I bought these shoes to try out barefoot running. I have been very interested in trying this since I first heard about it. If you search the web you will find an evangelical community supporting going barefoot, and as a person who has now tried it, I will add my voice to the choir. I use these to run, walk around the house, practice martial arts and someday I'd like to be able to wear them to work! Now you will recognize these split toe shoes as the famous "ninja shoes" that are called "Tabi" in Japan. I was surprised to learn that in Japan until recently rugged tabi shoes like the ZEM Boots were the shoes of choice for construction workers, farmers and any outdoor heavy labor. Being able to sensitively feel the ground is considered more important than protecting your feet in impenetrable cases (like steel toed boots). They are technically called Jika Tabi, literally; tabi that touch the earth, as compared to the cloth soled shoes that are for indoor/ceremonial use.

These shoes have an extremely thin sole that allows you to feel everything under you foot, I tell frieds that ask, "If I step on a penny, I know if it was heads or tails!" The foot feel is better than the more expensive barefoot runners like Vibrum Five Fingers, which I also own and love. Training on sharp pea gravel is an absolute party of sensation that make your brain tingle...

You might think that if I really wanted a barefoot running experience I would simply run barefooted, however I can say from painful experience that this is a tough nut to crack in the modern environment. If I try to run even a mile totally barefoot it's almost certain that eventually I will land hard on an isolated small stone, goathead, or piece of glass. The pain produced by this experience means that you spend the whole time anticipating such experiences. This results in a paranoid running experience rather than a joyful one. I can say that with a little training these very thin soles are enough to allow running with confidence on fairly difficult surfaces. *wrote this 6 months ago, I'm making significant progress running barefoot, but these are still best whenever you want to sightsee rather than watching your surface, great for hiking and rough country scrambling!

Finally, the price is right, there are starting to be a number of minimalist shoes out there, but none of them are carrying a minimalist price tag. Once you are hooked on the experience, you will probably spring for VFFs but these are a good starting space. In fact even with my high priced minimalist shoes I still often choose to take out my ZEM Boots, I own both these low tops and the higher top split toes now. If you run in the cold, the high tops are a good choice. I haven't tried the round toes yet though they may be a little easier look to pull off in public. Eventually you get used to everybody asking you, "What are those things on your feet?" it happens even with the all black shoes, though maybe a little less with round toes.

Try them, and prepare to be surprised.

**Addendum 9 months later, still love these shoes, I have turned many people on to them who are also impressed. They do wear along the seam of the sole and upper on both the outer and inner edge. Also for me they wear on this seam a little at the heal. Still very great life for the price, though I mod them with a line of shoe goo on this seam. Some of my friends have preferred the round toe version for their foot shape. I still prefer the split toe for the added stability during toe spring phase and hard lateral direction changes.