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MORE AND MORE of the Japanese are taking to wearing shoes. But many, especially the country folk and the staunch, older natives, cling to the wearing of geta.

Geta are wooden-platformed affairs strung with a colorful thong that slides in between the big and second toes. The thongs are made of velvet or cotton or silk brocade and feel good sandwiched in the "tootsies." The unusual Japanese footgear can be slipped into and out of with the twinkle of an oriental eye. In a land where footgear is removed more than it is worn, they are immensely practical.

Japanese kids, two and three years old, are also outfitted in geta. The serviceman - whose early attempts at wearing the novel shoes did not meet with complete success - is somewhat amazed and ashamed that the kids should navigate in them with such doggone ease.

Made of wood as they are, geta make a clip-clop sound that outdoes the finest product of a sounds-effect man on the finest western radio program. And they are great when it rains because there are special extra-elevated geta that are equipped with a foot covering.

Shoes get soggy and feet get damp, but when resting the feet on the wooden platforms the wearer can roam through puddles with complete Asiatic abandon.

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