Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo (近藤 麻理恵 Kondō Marie) is a Japanese organizing consultant and author.^[1] She has written four books on organizing, which have collectively sold millions of copies and have been translated from Japanese into languages including Korean, Chinese, French, German, and English.^[1] In particular, her book The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing (2011) has been published in more than 30 countries.^[2] It was a best seller in Japan and in Europe, and was published in the United States in 2014.^[1]

She was listed as one of Time's "100 most influential people" in 2015.^[3]

Background

Kondo says that she has been interested in organizing since childhood. In junior school, she ran into the classroom to tidy up bookshelves while her classmates were playing in physical education class. Whenever there was nomination for class roles, she did not seek to be the class representative or the pet feeder. Instead, she yearned to be the bookshelf manager to continue to tidy up books. She said she experienced a breakthrough in organizing one day, "I was obsessed with what I could throw away. One day, I had a kind of nervous breakdown and fainted. I was unconscious for two hours. When I came to, I heard a mysterious voice, like some god of tidying telling me to look at my things more closely. And I realized my mistake: I was only looking for things to throw out. What I should be doing is finding the things I want to keep. Identifying the things that make you happy: that is the work of tidying."^[4]

She also spent five years as an attendant maiden at a Shinto shrine.^[4] She is married^[5] and had a baby girl in July 2015.^[6]

KonMari method

Kondo's method of organizing is known as the KonMari method, and consists of gathering together everything you own, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy" (tokimeku in Japanese, literally "flutter, throb, palpitate"^[7]), and choosing a place for everything from then on.^[8][9][10]

Media appearances

A two-part TV dramatization was filmed in 2013 based on Kondo and her work, 人生がときめく片づけの魔法.^[11] She has also done many lectures and TV appearances.^[1][4] She has also released a series of videos teaching “the best way to fold for perfect appearance”.^[8]

Publications

• Jinsei ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Maho (人生がときめく片づけの魔法).
  • Tokyo: Sunmark Shuppan, 2011. ISBN 978-4-7631-3120-1. Japanese-language text.
  • German translation. 2013. ISBN 978-3-499-62481-0.
  • English translation. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing. New York: Ten Speed Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1607747307.
• Jinsei ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Maho 2 (人生がときめく片づけの魔法2). Tokyo: Sunmark Shuppan, 2012. ISBN 978-4-7631-3241-3.
• Mainichi ga Tokimeku Katazuke no Maho (毎日がときめく片付けの魔法),. Tokyo: Sunmark Shuppan, 2014. ISBN 978-4-7631-3352-6.
• Irasuto de Tokimeku Katazuke no Maho = The Illustrated Guide to the Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up (イラストでときめく片付けの魔法）. Tokyo: Sunmark Shuppan, 2015. ISBN 978-4-7631-3427-1.

References

1. "Kissing Your Socks Goodbye : Home Organization Advice from Marie Kondo". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
2. February 26, 2015 Marie Kondo and the Cult of Tidying Up Wall Street Journal Retrieved April 8, 2015]
3. Cleanup guru Marie Kondo among Time's 100 most influential people April 17, 2015 Asahi Shimbun Retrieved April 20, 2015
4. "Marie Kondo is the maiden of mess". Theaustralian.com.au. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
5. February 26, 2015 Marie Kondo and the Cult of Tidying Up Wall Street Journal Retrieved April 8, 2015]
6. Tonya C. Snyder. The real reasons Marie Kondo’s life-changing magic doesn’t work for parents. The Washington Post. January 14, 2016.
7. "Japanese-English translation :: tokimeku :: Dictionary". kanjijapanese.com. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
8. "Japan’s ‘queen of clean’ promotes benefits of a tidy home". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
9. "How KonMari's phenomenal book can help put your house in order". Japantimes.co.jp. Retrieved 26 October 2014.
10. Maloney, Jennifer; Fujikawa, Megumi (2015-02-26). "Marie Kondo and the Cult of Tidying Up". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2015-03-01.
11. "人生がときめく片づけの魔法". ntv.co.jp. Retrieved 7 March 2015.

External links

• Official website (English)
• Official website (Japanese)
• Official Blogsite (Japanese)
• Marie Kondo on Twitter (English)
• The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up Official Website (English)
• Marie Kondo, "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" - Talks at Google (English)