October 24, 2014

"Clothes, like people, can relax more freely when in the company of others who are very similar in type, and therefore organizing them by category helps them feel more comfortable and secure."

Said Marie Kondo, author of "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing," the subject of a NYT article titled "Kissing Your Socks Goodbye/Home Organization Advice from Marie Kondo," which goes on to say:
Such anthropomorphism and nondualism, so familiar in Japanese culture, as Leonard Koren, a design theorist who has written extensively on Japanese aesthetics, told me recently, was an epiphany to this Westerner. In Japan, a hyper-awareness, even reverence, for objects is a rational response to geography, said Mr. Koren, who spent 10 years there and is the author of "Wabi-Sabi for Artists, Designers, Poets & Philosophers."
"Wabi-Sabi" got me drifting off trying to remember that Jim Kweskin song on that album we always listened to in college. What was it? Ah! The album is "Relax Your Mind." The song is "Guabi Guabi."



And that's how we relax in America, some of us anyway. Much as I'd like my house de-cluttered in some way that I might find all the more relaxing by thinking of it as Japanese, I just don't care anywhere nearly as much as I did before listening to "Guabi Guabi." How organized are Jim Kweskin's closets? But back to Leonard Koren:
"Think of the kimono, and the tradition of folding... There is also the furoshiki, which is basically a square of flat cloth used daily to wrap packages. Folding is deep and pervasive in Japanese culture. Folding is a key strategy of modular systems that have evolved because of limited living space.”
And in America:



Let's fold scarves!

17 comments:

CatherineM said...

Suddenly I want to watch Romy and Michelle again. Such a funny movie. "I invented post-it notes." Thanks Althouse!

Dave Schumann said...

Anyone notice the casual dismissal of the multicultural ethic in the title?

Ann Althouse said...

@Dave

Ha ha. Good catch.

I had not noticed!

fivewheels said...

I was unfamiliar with Guabi Guabi. Big fan of Guachi Guaro. though.

Ann Althouse said...

It's a paradox, isn't it. If people feel more comfortable with their own kind, why would those of us who are not Japanese feel better about adopting a Japanese approach? Just stick with whatever your own people have got you doing, including having a stupid-looking, messed up house.

furious_a said...

Exactly why I've always advocated for Garanimals-for-Guys. Let your labels colir-match for you and the clothes practically themselves.

Dave Schumann said...

Does Marie Kondo feel uncomfortable around non-Japanese? If one can say anything categorical about the Japanese, it is that they are not "very similar in type" to non-Japanese.

Fernandinande said...

youtube
japanese shirt folding

Dave Schumann said...
Anyone notice the casual dismissal of the multicultural ethic in the title?


Yup. Those poor Japanese suffer from almost no Diversity™ at all, which is why they're so rude, poorly edumacated and can't sell their trinkets in the international marketplace.

rhhardin said...

Clothes like to be washed all in one load and dried together in the dryer.

Except sweatshirts which like to dry alone.

This is convenient because you can do one load every three weeks.

Sam L. said...

I don't like it when my clothes are relaxed. I want them standing at ATTENTION!, dammit.

David said...

They know when to fold 'em but do they know when to hold 'em?

gerry said...

Blue jeans can be so uptight. Like a cheap hotel.

Michael said...

If one were not anti-travel they could find themselves in Japan, on the Ginza. And there for just a few yen they could engage in a fantastically beautiful transaction. They could buy a piece of fruit or a piece of candy which would be wrapped with a care as though it were the last egg of the last passenger pigeon. It would be tied with a bit of string and handed they would be handed the beautiful package with a bow.

George M. Spencer said...

The Wall St. J. is reporting that high heels are dead and down-to-earth flats are in.

Wonder if that's an indicator that the market is going to topple off of its perilous highs.

FullMoon said...

hhardin said...

Clothes like to be washed all in one load and dried together in the dryer.

Except sweatshirts which like to dry alone.

This is convenient because you can do one load every three weeks.


Yeah, except for that new red shirt. File that under;"Learning experience/Things I only do once"

sunsong said...

What a cool song! Thanks for posting it!

Ann Althouse said...

You're welcome. It's a Zimbabwean folk song. The word that sound like "banana" is "banana."