Goodbye, things: on minimalist living (2017) by Fumio Sasaki
This book was first
published in Japan as Bokutachi ni mou
mono was Hitsuyou Nai in 2015. A minimalist, said Fumio, an ex-messy-maximalist,
is "a person who knows what is truly
essential for him – or herself, who reduces the number of possessions that they
have for the sake of things that are important to them." What
important for each of us are vary, but the essential needs are almost similar.
Minimalists "are people who know
what's truly necessary for them versus what they may want for the sake of
appearance, and they're not afraid to cut down on everything in the second
category." It's about choosing needs rather than wants.
Minimalist is a buzzword
at Japan (many years ago) and in some other countries today since the
publishing of a smash-hit book by Marie Kondo in 2010, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up. But for Fumio, he suspects
that there are already many minimalists around but since the publishing of
Marie's book, they ‘emerged' in Japan. For him, there are three major
contributions to the phenomena – in the background – namely:
#1 Information and Material Overload. "…we need
to get rid of the extra load that isn't needed."
#2 The Development of Technology and Services that make it possible for us to live without as man
possessions as we had in the past. "…we
can now get by without actually owning a lot of things.”
#3 The Great East Japan Earthquake. When the not-so-recent tsunami struck the country of
Japan (I was there to see the aftermath of the tragedy of tsunami. Horrible!),
the people realized that "all of
their cherished objects were washed away by the tsunami. Everything had been
ruined."
Due to these three
contributors, Fumio believes that "minimalism had to be born," the
desire and fervent need to rethink our lives. I agree! Throughout the book, the
author explains why he became a minimalist and why we have this habit of
accumulating so many material things in the first place. Fumio also offers some
basic rules and techniques for reducing our material possessions: 55 tips to
help you say goodbye to your things, 15 tips for the next stage of your
minimalist journey, and 12 ways he has changed since he said goodbye to his
things. In short, this book is both personal, a bit of theoretical and very
practical. In the last chapter, Fumio describes the different between ‘feeling'
happy and ‘becoming' happy. The philosophy of minimalist is so persuasive and
urgent for today. Do not be intimidated by the element of Zen Buddhism
teachings (this is not a religious book I can assure you) if you're not a
Buddhist. It's the way of living, not a religion.
I'm moving to my apartment
this coming September. This book helps me to think through about the
possessions that I have, how to design my apartment and what to buy or get away
with so that I can live happier, freer and lighter. There is one tip that I
don't agree with him and will never subscribe to – get rid of my books! No.
Books are part of me. I will sell some but mostly I will keep. If to be
minimalist means reducing unnecessary items, then books for me is a necessity.
Period.
[P.s: By the way, this book remind me of why I love Japan so
much. Been there and I've witnessed minimalism in action (memories such as
sleeping on a block of wood). Would love to be back soon.]
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THINK BIG.
START SMALL. GO DEEP.
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