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| Three shirts, four pairs of trousers: meet Japan's 'hardcore' minimalists | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Fumio Sasaki’s one-room Tokyo apartment is so stark friends liken it to an interrogation room. He owns three shirts, four pairs of trousers, four pairs of socks and a meagre scattering of various other items. | Fumio Sasaki’s one-room Tokyo apartment is so stark friends liken it to an interrogation room. He owns three shirts, four pairs of trousers, four pairs of socks and a meagre scattering of various other items. |
| Money isn’t the issue. The 36-year-old editor has made a conscious lifestyle choice, joining a growing number of Japanese deciding that less is more. | Money isn’t the issue. The 36-year-old editor has made a conscious lifestyle choice, joining a growing number of Japanese deciding that less is more. |
| Related: The extraordinary survival of the boy left in a Japanese forest | Related: The extraordinary survival of the boy left in a Japanese forest |
| Influenced by the spare aesthetic of Japan’s traditional Zen Buddhism, minimalists buck the norm in a fervently consumerist society by dramatically paring back their possessions. | Influenced by the spare aesthetic of Japan’s traditional Zen Buddhism, minimalists buck the norm in a fervently consumerist society by dramatically paring back their possessions. |
| Sasaki, once a passionate collector of books, CDs and DVDs, became tired of keeping up with trends two years ago. | Sasaki, once a passionate collector of books, CDs and DVDs, became tired of keeping up with trends two years ago. |
| “I kept thinking about what I did not own, what was missing,” he says. | “I kept thinking about what I did not own, what was missing,” he says. |
| He spent the next year selling possessions or giving them to friends. | He spent the next year selling possessions or giving them to friends. |
| “Spending less time on cleaning or shopping means I have more time to spend with friends, go out, or travel on my days off. I have become a lot more active,” he says. | “Spending less time on cleaning or shopping means I have more time to spend with friends, go out, or travel on my days off. I have become a lot more active,” he says. |
| Others welcome the chance to own only things they truly like – a philosophy also applied by Mari Kondo, a consultant whose “KonMari” organisational methods have swept the United States. | Others welcome the chance to own only things they truly like – a philosophy also applied by Mari Kondo, a consultant whose “KonMari” organisational methods have swept the United States. |
| “It’s not that I had more things than the average person, but that didn’t mean that I valued or liked everything I owned,” says Katsuya Toyoda, an online publication editor who has only one table and one futon in his 22 sq metre apartment. | |
| “I became a minimalist so I could let things I truly liked surface in my life.“ | “I became a minimalist so I could let things I truly liked surface in my life.“ |
| Inspiration for Japan’s minimalists came from the US, where early adherents included Steve Jobs. | Inspiration for Japan’s minimalists came from the US, where early adherents included Steve Jobs. |
| Definitions vary, because the goal is not just decluttering but re-evaluating what posessions mean, to gain something else – in Sasaki’s case, time to travel. | Definitions vary, because the goal is not just decluttering but re-evaluating what posessions mean, to gain something else – in Sasaki’s case, time to travel. |
| Sasaki and others believe there are thousands of hardcore minimalists, with possibly thousands more interested. | |
| Some say minimalism is actually not foreign but a natural outgrowth of Zen Buddhism and its stripped-down world view. | Some say minimalism is actually not foreign but a natural outgrowth of Zen Buddhism and its stripped-down world view. |
| “In the west, making a space complete means placing something there,” says Naoki Numahata, 41, a freelance writer. | “In the west, making a space complete means placing something there,” says Naoki Numahata, 41, a freelance writer. |
| “But with tea ceremonies, or Zen, things are left incomplete on purpose to let the person’s imagination make that space complete.” | “But with tea ceremonies, or Zen, things are left incomplete on purpose to let the person’s imagination make that space complete.” |
| Minimalists also argue that having fewer possessions is eminently practical in Japan, which is regularly shaken by earthquakes. | Minimalists also argue that having fewer possessions is eminently practical in Japan, which is regularly shaken by earthquakes. |
| In 2011, a 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people and led to many re-evaluating possessions, Sasaki said. | In 2011, a 9.0 magnitude quake and tsunami killed nearly 20,000 people and led to many re-evaluating possessions, Sasaki said. |
| “Thirty to 50% of earthquake injuries occur through falling objects,” he said, gesturing around his empty apartment. | “Thirty to 50% of earthquake injuries occur through falling objects,” he said, gesturing around his empty apartment. |
| “But in this room, you don’t have that concern.” | “But in this room, you don’t have that concern.” |