The book Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism by Fumio Sasaki provided three reasons (on page 47) accounting for the new Japanese minimalism which started around 2010.
These three reasons are:
- Information and material overload
- The development of technology and services that make it possible for us to live without as many possessions as we had in the past
- The Great East Japan Earthquake
The crisis of the Great East Japan Earthquake, caused Sasaki to write that, “I think it prompted a big change in how we look at our possessions.”
Difficult times do indeed make one assess their values. Too much stuff can be stifling. In terms of possessions, this book made me think that it is best to focus on life experiences rather than things. Those life experiences create memories which last longer and serve one better than physical objects.