An observation about Japan

This my 21-year-old cousin, Eri Kono, who is studying to be a kindergarten teacher. She is dressed exactly like young women all over Tokyo. We were on the train and she is holding her constant accessory — her cell phone.

You know those slick ads for high end designers in magazines like Vogue where at the bottom, it says something like "New York London Paris Milan Tokyo"?

We went past Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Gucci and the like while we were in between Harajuku and Shibuya. In fact, there was a huge mall with stores like that.

But you just really don't see any women who are well put together.

Most young women wear very short skirts, leggings or thigh-high stockings and high heels that don't fit. So they walk pigeon-toed and knock-kneed at the same time, which is quite a feat, and they drag their feet. Not an attractive look at all.

Jessica, whose mission was to buy shoes, didn't have much luck. Her feet were a tad too big. My problem is the opposite — my feet are too small. Everyone thinks that Japanese women have small feet and I would have an easier time buying "grown up" shoes in Japan than here in the States. They are wrong. The only shoes I could find in my size were pink or purple with ribbons and fake gems on them. Not exactly the right look for a 55-year-old woman! It was either those or athletic shoes adorned with superheroes or anime figures. Again ... not a good look for me. And that's coming from someone who owns several pairs of Hello Kitty shoes.

After a few shoe stores Jessica visited, she figured out why Japanese women were wearing ill-fitting shoes. Shoes are sized S, M, L and LL. That's right — small, medium, large and extra large. In most of the stores, I never saw shoes that were sized like the ones here. That explained that.

She also wanted to buy clothes. Jess gave up after a while. There were plenty of cute clothes. But she said, "How am I supposed to fit in this?" holding up one cute top. I knew exactly what she was talking about. Even a shirt that is sized as a large, is like a small here. I think the average bra size in the States is a 36-C. Japan is the land of why my friend Hernice Smith calls "Barbie underwear."

I don't think she bought any clothes at all.

I received several shirts that were either large or LL.

I swear in American sizes, they would be way too big. Really. Japanese-made clothing are made to fit Japanese girls. I don't know where bigger women buy their clohes. America?

Going back the shoes for a moment. I saw one woman wearing a pair of the distinctive, red-soled Christian Louboutin shoes. They were gorgeous. I was so jealous. But then I watched her walk in them and had to laugh.