Although July's stickiness unglues most minds from study, it is at this time of year that mothers in Japan turn their thoughts toward school. Enrolling children in summer cram programs, visiting potential private schools, researching every possible option — all are occupations to fill the barefoot days of vacation with meticulous preparation for the eventual start of formal education: Japanese elementary school, or shogakko.

Speaking of bare feet, slippers are a necessary accessory for all shogakko moms. I was forced to borrow the school's standard slippers recently during a PTA meeting, an incontrovertible mark of someone lacking common sense. I scanned the room desperately, sure to discover at least one other harried housewife who had forgotten the all-important bag at her front door. No chance. I instead took in the astonishing array of slipperhood, from the all-purpose, snatched-from-home pair to the homemade, hand-crocheted pair with matching carrying case, to the nouveau, hard-sock variety. Whoever thinks the Japanese lack creativity has never eaten a bento lunchbox, ordered from a home supplies catalog, or viewed the slipper parade at shogakko.

Being a foreign mother in Japan, regardless of your partner's ethnicity, requires a certain amount of slippery finesse. I have yet to master the popular art of cell-phone texting, another obstacle in my uphill, slipperless climb to understanding Japanese conventions, but I have learned a few things about shogakko.