Ever walk in the door and just feel overwhelmed by the amount of stuff in your home? One woman developed a method to tackle that problem and became an international sensation in the process. As our series Trending in Tokyo continues, NY1's Tara Lynn Wagner sits down with decluttering guru Marie Kondo to learn why you should only keep things that "spark joy."

Across the globe, people are transforming their closets and their lives by following the KonMari method developed by Tokyo’s Marie Kondo — an expert on decluttering. 

"People around the world have been wanting to declutter," Kondo said. "That is a fact."

Bookstores around Tokyo are full of tomes on the subject including Kondo’s international bestseller  "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up". 

Translated into dozens of languages, it has sold over 2 million copies worldwide. Time Magazine named Kondo one of its 100 most-influential people. So how does a book about tidying become such a massive movement? 

"It is not about just making the room neat," Kondo said. "By making the room neat, the process of doing it, we can make our life better."

That because all those clothes, books and tchotchkes you have accumulated are not just cluttering your home. They are also cluttering your mind.

To get back on track, Kondo says you need to see the big picture. That begins by putting all your belongings in a particular category —like clothes — into a giant heap.

"By gathering all clothing in one pile, they come to realize for the first time how much stuff they had," Kondo said. "They all get shocked."

Next, pick through that pile, piece by piece, and ask yourself the question central to the KonMari Method:  "Does it spark joy?" 

If something doesn’t live up to that standard, it’s time to say "goodbye," and not just good-bye, but "thank you."

She’s also famous for her unique way of folding and storing her clothes. Done this way, your drawers become a sort of filing cabinet, with everything neatly folded and visible at a glance. 

So how does all of this translate into something "life-changing?" Kondo’s theory is that if you only keep items that spark joy, you are surrounded by joy whenever you are home. 

"No matter how small your house is, if you are surrounded by the things you chose because they spark joy, you can always you can have neat, contented living," she says.