Marie Kondo

Marie Kondo
Kondo in 2015
Born	Circa 1985
Nationality	Japanese
Occupation	Organizing consultant and author
Years active	1997 to present
Known for	KonMari method
Notable work	The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing
Website	konmari.com

Marie Kondo (近藤 麻理恵, Kondō Marie, born circa 1985^[1]) is a Japanese organizing consultant and author.^[2]

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.^[2] 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.^[3] It was a best seller in Japan and in Europe, and was published in the United States in 2014.^[2]

She was listed as one of Time's "100 most influential people" in 2015. ^[4]

Background

Kondo speaking in Hong Kong in 2016

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."^[5]

She spent five years as an attendant maiden at a Shinto shrine.^[5] She founded her organizing consulting business when she was 19 and a sociology student at Tokyo Woman's Christian University.^[6]

KonMari method

Kondo's method of organizing is known as the KonMari method, and consists of gathering together all of one's belongings, one category at a time, and then keeping only those things that "spark joy" (tokimeku, the word in Japanese, means "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 done many lectures and made television appearances.^[2][5] She released a series of videos teaching “the best way to fold for perfect appearance”.^[8]

Personal life

Kondo is married to Takumi Kawahara.^[12][13] The couple have two children.^[14][12]

Publications

• Jinsei ga Tokimeku Katatsuke 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 (in Japanese)
  • 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 Katatsuke 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 Katatsuke 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 Katatsuke 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

External links

• Official website
• Marie Kondo on IMDb
• Marie Kondo: "The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" | Talks at Google

Look up kondo or tokimeku in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.