Murakami made the summer special for the teenagers

At the end of unusual summer vacation due to Covid-19, Murakami gave an interview to the high school students.

He was asked “How should we decide our future goal?” and said,” My life has gone with the flow without concrete plan and goal so that I can only say that I wish you good luck that good flow will wait for you”.

Referring his experience when he wrote, “Hear the Wind Sing” at the age of 29, he said “For example, I could not have written if I had tried to write it when I was 21. I found I was a person who needed some experience to write a story. “The flow” is significant”.

He also mentioned the effect of coronavirus; although it did not much affect the life of a writer, he realized again that there is nothing definite as it forced many people to change the way of life and the distance with others.

He continued; “There are two ways to write on corona; writing it straightforwardly or writing it by replacing with something different. I feel the latter would be the primary way for a novelist and believe many writers have started to write on.”

The interview was organized by the Yomiuri Shimbun and posted over weekends. I believe this grand experience shall make this unusual summer memorable for the three teenagers and am impressed with the way that Murakami did for the younger generation at a difficult time.

I am one of the many who look forward to Murakami’s new novel reflecting the current situation in the way that only he can do. How about you?