It seems that there is now a worldwide interest in tidying up. One of the major influences on this phenomenon can be said to be KONDO Marie (a.k.a. KonMari), a Japanese woman living in the United States. Her book, “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up,” released in 2010, became an international bestseller and she was named one of Time Magazineʼs “100 Most Influential People in the World” (2015). This year, an original television series based on her book won a Daytime Emmy Award. The unique quality of the “KonMari Method” that she advocates is that through tidying up, one can look inside oneself and discover oneʼs own values of what kind of life one wants to be surrounded by. She has her own unique viewpoints, such as “The secret to sorting out what to keep is based on whether or not you feel a ʻSpark of Joy.ʼ” In Japan, the sense of tidiness and orderliness is deeply rooted. Many foreigners are impressed by the neat rows of shoes at the entrance of elementary schools. Many Japanese companies, including Toyota, also require their employees to be organized and tidy as a basic attitude leading to higher productivity. Many customers voluntarily organize the dishes once they have finished eating at a restaurant to make it easier for the server to clean up. The late UMESAO Tadao, a recipient of the Order of Culture, emphasized the importance of organizing information in his bestseller “The Art of Intellectual Production.” In Japan, there is a frequent boom in decluttering. Just as SEN no Rikyu, the founder of the tea ceremony, incorporated spirituality into the tea ceremony, the “dou (way)” of Japanese culture is reflected in KonMariʼs method of tidying up. ( From December issue, 2022 / 2022年12月号より）