Wahashi

Wahashi [わはし] are lightweight tie-on sandals or kaga, made from natural fibers, usually straw. They were once the standard footwear of the common people of Kanton, being cheap to make and easy to wear. Their design consisted of a flat straw sole, with fibrous straps which could be tied through the toes and around the ankle to attach the foot.
Wahashi resemble other forms of traditional Kantonese footwear, such as kaga or numi, with a few key differences. They were historically the simplest form of outdoor footwear (sandals of any type not being worn indoors). Due to their cheap and rustic nature, they were considered a very low type of kaga, and are never worn with formal clothing. Often, wahashi are woven so that the wearer's heel is not covered, encouraging the wearer to walk on the balls of their feet.
Once commonly worn in Kanton, there are records of wahashi being in use from the Nittori period and even earlier. From the 1500s onwards, kaga were worn in urban areas, but wahashi were favoured by those undertaking long journeys for their comfort factor. They were also worn during energetic or prolonged labour. 
In constant use, rice-straw wahashi only last three or four days, or roughly 24 hours of active use, meaning each person would have to make about a hundred pairs a year, on average, if they wore them constantly. As wahashi could be homemade from cheap materials, and everyone learned how to make them in childhood, this was not a problem. Wahashi could also be cheaply bought. Travellers carried a supply and discarded them when they were worn-out. A common but old saying, wahashi re bekkaru, means 'can't even make wahashi', and refers to somebody being inept or incapable.