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Marie Kondo wants you to know that her approach to cleaning isn’t no “ordinary cleaning”.
The world-famous Japanese tidiness guru discussed her philosophy of cleanliness with national newspaper Asahi Shimbun. “The method of cleaning I’m advocating isn’t the everyday method of returning things to normal or tidying up here and there in the gaps of daily life. It’s about rethinking everything you own. It’s cleaning up your past.”
Kondo became famous in the West for her saying that you should only keep things that “spark joy”. (The phrase is translated from the Japanese ときめくものを選ぶ; tokimeku mono o erabu). She says the phrase is about “rethinking your choices and finding what you value and how you want to live.”
Kondo says people have trouble giving up things to which they have an emotional attachment or memories, or which they feel they may need in the future. “I propose people put the difficult things aside and focus on the simple things. Clothes, books, papers, accessories, and finally precious memories, in that order. If you start from the memories, you’re highly likely to stop there.”
But does it spark joy?
Also known by the nickname KonMari, Kondo has made a killing with her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (affiliate link). Her latest book, Marie Kondo’s Kurashi at Home, attempts to turn the Japanese word for “living” (暮らし) into a new approach to daily life for those in the English-speaking world.
Kondo has gained a large following in the West, where many people to struggle to gain control of sprawliIrg houses stuffed with stuff. Ironically, she’s less well known in her own country, where household space is at a premium and her methods are more seen as common sense. A few years ago, her English YouTube channel had over half a million subscribers while her Japanese channel had a mere 56,000.
Kondo has also benefited from an excellent marketing strategy that matches her perception in the West. In contrast to her Japanese YouTube channel, which matches the usual busy, bustling aesthetic of Japanese TV, her English channel adopts a Zen-like, spartan appearance.
What to read next
Two Konmaris: How Cleanliness Guru’s Marketed in the West
Sources
片づける…それは「過去に片をつける」覚悟 こんまりさん流の考え方. Asahi Shimbun
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