I know that some people do not like Murakami’s work because of the sexual scenes and the way the characters (especially the female characters) are portrayed. It is the same in his home country, and some people do not buy his novels for the same reason. However, few people criticise a novelist, whereas politicians and […]
Music takes an important role in Murakami’ life and novels. Last week, Murakami gave an interview on Shukan Asahi Magazine and said “This is a difficult time, as the world faces the pandemic. However, at any time, people need something they can enjoy.” and noticed that he would host a live radio show on this […]
Jun’ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965) is one of the most appreciated novelists of Japanese literature. The award named after Tanizaki is one of the most prestigious ones and was given to Murakami for Hard–Boiled Wonderland And The End Of The World in 1985. Murakami highly respects Tanizaki. He met Mrs Matsuko Tanizaki (1903-1990), the maestro’s wife, at […]
I trace it back to February 1990, when Aum stood for election in the Lower House of the Japanese Diet. Asahara was running in Shibuya Ward, the Tokyo district where I was living at the time, and the campaign was a singularly odd piece of theater. Day after day strange music played from big trucks […]
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 […]
In 2013, Murakami wrote; When I was a child, I read a story of men; one of them was a smart man who just saw Mt. Fuji from several angles and convinced how the mountain looked marvellous and left. Very efficient. However, the other man who is not so smart could not understand easily, and […]
Two weeks ago on the radio show, Murakami said that he was reading “El amor en los tiempos del cólera / Love in the Time of Cholera” by G. García Márquez. Did any of you read it?
Murakami’s words from his home broadcasted on his radio show were on TV news; “‘If we lacked love and compassion, the world after the coronavirus would be a cold and miserable place. Love is a treasure.”
The article does not directly relate to Murakami. However, I assume it may draw the interest of some of you who are interested in the surreal aspects based on the Japanese folklore in his novel and how those surrealities still work in the life in modern society; the mysterious merperson instructed that in order to […]
In the recent issue of Switch magazine, Murakami gave an interview on his sound system. Currently, he has JBL and Tannoy speaker systems and said, “I listen to Jazz with the JBL. While the Tannoy sounds better in the morning when I listen to the classical chamber, baroque and piano music.” Chamber music filtered out […]