TOKYO: Efforts to stay home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have led to the promotion of decluttering and simplifying for some people in Japan, with the lifestyle change apparently offering such people an opportunity to review their lives.

Reflecting the decluttering boom, requests for having oversized trash items picked up increased in Tokyo's Setagaya Ward after the Japanese government declared a state of emergency over the virus crisis on April 7. Residents of the ward now have to wait three weeks before such items are collected, much longer than seven to 10 days in normal times.

A 22-year-old Setagaya resident who entered a company earlier this month initially thought her debut in the working world was spoiled by the firm's stay-home request. But her way of thinking changed after she spent the time at home putting books and stationery in order and getting rid of unnecessary items.

"The coronavirus put a damper on my drive for work, but a tidied-up room has allowed me to stay motivated," the company employee said with a refreshed look on her face.

A man in his 50s who was a high school teacher until last month regards the current situation where the coronavirus is spreading as a turning point for his values.

"I realized that I need to reduce living costs and become free from possessions," said the former teacher, who sold his condominium and disposed of furniture and household goods.

According to Mercari Inc., many users of its online flea market are recently putting on sale items that had apparently been left untouched in their closets for a long time, such as tableware sets and paintings. In Tokyo, postings of items for sale on the Mercari market at around 3 p.m. on weekdays increased by around 30 pct.

"We're assuming that people may now be cleaning up parts of their houses they usually don't even look at or may be selling their goods for a change of pace during their work from home," a Mercari official said.

Meisei University Associate Prof. Yasushi Fujii, who specializes in psychology, said, "Having the prospect of securing a large block of time, people may have acquired an opportunity to take a pause in their lives and think."

Fujii analyzed that the decluttering many people are now working on is "different from the cleaning-up some tend to do as an excuse for not studying before an exam." He encouraged people to promote decluttering as a way of finding new values for themselves.

JIJI Press