A simple way to treat the epidemic of buying things

Yamashita Hiteko's book Danshari,which is summarized and developed from making the house neat.[Photo provided to China Daily]

In one, she talks of a woman who reviews her life by cleaning up her house and then makes big decisions that she didn't make years ago, such as getting a divorce.

"First you need to ask yourself whether you like certain things or not. Some people may say I keep them because I might use them some day, or they are full of memories," she says.

"But you should review the relationship between you and the goods. It's you not the goods that you should focus on. You should focus on whether you can use them now, rather than living in the past or the future," Hiteko says.

Another important idea is that, through disposing of superfluous things, people learn about themselves, and learn how to make decisions about things like in a job, love and marriage.

"It takes time. I have been practicing the concept for 40 years and have failed many times. But don't worry, keep doing it," she says.

Despite the core idea of "refusal, disposal and separation", Hiteko says she does not encourage people to make their lives less colorful or less interesting.

"I am not advocating that you curb desire, no," she says. "You can buy whatever you want, but remember to dispose it and not to keep it all at home."

As for the advice she has for young Chinese, she jokes: "Go ahead and regret!"