Who is Marie Kondo's husband? A deep dive into the tidying expert's family life.

We have officially hit peak Marie Kondo.

Since the Japanese organisational expert launched her Netflix series Tidying Up with Marie Kondo in early January, the entire world is attacking their junk rooms to see if, like Kondo says, their dusty belongings ‘spark joy’.

Although the 34-year-old might be new to some of us, Kondo and her de-cluttering method have been converting millions of people into clean freaks since 2014 when her first book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, was translated into English and published in the United States.

AOL reports Kondo has since amassed a net worth of$8 million US (over $11 million AU) through her New York Times best-selling book, Netflix TV show and KonMari consulting business.

Despite being one of the most recognisable faces in the world right now, Kondo is fairly private when it comes to her personal life.

Her Instagram account, which has 1.5 million followers, is a combination of professional and personal – littered with Pinterest-esque drawers of neatly folded jumpers alongside candid photos of her two young daughters Satsuki and Miko.

Unlike the many husband-and-wife renovation duos on our screens and in our feeds, her husband Takumi Kawahara hardly features on there at all, perhaps because he’s always behind the camera.

To find out more about the tidying up expert infiltrating our lives, we did a deep dive into the people who spark joy in Kondo’s life – Marie Kondo’s husband and daughters.

Who is Marie Kondo’s husband?

A post shared by KonMari (@konmari.co) on Dec 24, 2018 at 7:00am PST

A post shared by Takumi Kawahara (@tkmkawahara) on Oct 24, 2014 at 2:18am PDT

Marie Kondo’s husband Takumi Kawahara is hardly ever far from his wife’s side.

The 34-year-old currently works as the CEO of KonMari Media, Kondo’s consulting business that connects customers with ‘KonMari-certified tidyupperers’, and as his wife’s manager. According to Good Housekeeping, Kawahara was working in sales and marketing in Osaka, Japan, before leaving his corporate job to work with his wife when her de-cluttering method took off. Multiple publications credit Kawahara for helping Kondo secure her Netflix show, Tidying Up with Marie Kondo, as well as accompanying her to interviews as a translator.

It’s not known how Kondo and Kawahara met. We do know they married in 2012, and currently live in LA with their two daughters together; Satsuki, three, and Miko, two.

In 2018, Kondo gave readers an insight into exactly how her home life functions in a piece for The Cut, saying she and her husband use a Google spreadsheet to manage life admin.

“When my husband and I got married, we sat down and talked about the kind of home life we wanted and what it would take to achieve that. We put all of this on a shared Google spreadsheet. When one of us completed a task we’d mark it as done and then the other one might leave a message saying “Thank you,” or something like that. It was all very systematic,” she said.

“By doing this we got a very clear sense of what needed to be done. And from this we developed a natural division of labour – my husband is in charge of the cooking and I’m in charge of the cleaning – and now we have a good rhythm in place. We still use an online calendar to coordinate our schedules. So I can see if my husband has a meeting and know that I’ll need to be watching the kids then, or the other way around.”

The businessman has rarely spoken publicly about Kondo’s business or their marriage. However, in a 2016 Good Housekeeping interview, he did inadvertently reveal the one item his wife can’t bare to Kondo out of her life.

“So…I have this stuffed seal, it’s very small. It was a gift from my father, and even though I’m an adult, I still keep it on my shelf. It’s something I can’t part with!” she said.

Kondo also spoke of her husband’s tidying abilities in the interview, saying “he was able to clean and be very organised even before he read my book, but it was certainly even more pronounced after he read my book.”

“He became even more efficient. Fundamentally speaking, we’re in the same groove.”

Marie Kondo’s (ridiculously cute) kids.

A quick scroll through Kondo’s Instagram confirms her and Kawahara’s kids are really, really adorable.

Kondo shares photos of Satsuki and Miko frequently, giving fans a glimpse into her family life.

A post shared by Takumi Kawahara (@tkmkawahara) on Jan 14, 2019 at 9:45pm PST

No matter what kind of day I had, I forget it all when I see their huge smiles ????

A post shared by Marie Kondo (@mariekondo) on May 23, 2018 at 9:33pm PDT

It sparks joy that they’re such good friends for each other ????

A post shared by Marie Kondo (@mariekondo) on Jun 9, 2018 at 11:36pm PDT

My little pumpkins.

A post shared by Marie Kondo (@mariekondo) on Nov 10, 2018 at 12:00pm PST

A post shared by Marie Kondo (@mariekondo) on Jun 22, 2018 at 5:50pm PDT

Many Kondo fans, particularly mums struggling to part with the immense amount of stuff children need, wondered if her ruthless attitude to tidying up would change after having children.

“I think I became more forgiving after my baby was born, especially because I’m so much more limited in time and [given] the sheer number of things that increase,” she told Wall Street Journal in 2017.

For The Cut, she said, “When the kids were born, things were rather hectic. They’d wake up crying in the middle of the night and I’d have to get up to go soothe them. This was something that I had no control over, and that was a bit stressful for me. I’d be tired the next day.”

“[The girls] are still young and I just have to accept that they will clutter things for the time being.”

Predictably, Kondo said her daughters are also really great at organising things, and that “it’s never too early to learn how to tidy up.”

“I was surprised to see her [Satsuki] putting books, stuffed animals, and toys for playing house back in their place more precisely than I expected [at her age]. She is also trying to copy me folding clothes, though I secretly fix them when she’s not looking.”

“When children go through the sadness of letting things go, that can be a good experience for them. I wouldn’t want to eliminate such emotions.”

Ah, if only we could be a fly on the wall in the Kondo household. A fly that doesn’t have to… fold anything.

Have you been caught up in the Marie Kondo movement? What do you think about her de-cluttering method?