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paralysis associated with cerebrovascular disease, and ingrown toenails do not receive appropriate footcare at hospitals. Thus, since the start of the management of diabetic foot complications fee in 2008, foot care has become widely known in the field of diabetes treatment, but it is still not recog-nized in other fields.Several individuals in Japan are unaware that their feet need care. Owing to the Japanese cultural milieu, footcare is not considered an important routine activity, in contrast to practices followed in Western countries. The shoe culture was estab-lished in Japan only over the past 100 years (compared with approximately 1,000 years ago in Europe and the United States); zori (sandals) and geta (wooden clogs) was the traditional footwear among the previous generations of the Japanese. Therefore, podiatry is not widely established as a medical speciality2）. Furthermore, culturally, foot-wear is considered a fashion accessory; shoes are often changed to match clothing, such as zori to match kimonos and shoes to match clothes. Usually, loose-fitting shoes such as zori and geta, which do not require the use of hands and are comfortable for the feet are preferred3）. Therefore, appropriate selection and correct use of shoes may not receive much attention, and shoe-induced chafing is treated as a common issue and calluses, chicken eye defor-mity, and ingrown toenails are ignored and remain untreated.The lack of podiatrists and footcare specialists is an important contributor to the low levels of aware-ness regarding footcare in Japan. Podiatry is a separate and specialized field integral to medical practice in Europe and the United States. Podiatrists treat foot lesions with drug or surgical therapy similar to the role of dentists in Japan. Mediz-inischer Fusspfleger, which refers to a specialist in footcare and Shoe Meister, which refers to a specialist in shoes are national qualifications in this field in Germany. The Germans routinely visit a podiatrist for foot concerns, or visit a footcare salon on a daily basis and buy shoes under the guidance of a specialist. In contrast, in Japan, footcare is provided only by outpatient footcare clinics at some hospitals for patients with diabetes and at private footcare salons for cosmetic purposes.The aging rate was 28.1% in Japan in 2018, and the mean life expectancy was 87 years for women and 81 years for men, which indicates significantly high longevity4）. Interestingly, that year, 6.44 million individuals were certified as requiring nursing care or support under long-term care insurance5）, and despite the long life expectancy, several Japanese are dependent on continuous medical and nursing care, and the gap between life expectancy and healthy life expectancy is concerning. It is important to maintain activities of daily living (ADL) and walking ability to extend healthy life expectancy6). Maintenance of walking ability requires protection of foot health, which forms the primary focus of footcare. In essence, footcare plays a key role in preventive medicine and is indispensable to the rapidly aging Japanese society characterized by high longevity.Juntendo University Hospital established the “Podiatry Center” as the first podiatry center in a university hospital in 2019, for comprehensive foot-care services for all foot lesions regardless of the disease. The author is in charge of the outpatient footcare at this center. In this section, I will describe the role of footcare nurses in foot care, which is currently not well established in Japanese society.As mentioned earlier, national qualifications for footcare specialists are not established in Japan; however, nurses with domain-specific qualifica-tions recognized by various organizations and academic societies function as footcare nurses. Certifications for diabetic foot lesion specialization include the Certified Diabetic Nurse Practitioner certification provided by the Japan Nurses Associ-ation and the Japan Diabetes Care Instructor certi-fication provided by the Japan Diabetes Care Instructor Certification Organization. Qualifications for specialization in foot ulcers and skin care include the Certified Nurse in Wound, Ostomy and Conti-nence Nursing certification provided by the Japan Nurses Association. The Elastic Stocking and Compression Therapy Conductor certification provided by the Japanese Society of Phlebology, the Lymphedema Therapist certification provided by the Japanese Association for Lymphedema Therapy, and the Vascular Technician certification provided by the Vascular Technician Certification Organization are credentials for foot lesions of the 2132. Footcare nurses in Japan