Japanese Minimalism: What Japan Can Teach You About Living Simply

In Japan, the go-to aesthetic could easily be called amor vacuii … a love of emptiness, because that’s what fuels the cultural concept known as “Ma Ma” (pronounced “maah”) is a celebration of not things, but the space between them. It is about negative space, voids, emptiness. And it is relished in everything from interiors, architecture and garden design to music, flower arrangement and poetry. And actually beyond; it can be found in most aspects of Japanese life.

Coco Chanel famously advised that,

“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”

While removing, say, a scarf, might not reveal negative space, it does make room for the other accessories to shine. In a way, Ma does the same. In a home like in a life where there are too many things, nothing is highlighted. It’s hard for us to value things when we live in an abundance of choice, surrounded by chaos. But by focusing on and expanding the space in which there is nothing or little next to it, the things you decide to keep there get prioritised and valued.

One way to think about it is in a space that feels chaotic with clutter, it’s not about there being too many things, but about there being not enough Ma. Looking at an arrangement of components in terms of negative space – the areas that are empty – is a lesson taught in drawing and painting because what is not there is just as important, if not more, than what is there.