Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

by Melanie Van Betten

Overview

The best-selling phenomenon from Japan that shows us a minimalist life is a happy life.Fumio Sasaki is not an enlightened minimalism expert or organizing guru like Marie Kondo—he’s just a regular guy who was stressed out and constantly comparing himself to others, until one day he decided to change his life by saying goodbye to everything he didn’t absolutely need. The effects were remarkable: Sasaki gained true freedom, new focus, and a real sense of gratitude for everything around him. In Goodbye, Things Sasaki modestly shares his personal minimalist experience, offering specific tips on the minimizing process and revealing how the new minimalist movement can not only transform your space but truly enrich your life. The benefits of a minimalist life can be realized by anyone, and Sasaki’s humble vision of true happiness will open your eyes to minimalism’s potential.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393609035
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/11/2017
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	22,069
Product dimensions:	5.60(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Fumio Sasaki is the former co-editor-in-chief of Wani Books, and lives in a 215-square-foot apartment in Tokyo, furnished with a small wooden box, a desk, and a roll-up futon pad.

Editorial Reviews

05/08/2017
Sasaki, co-editor-in-chief at Wani Books, a manga publisher in Tokyo, delivers insights on the benefits of a private refuge in his compulsively readable primer on living with less. Using his 215-square-foot apartment as the prime example, he suggests that studio living with mere basics not only reduces overhead and improves one’s social life but makes housekeeping three times easier. builds his case for a minimalist lifestyle by looking inward and sharing personal details about the improvements he’s made in his life. The book is surprisingly intimate and often reads like a memoir posing as a self-help guide as the narrative moves between Sasaki’s search for happiness and practical ways to implement lifestyle changes (for example, he suggests thinking of possessions as roommates who don’t pay rent). He also credits the rise of the minimalist movement in Japan to information overload, the destruction of houses in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011, and the advancement of technology—particularly smartphones and cloud storage. In essence, Sasaki argues, the minimalist lifestyle liberates people by eliminating distractions and encouraging them to partake in the new sharing economy. By sharing his personal story, Sasaki makes his argument all the more appealing. B&w photos. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

In a time of rampant consumerism, a new movement is preaching an alternative path — one that banishes all but the most fundamental and enriching consumer products from our lives. In Goodbye, Things, Fumio Sasaki recounts his conversion from reckless hoarder to hyper-mindful consumer, and offers advice to those seeking the same simple happiness that he found in minimalism.”

Gear Patrol

If you’ve ever felt bogged down by all of the things filling your life up with clutter then this is the book for you.

C.A. - The Daily Want

Take your spring cleaning to the next level with Goodbye, Things by Fumio Sasaki. A best-seller in Japan, this book uncovers why we want to own more than we need, what this mentality does to our well-being and how we can live better by owning less.”

Katie Neal - Parade

Makes the case for radical minimalism . . . treat each of [Sasaki's] 70 tips as an opportunity to reevaluate how you use and why you keep the things in your home.

Jenny Xie - Curbed

In his new book, Goodbye, Things, Fumio Sasaki shares the lessons he learned by going minimalist. . . . For Sasaki, minimalism isn't about how little you have, but how it makes you feel. Sasaki credits his minimalist lifestyle with helping him lose weight, become extroverted and proactive, and above all, feel happy and grateful for what he has.”

Heeseung Kim - Cosmopolitan

Inspiring in its straightforwardness and sincerity . . . I don't think it would be possible to read Goodbye, Things without taking a look at your own home (and life) with a new set of eyes. . . . In the end, what matters is the thoughtfulness the book inspires.”

Janel Laban - Apartment Therapy