Overpronated feet

Okay, admittedly, this is a bit of an unusual question I guess, but what’s up with all the food overpronation in Japan?

I noticed that it’s especially many Japanese men have “overpronation”. That means that the inner edge of the foot is tilted so that it hits the ground first. You can also notice this by the unusual amount of wear and tear on the inside sole near the arch.

I’ve been living in Japan for a few years now, and it’s something that I’ve been noticing from the beginning, especially when walking behind someone. Wearing orthotics for another reason myself, it might be my selective perception, though. Is it?

4 comments
  1. I am commenting because I have also noticed this and also wondered why. Since coming to Japan I’ve also noticed that so many people are bow-legged (sorry if that’s an insensitive term but I don’t know a polite term for that). I have always wondered why.

  2. 1. You most probably in general walking more, walking in crowd more, and walking behind other people lot more in Japan than in your own country. So you are observing other people’s walking and noticing the differences in style lot more.

    2. Your own foot issues making you hyperaware of other people’s foot issues. There has been quite a bit of research done in this area of noticing something more of same thing that you possess or experiencing, for example, once you buy a red car, you will start to notice more red cars on the road, creating skewed perception that red cars are becoming more popular. IIRC there was a recent discussion on /r/AskScience on this topic.

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