Tatami Threads: Half a Lifetime Walked in Zōri

Akita-ken Japan to Bohol, Philippines via Singapore -- 1990-2025

These worn zōri—frayed at the arch, softened by time—are more than sandals. They are the quiet archivists of my journey, tracing steps from the rice fields of rural Akita to the coral-edged soil of Bahi Pantad. From May 1990 to March 2007, I lived in the rhythms of northern Japan, where tatami zōri weren’t just footwear—they were a way of being. I wore them through seasons of snowmelt and cicada song, through school corridors and shrine paths, through the slow unfolding of a life rooted in movement.

But my connection to Japan began long before Akita. I was born in a U.S. Air Force hospital in Texas in 1955, delivered, according to my mother and confirmed by my birth cert, by Dr. Suzuki—a Japanese American physician serving in the military.

Years later, while in graduate school in education at Ohio State, I entered my first marital partnership --- and that was with a Japanese woman. Though brief, the relationship was my first full immersion into Japanese culture, and it left a lasting imprint.

Since then, Japanese aesthetics have quietly shaped my life: in the food I favor, the textures I seek, and the garden I now tend in Bahi, where bamboo leans into stone and into meditative silence.

Since leaving Akita 18 years ago, I’ve gone through two other pairs of zōri—each one a companion in transition, each one gradually giving way. This final pair, waraji zōri, shown here, has carried me into the last stage of my life. The soles are worn thin, the straw fibers unraveling like old stories, yet the fabric straps still hold. They remind me that endurance isn’t loud—it’s soft spoken and neatly woven. It’s the daily act of stepping forward, of grounding oneself in the humble textures of place and of memory.

I’ve walked half my lifetime in zōri. And in their fading form, I see not loss, but a sort of loose fitting destiny.

For anyone drawn to the quiet grace of traditional zōri, similar pairs—woven from rice straw or tatami mat with fabric thongs—can be found online at Etsy, Rakuten Japan, and Amazon Global. Search for “tatami zōri” or “waraji-style sandals” to begin your own Japanese style journey.