“Hoarder Hygge” is the Anti-Zen

Sorry, KonMari fans: Japan’s most charming spaces are its least tidy

Kokeshi doll studio, Yamagata Prefecture. Photo by me.

Westerners have long associated Japan with immaculately curated minimalist design – an aesthetic often referred to in English by the confusing loanword of “Zen.” I say confusing because this Westernized appropriation of the term causes utter bewilderment in Japan. In Japan, Zen isn’t a style; it’s a …