Haruki Murakami

Mr. Haruki Murakami, a very famous Japanese writer’s new novel, “Shikisai o Motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to, Kare no Junrei no Toshi” (The colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and his year of pilgrimage) was released at 12 am on the 12th. The fans have gathered immediately to the late-night bookstores. This is Murakami’s first major work since “1Q84 BOOK3” which was released three years ago. There was a rush of advanced orders and Bungeishunju publisher has decided to issue a total of 500,000 copies!

Haruki Murakami was born in 1949 and he is a Japanese writer and translator. He is one of the most successful Japanese writers in te world and has received numerous reputable awards.  It is said that Murakami was strongly influenced by Western culture.

In my English class in college, I read the three books making up “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle: The Thieving Magpie” To be honest I had a hard time understanding the book, which contains realistic elements of life. The English translation of this novel was published. Actually we were assigned to read a English version of Murakami’s novel (of course, it was an English class!) but I ended up getting a Japanese version of all three of his books.