Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit me to forget that. (Norwegian Wood, Ch.2) A year ago, when Waseda University announced that it was setting up a new library to house Haruki Murakami’s archives, and that Murakami would […]
Read Carson McCullers’ “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter (published in 1940)” translated by Haruki Murakami this year and impressed not only the way Murakami translated but the findings on the interaction among the literary works and the reality beyond the place, language and time. The problems and sufferings that the characters faced in the […]
Dropped in Café Murakami, run by a traditional patisserie owned by Murakami family (no liaison to Haruki) in Kanazawa since 1911. Its seasonal speciality was Mont Blanc cake; Sumire’s favourite in Sputnik Sweetheart. Although it was mentioned as a “usual slice of cake” in the English translation, it was specified as “Mont Blanc,” a cake […]
The story starts at Expressway Number 3 in Setagaya ward, southwest part of Tokyo. In 1984, the elevated expressway has often congested; but these days, as the expressway system expands, the traffic jam is getting less. The Metropolitan Expressway No.3 was built as a part of the preparation for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic games. It […]
Although Murakami did not mention the name of the place, it is believed that the setting of After Dark (2004) is Shibuya, one of the most popular amusement districts in the heart of Tokyo. Our line of sight chooses an area of concentrated brightness and, focusing there, silently descends to it—a sea of neon colors. […]
On the Bungakukai Magazine (Nov. 2020), Murakami gave an interview on Stan Getz and Jazz. As always, he was very talkative and shared his knowledge with a twist of expression in the way that he did in his novels. He thought “this is what I have to do” and translated ”Stan Getz: A Life in […]
This is a nonfiction story of a venture of the team of translators, editors, agents, and designers who successfully brought Murakami’s novels to the western countries in 1980/90s. Birnbaum was immediately drawn to Murakami’s writing, especially its humor, something he found to be rare in Japanese literature.19 As soon as he finished reading the stories, […]
Murakami gave an interview to the high school student reporters from the Yomiuri Junior Press on 8 August, in the middle of the pandemic. The students carefully read Murakami’s new book “First Person Singular”, and Murakami offered them an invaluable two-hour experience in the summer when the pandemic deprived young people of opportunities. The HIdden […]
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 […]
Like many other parts of the world, Covid-19 significantly affected the lives of the people in Japan. Although bookstores were excluded from the shutdown list, during the state of the emergency period from April 9 to May 25, all the business in town were heavily damaged and have not yet recovered until now. For small […]