konmaring Life-Changing Magic of Tidying up

Japanese people make a great fuss about the big cleaning up at the end of the year. Not just cleaning up but people would go through their wardrobes, cupboards and bookshelves and dump things that they would not use anymore.

For some people, carrying out the cleaning in efficient steps and making decision on what to dispose or keep are rather difficult, so in Japan, there are many how-to books on cleaning up and decluttering.

Marie Kondo wrote a how-to book on decluttering and organizing, and it has become a big hit not just in Japan but overseas too. The style of her cleaning is named "Konmari method". Konmari is her name Kondo Marie shortened.

There even is a verb generated from this "Konmari", "konmaring". On twitter, there is a hashtag "#konmaring", "#konmari", and some with pictures are showing how they are trying to organize things at home they have accumulated over many years. There even was a post talking of "konmaring" their life or their twitter account. So the verb does not just refer to cleaning up the house.

Hashtags clearly show how big a hit her method is.

How come her method became such a hit?
The secret is in the title and the magic spell which is constantly repeated in the book.

"The life-changing magic of tidying up. The Japanese art of decluttering and organizing"

It is not just your ordinary how-to book, the book tells you that tidying up is MAGIC! It is a book of magic. And it is a magic that can change your life! Cleaning the house is not a job that most people enjoy or do it for hobby, but if it is a magic that can change your life, now, that is exciting!

The title also tells you this method is a Japanese art. To a non-Japanese reader, it would give the impression of Zen or oriental philosophy. The cleaning is purification. The slight guilt that comes from being manipulated in commercialism and materialism can be written off with this magic method.

However, this Japanese art does not tell you to throw away everything and live in modesty. Repeatedly, the book chants the magic spell,

"Does it spark joy?"

The book tells you to keep the things that sparks joy to you, and throw away the things that does not. Presents from your ex-boyfriend, jumpers and scarfs that you got on Christmas or birthday that are not quite your taste, skirt that you want to wear when you succeed in working out at the gym...etc. They do not spark joy so you should throw them away. You only keep the things that make you happy. Cast off the shackles, freedom from material means freedom of your mind.

It does seem like magic.

Yes, her book is magic - contracting her name and making it the verb to refer to the method, the selection of the words in the title, casting magic spell repeatedly in the book.