaller stores.

Also, try Rakuten online. It will network you with hundreds of stores all across Japan who can get what you need. You need Japanese skills and Japanese fonts to navigate the online mall.

By: thomas

thomas — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:04:38 +0000

@Jason: I’m surprised that 28 cm shoes are hard to find too!

@Koichi: Thanks! I wish you knew this back then too, but I guess if it didn’t kill you, you are stronger for it!!

@Steve: Yes, this works. And since Japan isn’t that big it usually only takes a couple of days for them to get the shoes in the store.

@Nick Ramsay: I had the same problem. I’d find one pair of 30s and they’d be pink and moss green platform shoes or something. Before I learned about this trick, I used to just wear old shoes. And thank you very much for the stumble! I get most of my traffic from StumbleUpon, so I feel like every thumbs up I get is a brick of gold. :)

@Joseph and Peter Hanami: Thanks for the info! It looks like you readers from Tokyo have got it easy! :) I need to check if there is a Payless around here.

@Chris B: Before I tried it out, I didn’t even venture to try asking. I’d look to see if they had 30s, see that they didn’t and then leave for another store. As I started to become a little more adventuresome and confident with my Japanese, I started to ask more questions which led to this discovery. Btw, I did some price checks between theflyingpig.com and costcost21.com and theflyingpig is much cheaper, by as much as 10% on many items.

@Dave B: I hope this tip will be useful for you! Living in Tokyo, you might have to wait even less for your shoes to come in.

@Tori: 取り寄せる works great, although good old 注文する works just as well too.

By: Gearing up for Japan - Holding Pattern « A typical Life

Gearing up for Japan - Holding Pattern « A typical Life — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 20:07:38 +0000

[...] not so sure that I won’t be sorry later. Some solace came in a post from Thomas on how to get shoes in Japan but I’m not so sure his tip will work for women’s shoes. I’ll keep my [...]

By: Tori

Tori — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 12:32:15 +0000

Great post.
I never thought of using 取り寄せる to order items not in stock.