Japanese shoemaker aiming to create boots anyone can wear

FUKUI, Japan - A Japanese shoemaker is using his own techniques to modify ready-made rain boots to cater to people with foot problems, including those having difficulty in bending their ankles or using orthotic devices.

"I want to make rain boots that anyone can wear," said Hirokazu Nagao, 58, running a footwear workshop in Fukui Prefecture in central Japan. Inspired by a television drama about a shoemaker who supports an athlete running with a prosthetic leg, Nagao began working for a manufacturer of prosthetic and orthotic devices in Fukui in 1995.