There is an interesting discussion over at The Thinking Housewife on whether guests should take their shoes off when entering another person's home, when that is the custom there: From Chaos to Order. (The original blog entry was on Japan and how Japanese people behave at a evacuee refuge.) I am thinking that the people who are writing in are white. These days, when I take my shoes off at home, I think more about being barefoot than reasons of hygiene...