For those with low tolerance for rain and friendships.

After the announcement of the umbrella hat, you may have thought it wasn’t any more possible to send people screaming in the opposite direction with your choice of rain protective gear.

Alas, how young and naive we were.

Our Japanese reporter Go Hattori, known for his strange obsession with 100 yen shop goods such as finding the perfect pair of cheap underwear, recently made a discovery. With it being rainy season in Japan, he went to his local 100 yen store to see what they had to help him stay dry, and something caught his eye.

▼ “Disposable Shoe Covers,” plastic vinyl encasings for your feet.
Three pairs in a pack. What a bargain!

▼ Here they are out of the bag. With the rubber banding around
the top, they kind of look like condoms for your feet….

▼ …and yup, that’s exactly what they are.

▼ Of course, as in all things, The Simpsons did it first.

On the one hand, we do have to give credit where credit is due. Getting your shoes wet in the rain sucks. Even if your body is protected by an umbrella and rain jacket, that doesn’t do anything for your poor feet that have to slog along on the ground. And bringing rain boots can be cumbersome, or if it’s a sudden shower that you’re caught in, impossible to plan for.

So the idea behind the shoe bags is sound, but how are they in practice?

▼ Here’s Go, putting them on…

▼ …and yup! They look exactly as lame as predicted.
Might as well don a fanny pack and wear some socks with sandals.

▼ Please, Go… stop! The anime-action lines are just making it worse!

However, Go is no stranger to being lame. He’s curled his hair with 100 yen shop curlers before, so this was practically cool for him. There was only one question on his mind: did the covers actually work?

▼ It was time for a field test, in the slippery streets of Shinjuku.

▼ With a perfect puddle-specimen spotted, Go prepared his experiment.

▼ He started off a little hesitant…

▼ …but then plunged right in!
He couldn’t believe it: they actually worked.

Even though the shoes make you look like an alien only vaguely aware of how humans dress, they do keep your shoes dry. Go quickly decided to test the bags on even deeper, wetter puddles.

▼ But even the mightiest of puddles were no match for Go’s invincible shoe bags.

▼ Splash all you want, Go. Enjoy it. You’ve earned it for all
the sacrifices wearing these bags requires.

▼ Once back on dry land, removing the coverings is easy: just dispose of them
in the trash, right along with any hopes for positive human interaction.

While Go would likely never wear the shoe bags out in public, he does have to admit that it is nice to come in from the rain without sopping wet feet. Maybe from now on, he’ll keep a pair in his backpack, just in case the day comes when he needs them.

Although, that 100 yen wig is still festering away in his backpack “just in case” too…. It’s day hasn’t come yet, apparently.

Images: © SoraNews24
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[ Read in Japanese ]