Take off your shoes before entering or else.

It’s pretty well-known that in Japan you’re usually supposed to take your shoes off before you enter somebody’s house. However, there are some cases where you’d probably be forgiven for not doing so. For example, if there’s a medical emergency and you have to rush into a house to help someone, most people would probably be fine with you getting their floor a little dirty. Unfortunately, for an ambulance crew member in Kyoto, he seems to have met a man who doesn’t fall under that “most people” category.

On Thursday Kyoto police arrested a 66-year old unemployed man for allegedly punching an ambulance crew member who took a single step into the suspect’s home with his shoes still on.

According to police, on November 15, at around 1 p.m. the 66-year old man called 119 (emergency telephone number) complaining of pain in his left leg. In response to this call the Seika Town Fire Department dispatched an ambulance to the suspect’s residence. After arriving at the residence, one of the ambulance crew members, a 42-year old man, took a single step into the suspect’s house while still wearing his shoes. The suspect, who was lying in bed, saw this, became enraged and reportedly said to the emergency responder “Hey, you! Where are you going? I oughta give you a whoopin’!” Upon hearing this the crew member got on his hands and knees and apologized to the suspect. However, this didn’t seem to satisfy the suspect because he then got up from the bed, went over to the crew member and punched him in the left side of the face. The suspect was then attended to by different crew member and taken to the hospital. The victim was unharmed.

The suspect, who is being accused of interfering with the duty of a public official, is denying the allegations, saying “I have no memory (of the incident).”

However, if the suspect decides to fight this in court he may have a strong case because apparently, in the entranceway to his residence there was a wooden sign on display that read “No Shoes Allowed.” So obviously, this mean’s that the suspect was totally justified in his actions…

Source: Sankei West