Weird Things About Marie Kondo’s Marriage

In 2014, Japanese guru, author, and TV star Marie Kondo released her book The Life Changing-Magic of Tidying Up in the United States. Since then, we have blatantly promised to disorganize every aspect of our lives, removing everything that doesn’t bring joy, from shoes and souvenirs to gifts and even boyfriends. In Kiki Palmer’s words, sorry to this man. Okay, maybe telling our roommates that we won’t take out the trash because it doesn’t create joy is taking it too far, but what can we say? We are obsessed.

Although the celebrity may be behind the most popular Netflix non-fiction series of 2019, Tidying Up With Marie Kondo, she didn’t make it to the top alone. The star’s husband, Takumi Kawahara, has been by her side since before she became a New York Times bestselling author. Unlike many of the A-list couples who came before them, Kondo’s marriage is without scandal. In fact, the strangest thing about the couple, who share two young daughters, is how well they seem to get along. Who would have thought?

It seems that Marie Kondo got an Instagram husband, except multiply that by 100. Takumi Kawahara doesn’t just take photos of his wife on social media; He helps her in all facets of her business. In fact, the father of two left his career to help Kondo follow her dreams.

According to Good Housekeeping, the businessman was working in a corporate job “in support of sales and marketing” when he decided to resign and become the manager of Marie Kondo. Quick Company reports that the couple co-founded the KonMari Media company in 2015, a year after they married, and Kawahara took over as CEO. Now she’s left behind the scenes securing book deals, producing Kondo’s Netflix series and accompanying her on photo shoots. “We are always talking about work, even in our private moments,” Kawahara said to Quick Company. “She was an author who was very good at transmitting a message to the world. I was good at creating businesses and networking.”

While quitting his job and pursuing Kondo’s career was a risk, it was certainly worth it. According to Quick Enterprise, Rakuten, the $ 12 billion Japanese e-commerce giant, acquired a majority stake in KonMari Media in August 2019. This, they report, is roughly the equivalent of Amazon buying the Gwyneth Paltrow Goop. Actually, in Japan, it is even better. Unlike Amazon, Rakuten “owns banks and mortgage brokerage services.”

Marie Kondo may have an estimated net worth of around $ 8 million, but the cleaning guru wasn’t always right. Before the acquisition of Rakuten, the best sellers and the Netflix show, Kondo’s husband could not raise enough money to buy her an engagement ring, but love prevails, new diamond or not. In a blog post on his website, Kondo explained that he ended up wearing her grandmother’s ring, which was given to her when she passed away, rather than buying a new one. After all, it is not the diamond that causes joy. Hopefully, it’s the husband.

“When Takumi, my husband, proposed to me, he had no money to buy me a ring,” she wrote. “I said, ‘I don’t need a ring! You can give me this ring instead. ‘ Her ring is the one he gave me when he proposed to me. ”

Kondo’s entire philosophy is firmly anti-acquisition, and she regularly pushes against buying things just for the sake of buying things. According to The Atlantic, the idea of a diamond engagement ring is just that: buying things because someone said they had to. The whole tradition was created by an advertising campaign, and Kondo doesn’t need it.

Marie Kondo seems to have truly found her person. While most of us are busy arguing with our spouses about leaving their gym socks all over the floor, Takumi Kawahara was already hyper-organized before meeting the ordained guru. “He was able to clean up and be very organized even before reading my book, but it was certainly even more pronounced after he read my book,” said Kondo Good Housekeeping in 2016. “He became even more efficient. Fundamentally speaking, we are at the same pace.”

em.The couple seems to be completely in sync with their anti-disorder values, and this was never clearer than when they were preparing to have their first child. During this time, most parents are acquiring a lot of things, from cribs and clothes to changing tables and a pile of diapers, but Kondo and Kawahara took the opportunity to have what Kondo described to The Wall Street newspaper as a “festival of disorder.” As she went on to explain, “By creating clear boundaries for children’s things … they made it easier to decide how much was too much.”

After Marie Kondo married, she had to accept that her lifestyle was going to be a little different. Her married life has not always been as orderly as she had hoped (she says we all look at our couple’s collection of half-full glasses of water who have been on vacation at the nightstand for a week). Allowing disaster was a bitter pill, but once Kondo swallowed it, she learned a great lesson by letting go and was no longer held back by the shackles of the immaculate organization. Seriously, how many hours a day did she come back?

In an interview with Better Homes and Gardens, Kondo admitted: “To be honest, my situation has changed since I was single. I stopped having to maintain a perfect home all the time.” Letting go of your partner’s mess is actually one of the Kondo principles. The author said Good Housekeeping that you should always focus on your own items before dragging your family members, and you should respect their things, even if it hurts.

“Regarding the things you love your husband, even if you hate that item, you cannot ignore it without your permission,” she said, adding, “You don’t need to force yourself to love those items, but you can accept them in your life.” Unfortunately, accepting your partner also means accepting their mess, too.

Most of us maintain negative habits in our individual lives, like going to Tinder at two in the morning because we are bored. That’s only because none of us are Marie Kondo. The only main habit she retained from her single life helps her connect with the world around her (and not just six faceless packages on a cell phone screen).

According to The New Yorker, Kondo “was an assistant at a Shinto shrine” before finding success as the best-selling author and organizational consultant. She continued to practice at home, recounting The Cut that she keeps a Japanese-style kamidana (or Shinto shrine) on a shelf with some salt, rice, and evergreen leaves. Every morning she refreshes the altar and says a few prayers before starting her day.

“I will pray for the health of my family and friends, and also for myself to do what needs to be done as much as possible,” she said. “Actually, this is not a religious thing. It is only for me to take advantage of this hour every morning to feel gratitude. It is a practice that I started when I was still single, maybe about seven years ago. ”It’s true: We could all use a little more gratitude when our alarm clocks wake us up at dawn. Kondo, on the other hand, naturally wakes up around six or 6:30 am. When the cleaning powers call, she responds.

It’s hard to imagine Marie Kondo keeping something in her house that doesn’t have a different purpose. After all, the woman believes that a bag should be emptied every day (tell that to the mint that has been floating in our grandmother’s bag since 1995). Sometimes, however, we all give in to our vices, and Takumi Kawahara had no qualms about sharing his wife’s dark secret with the world. In an interview with Good Housekeeping, the businessman reminded Kondo that she does, in fact, have a “secret departure” from her typical clutter-free home: a stuffed seal. Kondo immediately started to laugh. “It is very small. It was a gift from my father, and although I’m an adult, I still keep it on my shelf. It is something that I cannot separate myself from ”, she admitted timidly.

Kondo also revealed that she owns only one random shirt, which was free loot from a 2005 show, and for some reason, he can’t let it go even though he prefers prettier lounge wear. “This shirt stands out like a sore thumb from all my elegant and feminine clothes,” she revealed. Hey, if it causes joy, it causes joy, right?