85-546: The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle ( ねじまき鳥クロニクル , Nejimakidori Kuronikuru ) is a novel published in 1994–1995 by Japanese author Haruki Murakami . The American translation and its British adaptation, dubbed the "only official translations" ( English ), are by Jay Rubin and were first published in 1997. For this novel, Murakami received the Yomiuri Literary Award , which was awarded to him by one of his harshest former critics, Kenzaburō Ōe . The original Japanese edition
170-494: A 100 km race around Lake Saroma in Hokkaido, Japan . He discussed running and its effect on his creative life in a 2007 memoir, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running . Murakami began to write fiction when he was 29. "Before that," he said, "I didn't write anything. I was just one of those ordinary people. I was running a jazz club, and I didn't create anything at all." He was inspired to write his first novel, Hear
255-758: A 75-minute feature. The film played at various film festivals and was released in New York and Los Angeles on July 29, 2005. The original short story, translated into English by Jay Rubin , is available in the April 15, 2002 issue of The New Yorker , as a stand-alone book published by Cloverfield Press, and part of Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman by Knopf . In 1998, the German film The Polar Bear ( German : Der Eisbär ), written and directed by Granz Henman, used elements of Murakami's short story " The Second Bakery Attack " in three intersecting story lines. "The Second Bakery Attack"
340-702: A Vocation in Japan, featuring insights and commentaries on Murakami's life and career. The essay collection was later translated into English by Philip Gabriel and Ted Goossen and released by Alfred A. Knopf on November 8, 2022. Killing Commendatore ( Kishidanchō-goroshi ) was published in Japan on February 24, 2017, and in the US in October 2018. The novel is about an unnamed portrait painter who stumbles upon an unknown painting, titled Killing Commendatore , after assuming residence in its creator's former abode. Since its publication,
425-413: A complete translation along with the requested abridged version. These chapters contain plot elements not found elsewhere in the book. For example, the two missing chapters from the second volume of the original three-volume elaborate on the relationship between Toru Okada and Creta Kano, and a "hearing" of the wind-up bird as Toru burns a box of Kumiko's belongings (Book 2 Chapter 15). In the third volume,
510-437: A discussion between Toru and May, Toru says Kumiko was successful in killing Noboru and is now serving time in jail after admitting the deed — time of her own volition, because she is waiting for the media circus to end so neither she nor Toru are targeted. Toru says that he will wait for her, and bids May goodbye. While this book has many major and minor characters, these are among the most important: The English translation of
595-446: A dreamlike sequence where he enters a hotel room and speaks with a woman, and notices a strange blue mark on his cheek after he leaves the well. While loitering in the city, he spends most of the day sitting outside a donut shop and people-watching. Through this activity, Toru encounters a well-dressed woman and also a singer he recognizes from his past, whom he follows and beats with a bat after getting ambushed by him. "The Birdcatcher",
680-636: A dry well. At an October 2013 symposium held at the University of Hawaii , associate professor of Japanese Nobuko Ochner opined "there were many descriptions of traveling in a parallel world as well as characters who have some connection to shamanism" in Murakami's works. In an October 2022 article for The Atlantic , Murakami clarified that nearly none of the characters in his work has been created based on individuals in real life, as many people alleged. He wrote: "I almost never decide in advance that I’ll present
765-522: A gentle man forced to trade the familiar for the utterly unknown" and "a fully mature, engrossing tale of individual and national destinies entwined" that would be "hard to surpass." Michiko Kakutani , in The New York Times , regarded the novel as "a wildly ambitious book that not only recapitulates the themes, motifs and preoccupations of his earlier work, but also aspires to invest that material with weighty mythic and historical significance" though
850-533: A guide to Japanese, Making Sense of Japanese (originally titled Gone Fishin' ), and a biographical literary analysis of Murakami. Rubin was born in Washington, D.C. , in 1941. Rubin has a PhD in Japanese literature from the University of Chicago . He taught at the University of Washington for eighteen years, and then moved on to Harvard University , which he left in 2008. In his early research career he focused on
935-693: A long tale about his eerie and mystical wartime experiences in Manchukuo in the Kwantung Army , where he sees a man skinned alive. Mamiya was also left to die in a deep well before being saved by corporal Honda. The gift from Honda is an empty box. Kumiko is revealed to be missing at the start of the second part, "Bird as Prophet". Shortly after, Toru finds out through a meeting with Noboru and Malta that Kumiko has apparently been spending time with another man and wants to end her relationship with Toru. Confused, Toru tries several things to calm himself and think through
SECTION 10
#17328757001511020-492: A man goes on a blind date with a woman named Kaho and ends it with an insult, which is also the first line of the story. Most of Haruki Murakami's works use first-person narrative in the tradition of the Japanese I-novel . He states that because family plays a significant role in traditional Japanese literature, any main character who is independent becomes a man who values freedom and solitude over intimacy. Also notable
1105-483: A particular type of character. As I write, a kind of axis forms that makes possible the appearance of certain characters, and I go ahead and fit one detail after another into place, like iron scraps attaching to a magnet. And in this way an overall picture of a person materializes. Afterward I often think that certain details resemble those of a real person, but most of the process happens automatically. I think I almost unconsciously pull information and various fragments from
1190-637: A possible recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature . Nonetheless, since all nomination records are sealed for 50 years from the awarding of the prize, it is pure speculation. When asked about the possibility of being awarded the Nobel Prize, Murakami responded with a laugh saying "No, I don't want prizes. That means you're finished." In October 2014, he was awarded the Welt -Literaturpreis . In April 2015, Murakami
1275-508: A record store. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened a coffee house and jazz bar , Peter Cat, in Kokubunji, Tokyo , which he ran with his wife, from 1974 to 1981. The couple decided not to have children . Murakami is an experienced marathon runner and triathlon enthusiast, though he did not start running until he was 33 years old, after he began as a way to stay healthy. On June 23, 1996, he completed his first ultramarathon ,
1360-459: A series intended for Japanese students of English. Murakami considers his first two novels to be "immature" and "flimsy", and has not been eager to have them translated into English. A Wild Sheep Chase , he says, was "the first book where I could feel a kind of sensation, the joy of telling a story. When you read a good story, you just keep reading. When I write a good story, I just keep writing." In 1985, Murakami wrote Hard-Boiled Wonderland and
1445-477: A story by Murakami himself. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running , a memoir about his experience as a marathon runner and a triathlete, was published in Japan in 2007, with English translations released in the UK and the US in 2008. The title is a play on that of Raymond Carver 's short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Love . In 2004, Murakami was interviewed by John Wray (novelist) for
1530-407: A stroke and is now in a coma. Kumiko sends him a message on the computer to let him know she is alright but intends to kill Noboru by pulling the plug on the life support. She reveals that she did not cheat on Toru with just one man, but in fact there were several. Noboru's obsession with their middle sister, continued with Kumiko, triggered sex addiction in her until Noboru stepped in. Subsequently, in
1615-475: A theatrical version of Kafka on the Shore , which first ran at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company from September to November. On Max Richter 's 2006 album Songs from Before , Robert Wyatt reads passages from Murakami's novels. In 2007, Robert Logevall adapted "All God's Children Can Dance" into a film, with a soundtrack composed by American jam band Sound Tribe Sector 9 . In 2008, Tom Flint adapted "On Seeing
1700-840: A two-hour multimedia stage presentation. The show opened January 12, 2010, as part of the Public Theater's " Under the Radar " festival at the Ohio Theater in New York City, presented in association with The Asia Society and the Baryshnikov Arts Center . The show had its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival on August 21, 2011. The presentation incorporates live actors, video projection, traditional Japanese puppetry , and immersive soundscapes to render
1785-518: A while with no luck, May Kasahara, a teenager who had been watching him camping out in the alley for some time, questions him. She invites him over to her house in order to sit on the patio and look over an abandoned house that she says is a popular hangout for stray cats. The abandoned house is revealed to possibly contain some strange omen, as it had brought bad luck to all of its prior tenants. It also contains an empty well, which Toru uses later to crawl into and think. Toru receives sexual phone calls from
SECTION 20
#17328757001511870-449: A wide range of works by European and American writers, such as Franz Kafka , Gustave Flaubert , Charles Dickens , Kurt Vonnegut , Fyodor Dostoyevsky , Richard Brautigan and Jack Kerouac . These Western influences distinguish Murakami from the majority of other Japanese writers. Murakami studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met Yoko, now his wife. His first job was at
1955-412: A woman who says she knows him. He also receives a phone call from Malta Kano who asks to meet with him. Kumiko calls Toru to explain that he should meet with the clairvoyant Malta Kano, who will help with finding the cat. Malta Kano had come recommended by Kumiko's brother, Noboru Wataya, which is also the name given to the cat. Kumiko's family believes in fortune-telling and had previously stipulated that
2040-453: A work of that length, winning first prize. Murakami's initial success with Hear the Wind Sing encouraged him to continue writing. A year later, he published a sequel, Pinball, 1973 . In 1981, he co-wrote a short story collection, Yume de Aimashou with author and future Earthbound/Mother creator Shigesato Itoi . In 1982, he published A Wild Sheep Chase , a critical success. Hear
2125-455: A year of being missing. Toru discusses Kumiko's disappearance with Noboru directly and indirectly (through his agent Ushikawa) and eventually arranges for a talk with her through the Internet, using her recollection of the jellyfish date as a means to verify her identity. Finally, Toru is able to travel to the hotel room from the well and confronts the woman, realizing that she is Kumiko and breaking
2210-483: Is 1,200-pages long and is set in a "soul-stirring, 100% pure Murakami world" that involves "a story that had long been sealed". In promoting his latest book, Murakami stated that he believed that the pandemic and the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine have created walls that divide people, fueling fear and skepticism instead of mutual trust. In July 2024, the New Yorker published Murakami's short story Kaho , in which
2295-481: Is Murakami's unique humor, as seen in his 2000 short story collection, After the Quake . In the story "Superfrog Saves Tokyo", the protagonist is confronted with a 6-foot tall frog that talks about the destruction of Tokyo over a cup of tea. In spite of the story's sober tone, Murakami feels the reader should be entertained once the seriousness of a subject has been broached. Another notable feature of Murakami's stories are
2380-503: Is never fully explained. In return, Toru receives pay and partial possession of the abandoned house that had been purchased to resell by some property agency. Cinnamon, Nutmeg's son, maintains the house and refits the well with a ladder and pulley to open and close the well cap from the bottom. Toru periodically goes to the bottom of the well to think and attempt to revisit the hotel room. The cat, who has been hardly mentioned following Kumiko's disappearance, shows up at Toru's home after nearly
2465-561: Is often thought it was titled after the Beach Boys ' 1964 tune ), Norwegian Wood (after The Beatles ' song ) and South of the Border, West of the Sun (after the song " South of the Border "). Some analyses see aspects of shamanism in his writing. In a 2000 article, Susan Fisher connected Shinto or Japanese shamanism with some elements of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , such as a descent into
2550-1112: The Gunzo Prize for New Writers , the World Fantasy Award , the Tanizaki Prize , Yomiuri Prize for Literature, the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award , the Noma Literary Prize , the Franz Kafka Prize , the Kiriyama Prize for Fiction, the Goodreads Choice Awards for Best Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize , and the Princess of Asturias Awards . Growing up in Ashiya , near Kobe before moving to Tokyo to attend Waseda University , he published his first novel Hear
2635-697: The Meiji state censorship system. More recently Rubin has concentrated his efforts on Murakami and Noh drama. His publications include Modern Japanese Writers (Scribners, 2001) and Haruki Murakami and the Music of Words (Harvill, 2002; Vintage, 2005). His translation of 18 stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa appeared as a Penguin Classics in 2006. His debut novel , The Sun Gods , was released in May 2015 (Chin Music Press) and explores
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Misplaced Pages Continue
2720-559: The Tokyo subway sarin attack , and What I Talk About When I Talk About Running (2007), a memoir about his experience as a long distance runner . His fiction has polarized literary critics and the reading public. He has sometimes been criticised by Japan's literary establishment as un-Japanese, leading to Murakami's recalling that he was a "black sheep in the Japanese literary world". Meanwhile, Murakami has been described by Gary Fisketjon ,
2805-470: The "Hanging House" chapter to make the chronology of events consistent. Book 2 chapter 15 summary: In chapter 15 Toru awakens to Creta Kano who mysteriously appeared in his bed the night before. She tells him that she has lost her name and asks if he would like to flee Japan with her. To this request he agrees and leaves behind memorabilia of his old life with his wife. While Toru is in town gathering supplies for his flee he reads an article about Noboru Wataya,
2890-554: The 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning" into a short film. The film was screened at the 2008 CON-CAN Movie Festival . The film was viewed, voted, and commented upon as part of the audience award for the movie festival. It was announced in July 2008 that French-Vietnamese director Tran Anh Hung would direct an adaptation of Murakami's novel Norwegian Wood . The film was released in Japan on December 11, 2010. In 2010, Stephen Earnhart adapted The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle into
2975-408: The 182nd installment of The Paris Review 's "The Art of Fiction" interview series. Recorded over the course of two afternoons, the interview addressed the change in tone and style of his more recent works at the time—such as After the Quake —his myriad of Western influences ranging from Fyodor Dostoevsky to John Irving , and his collaborative process with the many translators he has worked with over
3060-516: The 1980s as well as some of Murakami's more recent short stories, including all five that appear in Tōkyō Kitanshū . In 2002, Murakami published the anthology Birthday Stories , which collects short stories on the theme of birthdays. It includes work by Russell Banks , Ethan Canin , Raymond Carver , David Foster Wallace , Denis Johnson , Claire Keegan , Andrea Lee , Daniel Lyons , Lynda Sexson, Paul Theroux , and William Trevor , as well as
3145-556: The 2007 Kiriyama Prize for Fiction for his collection of short stories Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman , but according to the prize's official website, Murakami "declined to accept the award for reasons of personal principle". In 2006, Murakami became the sixth recipient of the Franz Kafka Prize . In January 2009, Murakami received the Jerusalem Prize , a biennial literary award given to writers whose work deals with themes of human freedom, society, politics, and government. There were protests in Japan and elsewhere against his attending
3230-454: The Border, West of the Sun , 2000; The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , 2000s), encouraged by Murakami himself. Both were later re-translated from Japanese. Sputnik Sweetheart was first published in 1999, followed by Kafka on the Shore in 2002, with the English translation following in 2005. Kafka on the Shore won the World Fantasy Award in 2006. The English version of his novel After Dark
3315-463: The China–Japan political territorial dispute, characterizing the overwrought nationalistic response as "cheap liquor" which politicians were giving to the public. In April 2013, he published his novel Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage . It became an international bestseller but received mixed reviews. In 2015, Switch Publishing published Murakami's essay collection Novelist as
3400-621: The End of the World , a dream-like fantasy that took the magical elements of his work to a new extreme. Murakami achieved a major breakthrough and national recognition in 1987 with the publication of Norwegian Wood , a nostalgic story of loss and sexuality. It sold millions of copies among young Japanese. Norwegian Wood propelled the barely known Murakami into the spotlight. He was mobbed at airports and other public places, leading to his departure from Japan in 1986. Murakami traveled through Europe, lived in
3485-522: The February award ceremony in Israel , including threats to boycott his work as a response against Israel 's recent bombing of Gaza . Murakami chose to attend the ceremony, but gave a speech to the gathered Israeli dignitaries harshly criticizing Israeli policies. Murakami said, "Each of us possesses a tangible living soul. The system has no such thing. We must not allow the system to exploit us." The same year he
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Misplaced Pages Continue
3570-499: The Haruki Murakami Library, opened on October 1, 2021. In addition to its vast collection of written material, the library also hosts a coffee shop run by Waseda University students—called Orange Cat, after Murakami's Peter Cat jazz bar from his twenties—in addition to a listening lounge where visitors can listen to records collected by Murakami himself. Murakami's first novel, Hear the Wind Sing ( Kaze no uta o kike ),
3655-437: The Japanese original. Nearly 20 years after the first translation Ursula Gräfe translated the book from the Japanese original, including also the missing chapters. 'Die Chroniken des Aufziehvogels'. The Dutch translation by Jacques Westerhoven was translated directly from the Japanese original, therefore includes the missing parts and chapters, and follows the same order as the Japanese version. Some chapters and paragraphs of
3740-415: The Japanese paperback edition were not included in the English translation. Translator Jay Rubin cut about 61 of 1,379 pages, including three chapters (Book 2 Chapters 15, 18, and part of 17; and Book 3 Chapter 26). Combining the original three-volumes (Japanese) would have been too long, and so the publisher requested that ~25,000 words be cut for the English translation, even though Rubin had presented them
3825-431: The Japanese people have experienced ... however, this time it was not a bomb being dropped upon us, but a mistake committed by our very own hands". According to Murakami, the Japanese people should have rejected nuclear power after having "learned through the sacrifice of the hibakusha just how badly radiation leaves scars on the world and human wellbeing". In recent years, Haruki Murakami has often been mentioned as
3910-516: The Limited Centenary Edition of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle to celebrate the publisher's hundredth year of operation. It was limited to 2,500 copies. The first part, "The Thieving Magpie", begins with the narrator, Toru Okada, a low-key and unemployed lawyer's assistant, being tasked by his wife, Kumiko, to find their missing cat. Kumiko suggests looking in the alley, a closed-off strip of land behind their house. After Toru stays there for
3995-677: The United States and currently resides in Oiso, Kanagawa , with an office in Tokyo. Murakami was a writing fellow at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey , Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts , and Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts . During this time he wrote South of the Border, West of the Sun and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle . The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1995) fuses
4080-772: The United States in the 1990s. He called The Wind-up Bird Chronicle a turning point in his career, marking this change in focus. English translations of many of his short stories written between 1983 and 1990 have been collected in The Elephant Vanishes . Murakami has also translated many works of F. Scott Fitzgerald , Raymond Carver , Truman Capote , John Irving , and Paul Theroux , among others, into Japanese. Murakami took an active role in translation of his work into English, encouraging "adaptations" of his texts to American reality rather than direct translation. Some of his works that appeared in German turned out to be translations from English rather than Japanese ( South of
4165-980: The Wind Sing (1979) after working as the owner of a small jazz bar for seven years. His notable works include the novels Norwegian Wood (1987), The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994–95), Kafka on the Shore (2002) and 1Q84 (2009–10); the last was ranked as the best work of Japan's Heisei era (1989–2019) by the national newspaper Asahi Shimbun 's survey of literary experts. His work spans genres including science fiction , fantasy , and crime fiction , and has become known for his use of magical realist elements. His official website cites Raymond Chandler , Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan as key inspirations to his work, while Murakami himself has named Kazuo Ishiguro , Cormac McCarthy and Dag Solstad as his favourite currently active writers. Murakami has also published five short story collections, including First Person Singular (2020), and non-fiction works including Underground (1997), an oral history of
4250-418: The Wind Sing (1979), while watching a baseball game. He described the moment he realized he could write as a "warm sensation" he could still feel in his heart. He went home and began writing that night. Murakami worked on Hear the Wind Sing for ten months in very brief stretches, during nights, after working days at the bar. He completed the novel and sent it to the only literary contest that would accept
4335-567: The Wind Sing , Pinball, 1973 , and A Wild Sheep Chase form the Trilogy of the Rat (a sequel, Dance, Dance, Dance , was written later but is not considered part of the series), centered on the same unnamed narrator and his friend, "the Rat". The first two novels were not widely available in English translation outside Japan until 2015, although an English edition, translated by Alfred Birnbaum with extensive notes, had been published by Kodansha as part of
SECTION 50
#17328757001514420-596: The aftermath of the Kobe earthquake and the Aum Shinrikyo gas attack . He came to terms with these events with his first work of non-fiction, Underground , and the short story collection after the quake . Underground consists largely of interviews of victims of the gas attacks in the Tokyo subway system. In 1996, in a conversation with the psychologist Hayao Kawai, Murakami explained that he changed his position from one of "detachment" to one of "commitment" after staying in
4505-563: The archives of Haruki Murakami, including his manuscripts, source documents, and music collection. Later in September 2021, architect Kengo Kuma announced the opening of a library dedicated entirely to Murakami's works at Waseda University , which would include more than 3,000 works by Murakami, including translations into more than 50 other languages. The library, officially known as the Waseda International House of Literature or
4590-465: The article explains that Noboru is now trying to become a politician. Chapter 17 is not completely removed, instead the excerpt where Toru takes passport photos is removed and the very lengthy conversation Toru has with his uncle about buying real estate is condensed into one English paragraph. Book 2 Chapter 18 summary: Creta Kano returns to Japan and Toru tells her that he will not be fleeing with her. After this he meets with May Kasahara and they watch
4675-458: The cabinets in my brain and then weave them together." Murakami named this process "the Automatic Dwarfs." He continued: "One of the things I most enjoy about writing novels is the sense that I can become anybody I want to be," noting that "Characters who are—in a literary sense—alive will eventually break free of the writer’s control and begin to act independently." Murakami was also awarded
4760-484: The comments that come from the main characters as to how strange the story presents itself. Murakami explains that his characters experience what he experiences as he writes, which could be compared to a movie set where the walls and props are all fake. He has further compared the process of writing to movies: "That is one of the joys of writing fiction—I'm making my own film made just for myself." Many of his novels have themes and titles that evoke classical music, such as
4845-412: The computer conversation between Toru and Noboru Wataya (Book 3 Chapter 26) and Toru's encounter with Ushikawa at the train station are also omitted. In addition to reducing the word count, some chapters were moved ahead of others, taking them out of the context of the original order. At the start of Book 3 the chapters have been rearranged. Rubin combined two chapters called "May Kasahara's POV" and moved
4930-516: The couple meet with an elderly man, Mr. Honda, for consultations on a regular basis, which they did for some time. (Instead of giving advice, he spends most of their sessions retelling the same story of his experience in the Kwantung Army in the lost tank battle with the Russians at Nomonhan on the Manchukuo -Russian border during World War II.) Toru meets the mysterious Malta Kano at a busy hotel restaurant, and she tasks her sister Creta Kano to further
5015-587: The course of his career. Shinchosha Publishing published Murakami's novel 1Q84 in Japan on May 29, 2009. 1Q84 is pronounced "ichi kyū hachi yon", the same as 1984 , as 9 is also pronounced "kyū" in Japanese . The book was longlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize in 2011. However, after the 2012 anti-Japanese demonstrations in China, Murakami's books were removed from sale there, along with those of other Japanese authors. Murakami criticized
5100-468: The demolition of the Miyawaki house. Later in the chapter Toru is swimming at the ward pool where he dreams in the pool about floating at the bottom of the well, presented in earlier chapters, and hearing horses dying during an eclipse. This leads him to the realization that the mysterious woman on the phone was actually his wife. Ending book 2 with this cliff hanger . Upon release, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
5185-499: The editor of Murakami's collection The Elephant Vanishes (1993), as a "truly extraordinary writer", while Steven Poole of The Guardian praised Murakami as "among the world's greatest living novelists" for his oeuvre. Murakami was born in Kyoto , Japan, during the post-World War II baby boom and was raised in Nishinomiya , Ashiya and Kobe . He is an only child. His father was
SECTION 60
#17328757001515270-547: The novel has caused controversy in Hong Kong and was labeled under "Class II – indecent" in Hong Kong. This classification led to mass amounts of censorship . The publisher must not distribute the book to people under the age of 18, and must have a warning label printed on the cover. Murakami's most recent novel The City and Its Uncertain Walls was published by Shinchosha in Japan on April 13, 2023. His first novel in six years, it
5355-475: The novel was carried out by Jay Rubin . In addition to notable differences between the Japanese and English versions, there are also differences between the original Japanese hardcover and paperback editions. Further differences exist between the American and British editions, but these are much more superficial. The German translation by Giovanni and Ditte Bandini is based on the English translation, not on
5440-618: The novel was created by Stephen Earnhart, a live production of it premiered in 2011 at the Edinburgh International Festival. Haruki Murakami Haruki Murakami ( 村上 春樹 , Murakami Haruki , born January 12, 1949 ) is a Japanese writer. His novels, essays, and short stories have been best-sellers in Japan and internationally, with his work translated into 50 languages and having sold millions of copies outside Japan. He has received numerous awards for his work, including
5525-609: The play was performed in Japanese, with supertitle translations for European and American audiences. Two stories from Murakami's book After The Quake – "Honey Pie" and "Superfrog Saves Tokyo" – have been adapted for the stage and directed by Frank Galati . Entitled after the quake , the play was first performed at the Steppenwolf Theatre Company in association with La Jolla Playhouse , and opened on October 12, 2007, at Berkeley Repertory Theatre . In 2008, Galati also adapted and directed
5610-665: The realistic and fantastic and contains elements of physical violence. It is also more socially conscious than his previous work, dealing in part with the difficult topic of war crimes in Manchukuo ( Northeast China ). The novel won the Yomiuri Prize , awarded by one of Murakami's harshest former critics, Kenzaburō Ōe , who himself won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1994. The processing of collective trauma soon became an important theme in Murakami's writing, which had previously been more personal in nature. Murakami returned to Japan in
5695-559: The relationship between a Japanese mother, Mitsuko, and her adopted, American son, Billy, as they face American internment during World War II . Rubin also translated the "Thousand Years of Dreams" passages by Kiyoshi Shigematsu for use in the Japanese-produced Xbox 360 game Lost Odyssey . In 2018, he edited The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories . Rubin's translation of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami won
5780-451: The situation: talking and taking up work with May Kasahara, hiding at the bottom of the well, and loitering around the city looking at people. Work with May involves tallying up people with some degree of baldness at a subway line for a wig company. While at the bottom of the well (of the abandoned house), Toru reminisces about earlier times with Kumiko, including their first date to an aquarium where they looked at jellyfish. He also experiences
5865-498: The son of a Buddhist priest, and his mother is the daughter of an Osaka merchant. Both taught Japanese literature . His father was involved in the Second Sino-Japanese War , and was deeply traumatized by it, which would, in turn, affect Murakami. Since childhood, Murakami, like Kōbō Abe , has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western as well as Russian music and literature. He grew up reading
5950-492: The spell. It is revealed in this reality that Noboru has been beaten into a coma by a bat, with the assailant described to look just like Toru. An unknown man enters the hotel room and attacks Toru, the intruder, with a knife. Toru fights back with the bat and kills the man, before escaping back to the well. In the well, bruised and unable to move, Toru passes out after the well fills with water. Cinnamon saves him, and some days later Nutmeg notifies him that in this reality Noboru had
6035-524: The surreal landscape of the original work. In 2013, pianist Eunbi Kim debuted a performance piece, titled "Murakami Music: Stories of Loss and Nostalgia", drawn from excerpts of Murakami's work as part of her artist residency at the Cell Theatre in New York City . Excerpts included Reiko's monologue from Norwegian Wood (novel) , as well as the self-titled song of Kafka on the Shore . The performance piece
6120-419: The third, final, and lengthiest part, ties up most loose ends while introducing a few new characters. The well-dressed woman Toru met while people-watching is revealed to be Nutmeg, whom he sees again when he reverts to people-watching. She hires him to relieve clients, middle-aged or older women, of some kind of inner turmoil that develops inside of them. The blue mark is involved in this somehow, though its power
6205-468: The three books making up The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle : The Thieving Magpie (after Rossini 's opera), Bird as Prophet (after a piano piece by Robert Schumann usually known in English as The Prophet Bird ), and The Bird-Catcher (a character in Mozart 's opera The Magic Flute ). Some of his novels take their titles from songs: Dance, Dance, Dance (after The Dells ' 1957 B-side song, although it
6290-639: The title "The Wind-up Bird and Tuesday's Women". In addition, the character name Noboru Wataya appears in the short story "Family Affair" in The Elephant Vanishes . While having a similar personality and background, the character is not related to the one in The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle of the same name. Noboru Wataya is also used in Jay Rubin's translation of the title short story in The Elephant Vanishes . In May 2010, Harvill Secker published
6375-621: The work. Both sisters wear unusual clothing: Malta a large red hat and Creta unstylish 1960s clothing. Creta meets Toru at his home and begins to tell him the story of her past, involving being raped by Noboru, but abruptly leaves. Toru notices Kumiko is wearing perfume that has been gifted to her by some unknown person. The cat remains missing. Toru is contacted by Lieutenant Mamiya, who informs Toru that Mamiya's old war friend corporal Honda has died and that Mamiya wishes to visit Toru to drop off an item that Honda had bequeathed to him. The first section ends with Lieutenant Mamiya arriving and telling Toru
6460-494: Was "only intermittently successful." While she finds that the novel succeeds in articulating that the world is "a mysterious place", that same confusion also "seems so messy that its refusal of closure feels less like an artistic choice than simple laziness". Many regard The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle as Murakami's masterpiece, and it appeared in The Telegraph 's 2014 list of the 10 all-time greatest Asian novels. An adaptation of
6545-498: Was acted by Laura Yumi Snell and directed by Kira Simring. From 2013 to 2014, Kim and Snell performed across the United States, notably with a premiere at Symphony Space and a showing at Georgetown University . Jay Rubin Jay Rubin (born 1941) is an American translator, writer, scholar and Japanologist . He is one of the main translators of the works of the Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami into English. He has also written
6630-523: Was adapted by Japanese director Kazuki Ōmori . The film was released in 1981 and distributed by Art Theatre Guild . Naoto Yamakawa directed two short films, Attack on the Bakery (released in 1982) and A Girl, She is 100 Percent (released in 1983), based on Murakami's short stories "Bakery Attack" and "On Seeing the 100% Perfect Girl One Beautiful April Morning", respectively. Japanese director Jun Ichikawa adapted Murakami's short story " Tony Takitani " into
6715-687: Was also adapted as a short film in 2010, directed by Carlos Cuarón , starring Kirsten Dunst and as part of a segment in the South Korean omnibus film Acoustic . Murakami's work was also adapted for the stage in a 2003 play entitled The Elephant Vanishes , co-produced by Britain's Complicite company and Japan's Setagaya Public Theatre. The production, directed by Simon McBurney , adapted three of Murakami's short stories and received acclaim for its unique blending of multimedia (video, music, and innovative sound design) with actor-driven physical theater (mime, dance, and even acrobatic wire work). On tour,
6800-587: Was awarded the Princess of Asturias Award for Literature. In 2024, Murakami received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement . Murakami has received honorary degrees ( Doctor of Letters ) from the University of Liège (September 2007), Princeton University (June 2008), Tufts University (May 2014), Yale University (May 2016), and University of Nova Gorica (2021). In 2018, Waseda University in Tokyo agreed to house
6885-409: Was generally well-received. Globally, Complete Review saying on the consensus "All find points to praise, but there is no consensus on the book as a whole. Some believe it is a successful, well-rounded piece, others that it has too many loose end[s]". Kirkus Reviews wrote that the novel was "a major work bringing signature themes of alienation, dislocation, and nameless fears through the saga of
6970-754: Was named Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters of Spain . In 2011, Murakami donated his €80,000 winnings from the International Catalunya Prize (from the Generalitat de Catalunya ) to the victims of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, and to those affected by the Fukushima nuclear disaster . Accepting the award, he said in his speech that the situation at the Fukushima plant was "the second major nuclear disaster that
7055-609: Was named one of the Time 100 most influential people. In November 2016, he was awarded the Danish Hans Christian Andersen Literature Award , an award previously won by British author J. K. Rowling . In 2018, he was nominated for the New Academy Prize in Literature . He requested that his nomination be withdrawn, saying he wanted to "concentrate on writing, away from media attention." In 2023, he
7140-481: Was released in May 2007. It was chosen by The New York Times as a "notable book of the year". In late 2005, Murakami published a collection of short stories titled Tōkyō Kitanshū , or 東京奇譚集, which translates loosely as "Mysteries of Tokyo". A collection of the English versions of twenty-four short stories, titled Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman , was published in August 2006. This collection includes both older works from
7225-493: Was released in three parts, which make up the three "books" of the single volume English language version. In English translation, two chapters were originally published in The New Yorker under the titles "The Zoo Attack" on July 31, 1995, and "Another Way to Die" on January 20, 1997. A slightly different version of the first chapter translated by Alfred Birnbaum was published in the collection The Elephant Vanishes under
#150849