“What’s in the box?”
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve watched this video in the past few minutes. In a previous article, I wrote about quitting all social media, but during that period, I kept replaying this video over and over.
It was around the time minimalism began trending in Japan, and also when I was overwhelmed with work. I wanted to reset my surroundings—including social media—and return to something simpler.
Back to a Simple Life
There was a time when I became quite the minimalist.
I standardized my wardrobe: white shirts for personal wear, black for work. No bed, no TV—just a mattress I folded up and used as a seat when reading.
It was a comfortable and happy life for me.
But a few years later, I got married, had children, my lifestyle changed,
and thankfully, my work expanded. My photography equipment increased dramatically,
and naturally, I ended up with more possessions than when I was single.
When life becomes cluttered
Parenting was new to me. My workload increased. New projects piled up, and it took time to build new routines.
Before I realized it, I was sleeping only three or four hours a night.
Lack of sleep led to irritability, shortness of breath, and an imbalance in my autonomic nervous system.
My mind felt scattered, and my room and desk reflected that state— cluttered, unfinished tasks everywhere, mistakes creeping into my work.
I noticed I had a lot of unused equipment lying around.
“I want to simplify the visible things around me again.”
That thought pushed me back toward a simpler life.
As noise decreases, the mind clears
I’ve been making small changes:
- Switched from a smartwatch to a cheap Casio
- Moved important notes from my phone to a notebook
- Switched from e‑books to physical books
- Deleted the LinkedIn account I created for company visibility
- Practicing “one item out per day”
- Practicing “one in, one out”
Just doing these things has made my mind feel noticeably clearer.
Digitize what should be digitized—yes.
But there are simply too many unnecessary notifications in the world. Having your focus broken every few minutes is not sustainable.
For me, the key was:
- writing important notes on paper
- quitting the smartwatch
- turning off all app notifications (except email, calls, and LINE)
Even this small digital detox made a significant difference.
Not quite like when I was single…
As I wrote on the About page:
“I aspire to be a simplist—someone who improves the quality of actions, thoughts, and life through simplification.”
I’m not a minimalist. Minimalists probably wouldn’t own more than six cameras, and seeing me try to add even more would likely drive them crazy.
But cameras are something I love, something I need, and essential tools for my work. So I won’t cut back excessively on them.
For everything else, though, I intend to pursue thorough simplification.
For example, I have zero interest in clothes.
Someone I work with once told me, “Your personal wardrobe is nice and simple.”
I replied, “Thank you. But it’s not intentional. I just have no interest in clothes, so I own four identical outfits and wear them every day.”
They laughed and said, “Wow, people like that really exist.”
It’s simply a difference in values. For someone like me, who doesn’t find joy in clothing, its value is essentially zero.
And I think there are many other things in my life that hold no value for me.
Social media is a perfect example. Even knowing it was necessary for work, just having an account was stressful. So I deactivated LinkedIn.
When noise increases, everything collapses
Noise increases
↓
My mind stays cluttered
↓
Unfinished tasks pile up
↓
My mind gets even more cluttered (and my room too)
↓
Pointless notifications break my concentration
↓
Even more unfinished tasks accumulate
So I’m starting by eliminating visual noise from my surroundings, aiming once again for a simpler life.
My lifestyle now is different from when I was single,
so it’s more challenging in some ways. But I want to take it step by step to improve the quality of my life.
