[Daiso] On rainy days, having a shoe tray lets you change sneakers and relax

After walking through the neighborhood park on a rainy day—without worrying about puddles or fallen leaves—I changed my sneakers in the car and drove home. Since it’s only about 10 minutes by car from home, I learned that even on rainy days, it’s easy to head out to the park.

A drive to the park on a rainy day with a shoe tray

A park about 10 minutes by car from home. I often went there on sunny days, but I’d never bothered to go on a rainy day. The fallen leaves are wet, and the greenery of the trees looks deeper than usual. I found myself wanting to stroll through a rainy park like that, slowly.

Scenes on a rainy day that you usually pass by on sunny days—while wondering what to do about my shoes, I tossed the sneakers I use in the car for driving and a Daiso shoe tray into the car for the trip.

Walking shoes, driving shoes, and a Daiso shoe tray

To keep the car interior clean, the important thing is not to wear the wet walking sneakers inside the car. That’s where the Daiso shoe tray (“an environmentally friendly shoe tray made with recycled plastic,” 110 yen) comes in. It has the shape of a black, shallow box, with raised patterns on the bottom shaped like shoe soles. Before setting out, I prepared the walking sneakers and the driving sneakers, and placed the shoe tray on the passenger seat.

Open umbrella, walking on wet brick and grassy paths

It had been raining steadily, and we arrived at the park in about 10 minutes. In the parking lot, tiny raindrops were densely clinging to the white car body, and the road surface was dark and wet with puddles here and there.

Knowing that the driving sneakers were waiting for me on the way home, I felt like I could start walking without worrying about my walking sneakers getting wet.

Since it was raining pretty hard, I entered the park with my white sneakers and an umbrella, stepping around puddles here and there.

The park, with only the sound of rain beating on the umbrella and the faint sound of sneakers stepping in water, felt like an entirely different place from usual.

Once I accepted that it was okay to get wet, I could walk without avoiding puddles, and my range of movement expanded dramatically. It felt surprisingly pleasant to be able to walk freely, even up to the rainwater pooled on the iron grates around tree roots and beneath the fallen leaves along the edge of the grass.

Back to the car, place the wet sneakers in the tray and take a breather

When I returned to the car, just opening the door let rain seep into the interior. Raindrops had started to appear on the inside door trim too. Still wearing the sneakers I had walked in, I stepped onto the sill beneath the door, sat down in the seat, and changed shoes there.

When I took off my walking sneakers and set them on the shoe tray, I felt reassured knowing that even though they were wet from the rain, no puddles would form in the car.

The moment I slipped my feet into dry sneakers, my body relaxed

Then I changed into the driving sneakers. There was no discomfort at all from walking through the rainy park. The moment I slipped my feet into dry sneakers, my body suddenly relaxed.

As soon as I placed my feet on the pedals, the usual feeling of driving returned. Since these are the sneakers I set aside for driving, the feel of pressing the brake and accelerator was just as usual. The rain was still falling, but my feet were already in my normal driving mode. After a brief pause, I started off on the 10-minute drive home feeling good.

With a shoe tray, you can enjoy walking on rainy days without worry

Being able to walk confidently over puddles in shoes that don’t mind getting wet feels great. And after walking, changing into driving sneakers and being able to drive comfortably right away made even the rainy neighborhood park enjoyable.

A park I had only known on sunny days showed me deeper reds in the bricks and richer colors in the fallen leaves on rainy days. I hadn’t realized that the same place could show such a different face just because the weather was different.

Just having an umbrella and driving sneakers in the car made for a very enjoyable park stroll. When the autumn leaves reach their peak, I’d like to walk through the rainy park again.

Reporting and text / SYURI

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