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What to do with that junk you can't bring yourself to throw out

21 Comments

At what point do treasured possessions become clutter? At what point does collecting become manic?

It’s a matter of individual judgment, but if you’re 45 years old, let’s say, and it takes two 2-ton trucks to haul away your accumulation of old newspapers, you might want to start asking yourself some hard questions, like: “What do I need this junk for?”

You don’t, of course, but throwing things out is positively painful to some people – in fact to a good many people, notes Shukan Asahi (Oct 17).

The 45-year-old company employee it introduces seems an ordinary enough fellow, but the mountain of newspapers is not the whole story.

The man is a born pack rat. Crowding him and his wife in their modest Tokyo dwelling were magazines going back to junior high school, books going back to childhood, stuffed animals from infancy, love letters, photo albums, and so on. “Never in my 30 years in this business, have I seen anything like this," said the recycler he at last called in to cart the stuff away preparatory to a change of residence.

Maybe it’s an extreme case, but the dilemma is one faced by all of us, to a greater or lesser degree. You grow up, you grow old, stuff accumulates that has no value in itself – but is value “in itself” the only value? A yellowed newspaper, a tattered photograph – what memories they evoke. Episodes, incidents, faces long, long forgotten, suddenly spring to mind, return to life, rekindle the imagination, refresh the spirit. Junk – personal junk – is a veritable elixir of youth.

True, but how far can this be allowed to push against the spatial constraints of modern urban living? For any number of reasons – a move, an unwillingness to saddle your heirs with enough personal memorabilia to make them hate you, a desire to lighten the weight of your past on your present and future – you may finally want to divest yourself of all this accumulation.

An indication of the trauma involved is the growing popularity, Shukan Asahi finds, of “clutter consultants.” The term, in Japanized English, was coined by a pioneer in the field, 60-year-old Hideko Yamashita, whose three books on the subject have sold a total of 2.9 million copies.

At seminars she conducts, she is often asked, “Should I throw this away, should I throw that away? I can’t make up my mind!”

“I tell them, ‘How should I know? I’m not you!’” Her job, as she sees it, is to help clients arrive at their own understanding of what’s important to them and what isn’t, and to act accordingly.

Something of a “throwaway boom” took root in the early 1990s, just around the time the economic bubble was bursting. Perhaps, theorizes one psychologist, economic stagnation convinced people of the perfidy of material possessions.

Yes, but “we invest ourselves in our things,” says counselor Masayo Daimon. That’s normal and natural – up to a point. Beyond that point is “the illusion that our things are us,” in which case one is likely to suffer from “unconscious anxiety.”

If the 45-year-old company employee was prey to that as the 2-ton trucks pull away, the experience must have been very painful indeed.

© Japan Today

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

21 Comments
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3LDK

1 Kitchen Table I made myself.

3 floor tables for computers and TV.

Few Futons.

4 Carry on suit case sizes of clothing.

That is it.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

When my mother in law was sick in the hospital for a week, we took the chance to clean out her kitchen. There were no less than four (!!) broken toaster ovens which she was keeping, in case anyone needed some broken toaster ovens.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Photograph any crap you haven't used in two years and then toss it. I now use less than half of my closet space.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

This bad habit of accumulation of unnecessary things that in the end turns in to a heapful of clutter is somewhat a mental disorder. They need their minds checked.

I am glad ebooks, emags, enewspapers, live streaming and digital contents are now available. Imagine if you're a collector of all the music in the world. Jeez that will be more than 10 story building worth of cds. Such a waste!.

My advice, learn how to dispose and fight yourself. There shouldn't be "but this is special" or "but this was father's" or "but this is my first's ". No "buts". Get rid, dispose, throw.

Remember "More is less, less is more". Follow "zen" teachings of simplicity. If not beneficial, it's garbage!

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

Outside of heirlooms my rule of thumb is if I haven't touched it in a year...bye!

1 ( +5 / -4 )

It's easy. Just don't accumulate in the first place. Be an anarchist against the every rising pace of the desire induced, waste intensive, throw-away economy.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Basically the psychology of clutter is directly tied to our beliefs about life, how we feel about change and all that change in our life brings, our own feeling of safety, and what we think is possible for our own experiences. In other words our outer environment is a reflection of what's going on inside us. That's why when we create environments that are cluttered, messy, stressful, and overwhelming we have a corresponding level of clutter, overwhelm and stress inside as well. All of which keep us from living and being our best. Therefore every time we are willing to let go, to clear clutter, and raise the standard of our environment, the rest of life steps up to the plate as well and we create space for amazing opportunity, creativity, and serendipity. In the end the psychology of clutter is straight-forward when we hold on tightly to anything based on lack of trust or fear, we start experiencing lack, and constriction in all areas of life. So when we trust and are willing to let go what no longer serves us, life brings us exactly what we need.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Love is all you need.

-1 ( +5 / -6 )

too difficult th o throw stuff in Japan as need several bits of paper.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

When my mother in law was sick in the hospital for a week, we took the chance to clean out her kitchen.

Uh-oh! ;-) Was she Ok with that? I hear you though, MIL had three or four of everything it seemed, rice cookers. hot water pots etc...she never threw away the old one when she got a new one. She had one rice cooker made before they had the warming function and a hot water pot that was a thermos, not electric! MILs rationale was 'I'll use them some day when we have a lot of guests at once.'

Just don't accumulate in the first place.

Agreed, but easier said than done, mothers and mothers-in-law can give you a lot of stuff! :-D

I spend time in the mountains walking, photographing and painting and have seen an increase in dumping including cars, fridges, washing machines, TV's.

The harder and more expensive they make it to toss things, the more people will resort to illegal dumping of stuff in the woods. Kobe already makes each citizen's home a gomi sorting facility, making you wash and sort all bottles, cans, plastics, food trays etc, and taxes are high enough that they could do is help with the recycling or make it more affordable.

6 ( +5 / -0 )

You can attach yourself emotionally to things. Or people. Which brings happiness?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Read the Konmari books.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

You can attach yourself emotionally to things. Or people. Which brings happiness?

Depends on the people ;-)

2 ( +2 / -0 )

We have a massive General Electric refrigerator that has been working beautifully non-stop since 1955. It's like a monument to early American technology.

How to get rid of THAT in Japan?

2 ( +2 / -0 )

I cannot throw out my old running shoes and T-shirts. Too many memories. My wife must nag me for months before I relent.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

You can attach yourself emotionally to things. Or people. Which brings happiness?

Neither. Go the detachment route. Not sure you'll find 'happiness' (whatever that means) but you like will find serenity.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Most of us are packrats to an extent, but when it becomes hoarding there's a serious problem. One thing that I wish Japan had more of is used goods shops, and I wish the shops were completely different from the way most are now. I took a huge load of clothes, all new and never worn when I realized I didn't need to wear business shirts so much, and was shocked when no store would accept them despite them being new. Why? They were not brand goods the store could sell at high prices. I asked if there was a place and was told one place on the highway (I had no car) might accept them, but otherwise I should just throw them all in the burnable waste.

For a country that coined "Mottainai" and takes pride in using the expression, there sure is a lot of waste. I wish Goodwill or The Salvation Army would open up shop (or if they have, which I haven't seen, I wish they would open more) and have the collection boxes they do in some countries around cities, or at least have shops where they take in such clothes for free and then sell them very cheaply to the needy. Same goes for electronics that are still usable. There are SOME places that will take them, but fewer still that will take them without charging you high cost (there's actually one guy near my apartment that takes most electronics for free if they are still usable or good for parts). Once in a while when there's a disaster the post office opens up and accepts clothes and other donations, but still. The bottom line in a lot of cases is not that it's hard to let the stuff go, but hard or just expensive to get rid of it.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

Google search and watch any episode of "Hoarders". Just don't do it while you're eating or about to.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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