How does Marie Kondo pack? To 'spark joy', of course

It has been more than a decade since Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic Of Tidying Up landed on American bookshelves, reshaping how people think about clutter with its now-famous question: "Does it spark joy?

- Tariro Mzezewa

Over years of travelling to foreign countries, Kondo learnt that behaviour that was instinctual to her, like greeting her home before tidying or thanking objects before tossing them out, perplexed non-Japanese people, she said.

"What stood out to me most was how often people asked me, 'Why do you do that?' about actions that felt completely natural to me," she said, speaking via email through a translator.

Her new book, Letter From Japan, published on Oct 21, is an attempt to answer that question and show readers small ways of bringing Japanese traditions and practices into their lives.

"What I want to convey is not that the Japanese way of thinking is the only correct one or that it should be recommended as the 'right' way," she said. "Rather, by learning about other cultures, we can come to understand our own more deeply."

The following interview with Kondo has been edited and condensed for clarity.

How has travelling over the past decade changed how you think of other cultures and places – and Japan?

I had always taken certain things for granted, such as the abundance of clean water that allows me to enjoy a bath every day without a second thought about how much I'm using, or the reliability of public transport, where everything runs precisely on schedule.