When I took this photo on a side street in Kanazawa I was immediately tempted to crop it so as to remove my own shoe from the shot. However, I’ve since decided to leave it in because it provides a segue into the sad story of how I came to buy those fricking shoes. Being a fan of the Teva brand, I’d been hunting for a shop where I could buy some in Japan. The day before this photo was taken, I found a Teva pop-up shop in Shinjuku where I excitedly tried on and bought a pair of the new Slimkosi range. Unfortunately for me, in my excitement I failed to properly test the shoes, with the result that I bought a pair that were a size too small. I stubbornly carried on wearing them for a few days before the pain became too great. I still have them, but wish I’d been more careful. The irony is that the two yellow footprints in this shot are about the same size as my own feet. Why didn’t someone paint a pair of footprints in that blasted pop-up shop instead? And what the hell is a pair of painted footprints doing on a road anyway? I know, I know: ‘cool story, bro’.