Seminar

This post is part of a series on my trip to Japan.

The last highlight of my trip to Japan was the exclusive weekend seminar, during which we got to meet Marie Kondo herself! I’m obviously not allowed to discuss the contents of the presentations we attended, but one thing I will note is how Marie Kondo said that when she gives a speech, there are often moments when she purposely “makes silence”, and Western orators aren’t used to that. It was possibly a language issue, she might have meant that she is silent, but the way it came out was very on point – she consciously makes silence occasionally, to feel the room and appreciate the moment. This is useful in so many other contexts!

The first morning was limited to the two-dozen-or-so attendees from KonMari International (that’s us!), and we had presentations by Marie Kondo, Takumi Kawahara (her husband), and Narimasa Kasuya (who works for KonMari). After lunch, we were joined by consultants from KonMari Japan, and it was really fun talking with them and getting to know them! We talked about the differences in the way we conduct sessions, then had a calligraphy lesson. The KMJ Consultants were very helpful to us KMI Consultants who had no experience with traditional Japanese calligraphy! Marie Kondo joined us toward the end to calligraph 喜 (ki), the character meaning “joy”; we got to calligraph that one on a nice piece of cardboard to take home.

Photo courtesy of KonMari Media, Inc.

We then had photo opportunities, and I got my copy of The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up signed. We then headed to a dinner/mixer with the local consultants. Where I am an introvert, Marie Kondo is a super-introvert – she basically came in the room, said hi, did her thing, said goodbye, and left, because that was all the people-ing she could handle. Meanwhile, Takumi is an extrovert, a very friendly guy, and he actually had a beer with us that evening. Something else that stood out to me was that even the Japanese consultants said that to them, Marie Kondo is kawaii – cute!

The second day was again restricted to KMIs; we had two more seminars about running the business side of things, then round-robin table talks to recap what we had learned and take it further. Marie Kondo and Takumi Kawahara joined us for these, which we hadn’t expected. I ended up sitting right nest to Marie Kondo for one of those talks, and I’m glad to report that even though I was not my most eloquent self, at least I did not pass out, so there’s that.

Photo courtesy of KonMari Media, Inc.

At the end of the day, Marie Kondo surprised us again by asking us to play a game of janken, or rock-paper-scissors, saying that the winner would get a prize. From where I was sitting, I could see what the prize was – her calligraphed “joy” character! We all stood up (she, on a chair), and whenever someone was eliminated, they sat down. My first two plays were lucky guesses, but they strategy kicked in. In the end, it was me against my new friend Jenna Carlsson, and… I won! I now have that Marie Kondo original framed in my office, where I look at it every day, and it does bring me joy.

Photo courtesy of KonMari Media, Inc.

Our last evening together was spent having a celebratory dinner on a yakatabune, or restaurant boat, that took us around the harbor so that we did some sightseeing in addition to eating several courses again. It was a great way to cap off the retreat and seminar.