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Review: Marie Kondo's Letter from Japan
Jul. 16th, 2026 03:30 pmMarie Kondo wrote Letter from Japan to explain aspects of her culture that led her to develop her tidying methods.
Calendar - My favorite was the traditional calendar, 'which divides the four seasons into six sekki, each of which is divided into three ko or micro-seasons of five days. The sekki have names like 'the time when insects sing,' the ko, 'farmers drain fields' and 'crickets chirp around the door.' Some people, like farmers, fishermen, poets, and artists, still use this calendar as well as our Gregorian calendar.
For her, this calendar focuses on what is seasonal rather than our current meetings and appointments. In the US, it's like we try to remove seasonality by making everything available all the time. Though it's still tastier to buy produce in season. And mother nature does her thing.
It's easier to savor and appreciate things that are not available all the time. Her favorites are cherry blossoms (spring), fireworks (summer), seasonal foods and fall leaves (autumn), and the year-end cleaning ritual (ha, of course she would love that!) (winter). They do 'spring cleaning' in winter. I learned that the Chinese enjoy plum blossoms, but cherries grow better in Japan. Varieties were developed to thrive in all parts of the country, and they keep track of when blooms will happen in different parts of the country (like we track fall color in the northeast and bluebonnet blooming in Texas). The cherry trees in Washington D.C. were a gift from Japan.
Kawaii (cuteness) - Kawaii means cute and adorable, and 'captures the … feeling of warmth and comfort that rises from deep within us when we see something sweet' like baby cheeks or 'a dainty plate of strawberry shortcake.' Aw, it's the Japanese version of hygge! (What's the US version? Jumping in huge piles of money like Scrooge McDuck?)
Passion - She says one in three Japanese people 'acknowledge that they have an oshi in their lives,' which is something they are passionate about. Hers is tidying. Her brother's is anime, manga, video games, the voice actors involved, the related conventions, etc. Some of her examples sound like obsessions. But she has nothing negative to say about these. She says even if you're embarrassed or don't want to inflict your passion on others, you should still have at least a small hidden shrine to your passion that you can enjoy privately.
Manga - 'I've always thought that manga has a powerful way of depicting strong emotions. Characters in manga cry often. Sweat pours down their faces, their eyes widen, and muscles and veins bulge. … When something sparks joy in them there are literal stars in their eyes.'
Stories often involve a quest to perfect a skill. But there's a new genre where the protagonist is transferred into another world, starts out with special powers, and quickly overcomes one challenge after another (isekai = other-world stories), perhaps popular because of exhaustion, burnout, living in a world where hard work doesn't always pay off.
Sogi (cleaning) – At the end of the day in elementary school, the students put their chairs on their desks and push the desks to the back of the room. Some students start sweeping. Others get rags and buckets of water and then run (racing each other) in a downward-dog-like position pushing the wet rag across the floor with their hands. Then they move the desks and do the other side of the room. Also, they clean an assigned area every every day for a week before rotating to a new task the next week: part of the classroom, the science lab, music room, home ec room, chicken pens, hallways, staircases.
They take off their shoes on entering the school and put on slippers—they bring these slippers home each week to wash. On field trips, they take their trash home with them (zoos, etc. don't even have public trash cans). Trash is sorted differently in different areas of the country, but typically different things are put out on different mornings of the week (never the night before). Even in Studio Ghibli movies, there are often scenes where characters clean a place they are moving into. ("My neighbor Totoro" even shows them cleaning the floors with rags.)
This is such a different mindset than what I'm used to. She says cleaning is an act of care in Japan, just as conservation is. For many of us in the US, it's a chore, and often hired out as a low-status, low-paying job.
Umami - In this chapter, she talks about various savory flavors like glutamate (in kombu seaweed), inosinate (in dried bonito flakes), guanylate (in shiitake mushrooms), but also how food in general in savored.
My favorite part was about school lunches. They can go a month without repeating, though meals typically involve a rice, a soup, a vegetable side, and a protein main dish. Their 'approach to food can be summed up in the concept of shokuiku, or food education,' including dishes from around the world, growing their own vegetables, and the kids serving each other (rotating basis). Before eating, they say Itadakimasu, 'I will gratefully receive this food,' grateful for the food, the workers, the plants and animals involved. And there is a different thankful expression for after the meal.
Japanese Gardens - She talks about a Zen Buddhist garden 'composed chiefly of white gravel and 15 carefully placed stones.' In Eastern thought, the number 15 symbolizes completeness, and in this garden, no matter where you are, you can never see all 15 stones.
One key technique (that originated in China) is shakkei, borrowed scenery, or incorporating the distant natural landscapes behind the garden.
One landscape gardener she interviewed designed gardens to need maintenance only once or twice per year: respecting the natural shape of the trees (no excessive pruning). You don't need to add beauty, like fountains, but uncover the beauty that is already there.
(She admits that growing up, she actually preferred English gardens to Japanese ones. 'I adored that kind of world, scattered with tiny sparks of joy' like a fairy statue nestled somewhere.)
Language - 'An essential part of Japanese communication is keigo, the system of honorific language used to show respect, humility, or politeness that also reflects social hierarchy, such as age and experience.' There is advice to 'ensure your actions or words "don't cause any corners to stick out." ' It means to avoid insensitive words and brusque attitudes. But when you do bump into sharp corners, don't hit back with harsh words, but cushion words, e.g., 'I'm sorry to bother you, but…' and apologizing for delays. Using these cushion words also gives you time to calm down.
She says, 'English speakers use the word "I" more than Japanese speakers. Even the word "thank-you" clearly goes from the speaker to the listener in English, but in Japanese, it literally means impossible, or this thing I am grateful for is so rare that' it's quite special.
'While things have improved markedly in the last decade, it used to be fairly common for business negotiations to also be shrouded in ambiguity.' It 'was common practice for publishers to mention contracts only after the book had been nearly finished and the publishing date had been set. Talks of fees and percentages would occur after the fact. The assumption that things would work out smoothly because of mutual trust and belief in social harmony is all well and good when the business relationship is stable, but it could lead to frustration and misunderstanding otherwise.' Yikes!
She would attribute the success of her first book to 'the inherent wonder of tidying,' not to herself, and so personal questions about herself and her opinions seemed irrelevant and intrusive.
And more! - The book also had chapters on mottainai ('profound regret over discarding or wasting something that could still serve a purpose'); the Japanese tea ceremony; do ('the way,' or an emphasis on mastery and discipline); Onsen (hot springs); omotenashi (hospitality, including helpful signs in public); Utsuwa (vessels, which have a will and should harmonize with what is contained within); onigiri (a rice ball she calls Japan's soul food); joka (purification, such as opening windows, lighting incense, ringing temple bells); shio (salt) and she also discusses artisans who extract salt from water; takigyo (waterfall meditation); Jinja (shrines) - she once worked as a shrine maiden, handing out protective talismans; ma (space, such as space in rooms, silences in conversations, and spaces between flowers in an arrangement).
Calendar - My favorite was the traditional calendar, 'which divides the four seasons into six sekki, each of which is divided into three ko or micro-seasons of five days. The sekki have names like 'the time when insects sing,' the ko, 'farmers drain fields' and 'crickets chirp around the door.' Some people, like farmers, fishermen, poets, and artists, still use this calendar as well as our Gregorian calendar.
For her, this calendar focuses on what is seasonal rather than our current meetings and appointments. In the US, it's like we try to remove seasonality by making everything available all the time. Though it's still tastier to buy produce in season. And mother nature does her thing.
It's easier to savor and appreciate things that are not available all the time. Her favorites are cherry blossoms (spring), fireworks (summer), seasonal foods and fall leaves (autumn), and the year-end cleaning ritual (ha, of course she would love that!) (winter). They do 'spring cleaning' in winter. I learned that the Chinese enjoy plum blossoms, but cherries grow better in Japan. Varieties were developed to thrive in all parts of the country, and they keep track of when blooms will happen in different parts of the country (like we track fall color in the northeast and bluebonnet blooming in Texas). The cherry trees in Washington D.C. were a gift from Japan.
Kawaii (cuteness) - Kawaii means cute and adorable, and 'captures the … feeling of warmth and comfort that rises from deep within us when we see something sweet' like baby cheeks or 'a dainty plate of strawberry shortcake.' Aw, it's the Japanese version of hygge! (What's the US version? Jumping in huge piles of money like Scrooge McDuck?)
Passion - She says one in three Japanese people 'acknowledge that they have an oshi in their lives,' which is something they are passionate about. Hers is tidying. Her brother's is anime, manga, video games, the voice actors involved, the related conventions, etc. Some of her examples sound like obsessions. But she has nothing negative to say about these. She says even if you're embarrassed or don't want to inflict your passion on others, you should still have at least a small hidden shrine to your passion that you can enjoy privately.
Manga - 'I've always thought that manga has a powerful way of depicting strong emotions. Characters in manga cry often. Sweat pours down their faces, their eyes widen, and muscles and veins bulge. … When something sparks joy in them there are literal stars in their eyes.'
Stories often involve a quest to perfect a skill. But there's a new genre where the protagonist is transferred into another world, starts out with special powers, and quickly overcomes one challenge after another (isekai = other-world stories), perhaps popular because of exhaustion, burnout, living in a world where hard work doesn't always pay off.
Sogi (cleaning) – At the end of the day in elementary school, the students put their chairs on their desks and push the desks to the back of the room. Some students start sweeping. Others get rags and buckets of water and then run (racing each other) in a downward-dog-like position pushing the wet rag across the floor with their hands. Then they move the desks and do the other side of the room. Also, they clean an assigned area every every day for a week before rotating to a new task the next week: part of the classroom, the science lab, music room, home ec room, chicken pens, hallways, staircases.
They take off their shoes on entering the school and put on slippers—they bring these slippers home each week to wash. On field trips, they take their trash home with them (zoos, etc. don't even have public trash cans). Trash is sorted differently in different areas of the country, but typically different things are put out on different mornings of the week (never the night before). Even in Studio Ghibli movies, there are often scenes where characters clean a place they are moving into. ("My neighbor Totoro" even shows them cleaning the floors with rags.)
This is such a different mindset than what I'm used to. She says cleaning is an act of care in Japan, just as conservation is. For many of us in the US, it's a chore, and often hired out as a low-status, low-paying job.
Umami - In this chapter, she talks about various savory flavors like glutamate (in kombu seaweed), inosinate (in dried bonito flakes), guanylate (in shiitake mushrooms), but also how food in general in savored.
My favorite part was about school lunches. They can go a month without repeating, though meals typically involve a rice, a soup, a vegetable side, and a protein main dish. Their 'approach to food can be summed up in the concept of shokuiku, or food education,' including dishes from around the world, growing their own vegetables, and the kids serving each other (rotating basis). Before eating, they say Itadakimasu, 'I will gratefully receive this food,' grateful for the food, the workers, the plants and animals involved. And there is a different thankful expression for after the meal.
Japanese Gardens - She talks about a Zen Buddhist garden 'composed chiefly of white gravel and 15 carefully placed stones.' In Eastern thought, the number 15 symbolizes completeness, and in this garden, no matter where you are, you can never see all 15 stones.
One key technique (that originated in China) is shakkei, borrowed scenery, or incorporating the distant natural landscapes behind the garden.
One landscape gardener she interviewed designed gardens to need maintenance only once or twice per year: respecting the natural shape of the trees (no excessive pruning). You don't need to add beauty, like fountains, but uncover the beauty that is already there.
(She admits that growing up, she actually preferred English gardens to Japanese ones. 'I adored that kind of world, scattered with tiny sparks of joy' like a fairy statue nestled somewhere.)
Language - 'An essential part of Japanese communication is keigo, the system of honorific language used to show respect, humility, or politeness that also reflects social hierarchy, such as age and experience.' There is advice to 'ensure your actions or words "don't cause any corners to stick out." ' It means to avoid insensitive words and brusque attitudes. But when you do bump into sharp corners, don't hit back with harsh words, but cushion words, e.g., 'I'm sorry to bother you, but…' and apologizing for delays. Using these cushion words also gives you time to calm down.
She says, 'English speakers use the word "I" more than Japanese speakers. Even the word "thank-you" clearly goes from the speaker to the listener in English, but in Japanese, it literally means impossible, or this thing I am grateful for is so rare that' it's quite special.
'While things have improved markedly in the last decade, it used to be fairly common for business negotiations to also be shrouded in ambiguity.' It 'was common practice for publishers to mention contracts only after the book had been nearly finished and the publishing date had been set. Talks of fees and percentages would occur after the fact. The assumption that things would work out smoothly because of mutual trust and belief in social harmony is all well and good when the business relationship is stable, but it could lead to frustration and misunderstanding otherwise.' Yikes!
She would attribute the success of her first book to 'the inherent wonder of tidying,' not to herself, and so personal questions about herself and her opinions seemed irrelevant and intrusive.
And more! - The book also had chapters on mottainai ('profound regret over discarding or wasting something that could still serve a purpose'); the Japanese tea ceremony; do ('the way,' or an emphasis on mastery and discipline); Onsen (hot springs); omotenashi (hospitality, including helpful signs in public); Utsuwa (vessels, which have a will and should harmonize with what is contained within); onigiri (a rice ball she calls Japan's soul food); joka (purification, such as opening windows, lighting incense, ringing temple bells); shio (salt) and she also discusses artisans who extract salt from water; takigyo (waterfall meditation); Jinja (shrines) - she once worked as a shrine maiden, handing out protective talismans; ma (space, such as space in rooms, silences in conversations, and spaces between flowers in an arrangement).
