Simplicity at Home: Japanese Rituals, Recipes, and Arrangements for Thoughtful Living

by Yumiko Sekine, Jenny Wapner, Nao Shimizu (Photographer)

A gorgeous guide to creating a beautiful, comfortable home based on Japanese traditions from the founder of the beloved lifestyle brand Fog Linen Work.

For anyone who dreams of a home filled with well-organized closets, eye-catching flower arrangements, perfectly draped blankets, and thoughtfully curated shelves, here is a guide to cultivating an elegant home.

Yumiko Sekine, founder of the internationally celebrated lifestyle brand Fog Linen Work, shares lovely rituals and simple techniques based on Japanese traditions, including practices for decorating, organizing, preparing food, and more. From the kitchen to the bedroom and every space in between, here are tips for refreshing a home each season—arranging and displaying fresh flowers in spring, choosing the right sheets and linens for summer, taking warm herbal baths in autumn, and draping blankets and layering rugs to cozy up a space for winter. Brimming with easy-to-follow tips for elevating any space and packed with hundreds of photographs showcasing gorgeous interiors, this book is an invitation to create a home that nourishes, rejuvenates, and inspires—all year long.

• CELEBRATED AUTHOR: Yumiko Sekine is the founder of Fog Linen Work, a Japanese home goods brand sold throughout the world and beloved by home cooks, interior decorators, and design enthusiasts. Her products are known for their simplicity, beauty, and ability to elevate any space. In this book, Sekine distills all her secrets to creating a home that exudes simple elegance.
• ORGANIZATION MADE EASY: This book gives readers easy, elegant ways to declutter their homes and organize their belongings, whether they live in an apartment or house, and includes simple tips for tidying and curating objects to bring order and simplicity to every room.
• JAPANESE TRADITIONS: Yumiko presents Japanese traditions for preparing food, arranging flowers, entertaining, organizing, and more. The combination of ancient practices and modern techniques makes this the perfect companion for anyone curious about Japanese culture and aesthetics.
• GIFT WORTHY: Presented in a linen-wrapped case and brimming with hundreds of gorgeous photographs and inspired advice for every home, this book is a perfect addition to any bookshelf and a lovely gift for new homeowners, newlyweds, and fans of organization and interior design.

Perfect for:

• Interior designers, minimalists, and fans of sustainability
• People who are into organizing their space
• Fans of Fog Linen Work

Genres: Nonfiction, Japan, Design, Cookbooks, Art, Lifestyle, How To

262 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 9, 2021

Reviews

[Marina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Do your bowls break cleanly into two or three pieces? Mine either chip unattractively or smash so comprehensively that we’re still picking shards out of our feet two weeks later. I mention this because one of the little projects in this book is kintsugi - the decorative mending of broken crockery.
Although there’s some attempt to unify the book’s content under the theme of the seasons, it is really more of a series of blog posts, showcasing the author’s style. Sekine’s style is certainly simple – unfortunately, I also found it a little dull. What’s more, Sekine loves linen (at times, it all seemed like an advert for her linen shop) – but I’m personally not a linen fan.
There were things that I enjoyed though. I’ll never be a minimalist but I bookmarked the chapters on ‘Creating a New Home’ and ‘Starting to Fill the shelves ‘ – I like the idea of spreading out your perfectly curated belongings on display (but I’d also need a closed cupboard to hide away the rest of my stuff!)
All in all, this book would make a lovely gift for a friend, a more stylish person, who would find excitement in griege linen and whose crockery breaks far more neatly than mine.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this arc.

[Alicia Bayer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a tricky book for me to rate. I have to admit that I didn't like the style of home featured at all. Everything seemed to be in shades of gray and it's just not my aesthetic. I am also not much of a minimalist (okay, who I am kidding, I have the kind of house that gives minimalists hives) and I don't want to be. The author runs a Japanese store that sells quality linens and at times the book reads like an ad for linen and her store.

All that said, what I did appreciate was the glimpse into Japanese homes and culture, along with her projects. I was thrilled to see that she actually gives instructions on how to do the Japanese art of mending broken pottery with golden materials and it's actually relatively simple and accessible. I have always loved that and just assumed it was something I couldn't do that involved pure gold (I'm sure it did originally). There are lots of other crafts like that to show you how to make a lovely little wreath, fabric crafts, etc. I also really appreciate the philosophy of using everything in a new way instead of disposing of things (like her linens are repurposed into woven mats when they are too worn for the bed). The book is arranged by seasons and it really gives a lovely feel of life in Japan, with lots of ideas that even I -- in my messy Minnesota home -- am happy to try.

I read a digital temporary ARC of this book for review.

[Brigita · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an elegant and charming guide to a Japanese, minimalist style of living. The photos are stunning and make you want to at least try out some of the ideas although for most people I know the level of minimalism suggested in the book would be unattainable.

I like to be organised, but compared to the images in Simplicity at Home, my wardrobes and cupboards are a cluttered mess. Although I know I will never achieve the elegant beauty of Yumiko Sekine's house, I found her ideas inspiring. I'm already thinking of ways how to incorporate them into my lifestyle.

I particularly liked that the book is not only about furniture or the author's beloved linen, but that there are also recipes included and instructions for how to make a wooden spoon! Rather than a set of rules or guidelines, I understood the book as a starting point, an inspiration for how to change our lives to attain more simplicity and ease and to focus on the important things.

[Deb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a gift from my best friend, with whom I experienced my first trip to Japan three years ago. Having experienced their very different culture and spirituality, I developed an affinity for the Japanese people and some of their traditions and views on life - enough to make me want to return and explore more. First up, the book is beautiful and now sitting elegantly on my book shelf, making some of my other books squirm in their dusty old covers! Although nothing not written about before, the book is broken into seasons (which I loved) and covers a wide variety of topics: organizing your home and wardrobe, mending broken crockery, repurposing fabrics/clothing, simple ideas for flower arrangements, making your own wooden utensils, pickling cherry blossoms, recipes and much more. Every time I opened this book to read a few pages, it invoked a peacefulness and I found myself lost in the beautiful photos, simplistic ideas and easy to read chapters. I don't believe Yumiko Sekine's intent of this book, is that readers would adopt her practices and seasonal rituals, nor necessarily find her stark household and wardrobe appealing - but rather viewing the things we already have and will acquire in the future, with a fresh perspective and mindfulness of what value it will add to our lives. I know there is value in repairing or repurposing items dear to us and the book has inspired me to go through my wardrobe and household items to move things on and discover treasures that may be buried amongst my (definitely not minimalistic) belongings. Quality over quantity is something I wish I had adopted from a much younger age, but in a fast paced world where there seems to be so much chatter and so much clutter and so much noise, there is always room to live a little more simply. I would agree with some other reviews that there is an element of promoting her Fog Linen business, but I don't see why she wouldn't - as it has shaped her life and the objects she puts into it. It did make me want to go out and carve my own wooden spoon though. I will put this on my wish list for my return to Japan.

[Caroline · Rating 2 out of 5]

Though filled with gorgeous photos, I found this too astere for my tastes. How can you only wear gray, blue or black? What a boring wardrobe. Though I aspire to neat and tidy but in reality, I am at heart, a messy person who enjoys bright, loud explosions of color.

[Raychel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book made me want to whittle my own spoons.

[Emily · Rating 2 out of 5]

What I liked:
-Beautiful photos
-Emphases on mindfulness, rejection of overconsumption, and thoughtful appreciation of everything (including very basic things like avocado pits)
-Introduction of a few Japanese things that I had not heard of before (such as pickled cherry blossoms).

What I didn't like:
-Sometimes read like an advertisement for her brand - extolling the benefits of linen regularly, including photos of items that she sells, discussing how she first started selling certain products, etc
-Fairly basic in content - some projects came with instructions, others just a short description, and in general it felt like seasonal collections of standard blog entries rather than in-depth methods to change your lifestyle. For example, she briefly discusses Japanese bathing practices (they sound lovely!) but then just has very basic soap- and salt-making instructions that you could find on a million blogs, both Western and Eastern.
-Personal brand of eco-friendliness - Yumiko Sekine talks about global warming and reducing waste, but she seems somewhat oblivious in areas that her lifestyle was or is not eco-friendly, like taking baths twice a day or washing her sheets every morning. Additionally, she has a recipe for cleaner from orange peels, but I question how well-researched it is. From a brief search, I only found one study on this, and it showed that peels that have been FERMENTED for 3 months have effective cleaning properties. The instructions in this book do not involve fermentation, so I am curious about her source that led to her current method. I'm sure her intentions are in the right place, but I'm concerned about the spread of misinformation.

Summary: it is a pretty book, and the overall themes are nice (mindfulness, appreciation for what you have, reducing overconsumption). The picture-to-text ratio makes it a quick read. Brief descriptions of Japanese items and customs are interesting, but the following instructions are disappointingly generic. You might check this out at the library to flip through for general inspiration, but I wouldn't recommend buying it.

[Abby Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick read that infuses one with a sense of calm simplicity. A wonderful grown-up picture book. I now want more linen and ceramics.

[Meilin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book gave inspo for home decor and Japanese culture with recipes and traditions, but it also felt like an Ikea catalog for linen.

[Jill · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is no lack of books that give you tips on how to live simply or how to follow the lifestyle of another country to make your life richer. Denmark gives us the coziness of hygge, the Dutch offer up the concept of Niksen (doing nothing to help combat burnout), and there is Swedish death cleaning. Now, author and businesswoman Yumiko Sekine brings us a book of her Japanese traditions to help us find more beauty and purpose in life through simplicity.

Yumiko started out buying books for a small shop in Tokyo and kept buying until she could open her own store of linens, housewares, and clothing. Now she’s been running Fog Linen for over 20 years and buys products from all over the world. Her products are hand chosen and individually beautiful, and she has taken this concept and built her home and her life in the same precise way.

Her new book, Simplicity at Home, offers her ideas for minimalist living as well as ideas for crafts, recipes, and tips for living with intention and finding more beauty in life. The book, co-written with Jenny Wapner, is filled with gorgeous photographs by Nao Shimizu. There is a peacefulness in the photos that accentuates the serenity of Yumiko’s lifestyle. Just flipping through the book helped me feel calmer and more centered.

Yumiko takes us through a year in her life, starting with summer. She talks about how carefully she chose what to bring in to her new home and how she cherishes lightweight linens for the warmer weather. She shows us her unique dishes and how she organizes her kitchen, and she offers a recipe for one of her favorite summer treats, Cold Noodles with Tempura Vegetables. And then there are tips for mending broken ceramics by adding some gold powder to highlight the imperfections.

Next is autumn, where Yumiko shows how she uses scraps of linen or older pieces she wants to repurpose into a patchwork that can be used for something completely different. Old shirts or sheets can be made into a curtain or an apron, for example. And she makes plans for her garden, planting herbs and vegetables she can eat fresh or dry to keep her garden richness close throughout the colder months. Yumiko takes us on a trip to her favorite rice shop for fresh rice, and even shows us how to carve our own spoon before ending the day with a relaxing bath with homemade bath salts and soaps made with herbs and citrus.

Winter brings the coziness of heavier fabrics and preparations for the end of the year. Yumiko makes a simple wreath you can hand at home or give as a gift and shows how she organizes her closet and drawers with her winter wardrobe. She saves her seeds and vegetable cuttings to start new plants indoors, and she prepares for the Japanese tradition of deep cleaning everything at the end of the year with her homemade cleaning solutions made with orange and apple peels. For the new year, she and her friends make vegetable sushi, and then she makes a big batch of miso she can use throughout the entire year.

Spring comes, and Yumiko pares down her wardrobe to let go of the things she no longer uses and to make room for some new pieces, like the linen scarves she makes to add more life to her outfits. For old pieces that are stained or yellowed, she dyes them so she can keep wearing them, and they’ll look like new. Yumiko fills her home with fresh flowers in unique dishes and relishes her tea ceremony, not the traditional ceremony like her grandmother taught, but the ceremony that means the most to her, where she can enjoy her tea with some small sweets. But for her, spring is mostly about the cherry blossoms. She revels in her walks where the flowers are canopies overhead, and she even pickles some of the cherry blossoms to eat throughout the year.

Yumiko’s life and style is, in her words, “joyfully minimalistic.” While that makes for truly beautiful photos, it would take a lot of time and energy to maintain it as a lifestyle. That being said, I loved spending time with this book. It was a restorative vacation for me (especially this week, with frigid temperatures nipping at my extremities every time I go out the door) as well as an opportunity to learn more about Japanese traditions and culture. And while I can’t see myself living as minimally as Yumiko chooses to, I still found projects and ideas I can use now to bring some more intention to my life and serenity to my space. Anyone looking to learn more about Japanese minimalism, about simplifying your life to live with more purpose, or about Yumiko and her Fog Linen shop will appreciate this beautiful book.

Egalleys for Simplicity at Home were provided by Chronicle Books through NetGalley, with many thanks.

[Bethany · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is BEAUTIFUL. It absolutely should be on your shelf. It is full of practical advice. I really enjoyed the calm aesthetic of the book. The writing is a mix of history, travel, personal, and practical advice on homemaking and cultivating an soothing home experience.

I particularly enjoyed the Japanese Bath section, the Art of Kintsuji section, and the Organizing the closet section.

[Come_read_with_me_ · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a quick read. I only downloaded it this morning and I am finished already. 70% of the book I will admit, consists of pictures. They were beautiful and in my opinion, really made the book come to life.

Yumiko Sekine is the founder of the lifestyle brand Fog linen works. In this book, she explores her Japanese traditions, crafts, organisations, recipes and lifestyle. Yumiko Sekine's style is very minimalistic, not really my taste, but I loved reading about her thoughts and her traditions. Why she organised things in that particular way.

The pictures, I will admit won me over. They are absolutely stunning and this is why this book got 4 stars from me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simplicity At Home is a refreshing and inspiring take on thoughtful, simple living from a Japanese lifestyle business owner who presents anecdotes from her personal life that reflect her inspirations and ways of living, to act as a guide for those looking to follow her "joyfully minimalist" style!

As someone whose been getting into minimalism and decluttering, I've read countless how-to's, even guides on keeping my stuff more organized and motivate me to think about my space more differently. While they are helpful, there's something about Sekine's book that I gravitated to in a more profound way.

Through a distinct format Yumiko offers advice through her personal life stories to inspire a simple way of keeping one's space to focus more on what one already has and more importantly, ourselves. I liked how sections were not only divided by her stories, diy's, but also mainly seasons which presents a particular way of implementing styles for simple living to be more gradual and intentional.

Also acting as a sort of autobiography, I loved how Yumiko talked about inspirations from her own life (family, travels, and reflecting on her relatives own stories) that helped to craft her lifestyle business. I also liked how she implemented a variety of cultural influences into her thoughtful style of living too.

As someone who also likes minimalism for its aesthetics, this book is filled with a variety of simple photographs that further illustrate Yumiko's stories and act as a nice break between the various anecdotes and information she details. The writing itself is very nice to read, it flows well and each section tells its own story.

I'm still thinking about my rating for this, but on an enjoyment scale alone its definitely 4.5! I think some of the diy's weren't really something I would find time to do, but I did like how there was a nice variety.

From shelving to table setting, gardening, meal prepping, cooking, organizing, curating one's wardrobe, and much more there's a lot of techniques that one can implement into the home for particular seasons. Many of the techniques are also rooted in Japanese culture and rituals which was wonderful not only learning more about, but also interesting seeing how the detailed explanations reflected on her own minimalist perspective.

One of my favorite parts was how Yumiko delved into why having separate techniques for each season would be helpful! For me I see it incredibly helpful not only for someone new to minimalism, but also for managing different parts of the home at distinct times for a more easy way of reflecting on your space throughout the year.

This was such a page-turner also very insightful, aesthetically beautiful, and more importantly I felt like I got a lot out of reading it to help me think more about the space and belongings I have. What the author emphasizes is something that connected to me and hopefully I'll find the the time to get myself my own copy of this to reread it whenever I need to feel inspired.

- full review on the blog to come!

[Silas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received this book as a Goodreads Giveaway. I entered largely because the description mentioned the book had some Japanese recipes, which I found exciting. There are a few recipes, but that is really not the point of this book, which is kind of more geared towards being a coffee table book about a Japanese minimalist style. Large portions of the book are taken up by photographs of fairly bare spaces made up with some decorative elements. The pictures are appealing in their own way, but double down on a minimalist aesthetic by featuring bare concrete walls which wouldn't fly in a lot of other books of this kind. Still, this was dedicated to a Japanese minimalist aesthetic, and that's how the author lives in Japan. I am enthusiastic about a lot of Japanese things and have visited Japan, so a lot of what was here made sense to me in light of that, and I did appreciate what recipes I got, even if they weren't what I was looking for, and the aesthetic is appealing, even if it's not for me. I did find the amount that the author referred to her business felt a bit more like advertising than smooth parts of the narrative, though it is a borderline case, because the author does run a business, so it makes some sense to reference that. Overall, this was an interesting way to look at a different way to live that I am unlikely to adopt much of, with some pretty pictures of a minimalist lifestyle that for me, ironically, is a superfluous item of clutter now that I have finished reading it. I may try to put it in my local Little Free Library in the hope that someone will find it and click with it, since it is not really worth keeping for the recipes.

[Annie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

Simplicity at Home is a style, decor, and philosophy book by Yumiko Sekine. Due out 9th Feb 2021 from Chronicle Books, it's 224 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a graphically beautiful and restfully appealing book. The abundantly photographed interiors and decor shots are very well curated and simple as well as elegant and minimalist. The linens and table settings especially are very well done. There is a lot of emphasis on natural fibres (mostly linen) and clean lines combined with monochrome (mostly undyed linen with a few touches of blue/indigo).

Photos and interiors are arranged by season - Summer, Autumn, Winter, Spring. These are thematic chapters (not really suggestions for decorating by season). The author makes a number of good points about choosing belongings wisely and making conscious choices about what appeals to us, what we keep around us, and what we dispose of (and why). There's quite a lot of Japanese minimalist philosophy and anti-consumerism throughout the book which will be welcome for some and uncomfortably close to a profoundly guilt-inducing truth for many others (me, it's me).

Without going full-on Marie Kondo - nearly all of us are surrounded by too much stuff. Curating our belongings is a good idea. I read these books and agree philosophically - but still wind up surrounded by yarn/studio cabinets so full of yarn and fabrics that they are constantly threatening to explode.

Anyhow, this book is wonderfully illustrated and beautifully curated. I would heartily recommend it to readers who enjoy interior design, organization, home interiors, and the like. Much of the content is slanted to the FogLinenWork brand aesthetic, but there is enough general information included to make it a worthwhile read for lovers of the genre and the eastern minimalist design style.

Four stars.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

[sweetaalis · Rating 4 out of 5]

My interest in Japanese style, food and décor really began when I visited Japan in 2019. There is such a great tradition of attention to detail in Japan that it elevates something ordinary to extraordinary. This is reflected in the book, Simplicity at Home by Yumiko Sekine’s with Jenny Wapner by Chronicle Books.

Yumiko is the founder of Fog, Linen Work, a lifestyle (and online) store in Tokyo that sells home products and linen apparel.

The book is about Yumiko’s Japanese lifestyle and aesthetic which is simple, minimal and a mix of Japanese and Western influences. I find it very much a Japanese lifestyle but also can be a guide for any modern lifestyle now due to its focus on simplicity, minimizing waste, reuse, repair and buying items that last. The lifestyle rituals are naturally categorized into the four seasons and encompasses recipes, décor, dressing tips (paring down to a capsule wardrobe which I especially loved), carving your own spoons (😊), repairing ceramics (interesting for me as I did not think it could be done). It dovetails nicely with her store which I am loving. Note that some ingredients for the recipes may be difficult to obtain, if you are not in Japan.

Recommended for those interested in the Japanese/minimal lifestyle, natural materials, home décor and Japanese way of living.

Thank you to @NetGalley and @Chroniclebooks for the ARC.

[Deirdre K]

I hadn't planned to read this. Retracing my steps down the rabbit hole---a substack (probably Big Salad from Cup of Jo) linked to Fog Linen. The aprons and dish towels were lovely but out of my budget. But I noticed Simplicity at Home in the menu---I thought it would lead to articles on the subject, but it highlighted the founder's book.

It's the kind of book I check out from the library, skim and return and normally don't count in Good Reads (I have two of those sitting on my night stand at the moment). But this was only available on Hoopla. I don't have a kindle but was able to open it in my browser. Viola! I think some books, this book, might be ideal for that format.

I could quickly read (on my nice big monitor) and even pin images to Pinterest! When I wanted to Google a term (oosouji), Hoopla offered to look it up (but wouldn't allow me to copy any text).

I live with my husband, three sons and two large dogs: we do not have a minimalist home. But I enjoyed spending an hour imagining this Japanese, minimalist style of living. And I need to hear the message about how much empty space is worth daily.

There are recipes and sewing instructions for a scarf---and links (clickable on Hoopla!) to lots of similarly intentional stores in different countries.

[Opal Edgar · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have greatly enjoyed this book. After living in Japan for 7 years I have been missing my other home and in those pages I found the aesthetics and culture I love. The simplistic, almost zen in the traditional sense, lifestyle explained in this book is very compelling, it inspired me to seek real linen for my house and try to only keep the beautiful day to day objects around myself. This is a wonderful minimalist book that follows seasons, something I'm particularly appreciative of, Seasons are so important punctuation of life and seem to have been crushed to nothing more than weather in western countries. The lifestyle advice is lovely and written in a very pleasant way, very personal, a bit like getting insights from your grandma to enjoy your life more without waste, without stinginess either, just with love for simple things. I also loved the diy sections, especially the one to repair broken pottery and ceramics, and finding all of that interweaved with home style tips and recipes.
I really recommend this book for people who enjoy uncluttered lives, japan, modern interior design, doing things with their hands, learning about other cultures, reading autobiographies.

[Josephine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting book on minimalism. Sometimes it's quite stark how little there is in the photo. I love the idea of having not too much, but this borders on too little for me. Real advocates of true minimalism might really go this far, but I'm not interested in that. It must be very easy to dust, vacuum, and clean any house that looks like that, and what a good motivation for having less! That being said I found this to be an interesting read and loved looking at the photos. There are also some meal recipes and some how-to repair broken ceramic. Also, interesting sewing ideas for patchwork items. Even how to make your own wooden spoon. Ideas for scenting a bath. So it seems like this might just be a minimalist book, but it's more like a guide for making do with what you have and learning how to make things for yourself. Kind of like DIY mixed with minimalism mixed with organizing.

Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Abigail Denton · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first thing that drew me to this book was the beautiful cover. I loved the cover picture of a simple and pretty table that invited me in to read the book. The second thing that drew me to the book was the gorgeous pictures. I loved all the pictures throughout the book. Once I started reading I realized the book wasn’t just pretty, but very inspiring and practical. The book is divided into seasons and was simple and practical to follow along. I felt like I was following a very logical train of thought. The book is filled with a lot of pictures from her personal home. Her style doesn’t match mine perfectly, but I am not reading design books to copy and paste into my own home. I’m reading them to be inspired and take pieces and parts that I can incorporate into my own home after putting my own spin on them. I loved her inclusion of so many tutorials and recipes to try. She includes a tutorial to whittling spoons, filling cracked ceramics with gold, growing a garden, reusing fabric for home linens. There were several projects that I am now interested in dipping my toe into. The Japanese are known for their minimalistic home decor approach and this book reflects that. She shows how a home can be full of beautiful things without being cluttered. I would read this book again and I would recommend it to others.

[Andreea · Rating 2 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I received this book for free in exchange of my honest opinion.

Oh, how I wanted to like this book and how perfect I thought it would be for me - the cover is absolutely gorgeous, simplicity and slow living are principles I adore, yet... yet this book just did not do it for me.

It feels a little bit too linen focused (I get it, the author has a linen brand, but there's enough paragraphs about linen that I can take, sorry). Although it follows the seasons as a structure of the book, it still felt unorganized and all over the place - and why is she talking about the closet in three different chapters instead of having one chapter with all the info and that's it?

The rituals are simple, kinda uninspiring, things I already knew... And the writing style just didn't spark anything in me. It works better as a blog, but not a book for everyone.

I also really did not like the house of the author. I know we all have different styles, but it was just cold.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yumiko Sekine tries to cultivate 'joyful minimalism' in her home. This lovely book is inspirational with its attractive pictures and suggestions for living with the seasons and decorating. It is really better suited to 'crafty' people, however, because of its chapters on repairs and making things. However, it also has chapters which are suitable for everyone, about cleaning out closets, folding items, decorating shelves and arranging flowers. I especially liked the chapter on looking at flowers, with its beautiful pictures of Japanese cherry blossom trees.

I received this free ebook from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

[Gina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Hmmm... This is not quite what I expected. Yes, the book is beautiful. Yes, there are distinctly Japanese elements to this book, however, I found the focus on the author's business (Fog Linen) and overly rustic and rumpled aesthetic that I was somewhat put off.

While Kintsugi is beautiful and fascinating, how many of us 1) own the needed products and 2) are lucky enough to have glass break in nice big chards?

As a bath nut, I was partial to the Japanese Bath chapter.

Overall, this is a lovely book to read and page through, but I don't see myself embracing this wrinkled, gray-indigo linen lifestyle.

[Stephanie Courtney · Rating 4 out of 5]

It came as no surprise to me that a home/lifestyle book by the founder of Fog Linen Work would make more than a few mentions of said company. It also came as no surprise to me that I was completely drawn to both the words and pictures in the book. I quite liked how the book was arranged in seasons as that helped in giving the reader a sort of sneak peek into the general day to day of one type of Japanese home. The photos were beautiful and helped with the overall slow and intentional feel the book had.
One thing I liked was that it never came off as preachy or condescending. There was no direction to do this or that or else you aren’t being mindful and conscientious, instead it presented as a snapshot of the author’s environment and daily routines and traditions throughout the year. It felt more like the reader is being shown possibilities to draw inpiration from instead of being told what to do and what not to do.
The only real negative that pops into my mind is that the book made me recall just how much I like linen but also made me recall the price on most good quality linen…which is why I don’t have as much as I’d like!

[Witch-at-Heart · Rating 5 out of 5]

Visually incredible but so personal and stylized it was like taking a home tour or a looking at a magazine shoot.

It was breath taking and inspiring but at the same time not helpful in encouraging individual tastes or customization. But I can hardly critique it in any other way. Absolutely wonderful to look through and if nothing else would make an exceptional conversation starter displayed on a coffee table or bookshelf.

Truly incredible pictures and although I can’t find a way to replicate it for my lifestyle. I could read it a dozen times just to llookat what has been created.

[Marina Klimova · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable lifestyle book. It seems very mainstream with its minimalist style. I feel strange liking it for that reason but I can't help finding satisfaction in its simplicity. It has a lot of good ideas and encouraged me to strive for more natural, peaceful, and minimalist outlook on the everyday. The story of how she used to wash her sheets every night stayed with me for some reason just like it stayed with her when she read about it when she was young.

[Linds · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, tactile hardback which I almost bought but then settled for the Kindle edition as it was on offer. If you can afford the hardback, definitely buy that.
It features lovely photography with a suitably minimalist Japanese aesthetic but what I liked were the project pages with recipes, instructions for sewing projects, and even how to make miso. I would have loved more of those and just more content overall which is why I have only rated the book at 3 stars.

[Kaitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful book. I enjoyed the glimse into Yumiko Sekine's well curated and thoughtful life. It makes me want to completely redecorate and declutter without that being an aim of the book. I loved the simple crafts and recipes as well as the easy to understand translations of Japanese terms and culture.

Thanks Netgalley for a copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

[Ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is just the sort of book I love getting lost in during a relaxing late afternoon. It doesn’t make you think too hard, but it challenges your brain enough into thinking about how to improve little pockets of your home.

**The PDF that I enjoyed was an advanced reader copy granted to me through Netgalley. All opinions are my own and not that of the publisher.**

[Phobean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this sweet, quiet look book because a.) Fog Linen operates in part out of a shop at the end of the street where I work in Cambridge, MA (the shop is called Pod), b.) the book was on sale because it was slightly damaged (Wabi Sabi?), c.) I wanted a taste of modern Tokyo through the eyes of a Japanese world traveler. I got that taste, and now I want linen sheets.