Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami has started offering opinions and advice on queries from fans in an online agony uncle column, kicking things off by revealing his fears over hate speech and his own failing eyesight.
The publicity-shy writer on Thursday started the project at Murakami-san no tokoro, or “Mr Murakami’s place,” where he hoped for easy-going, fun exchanges with readers.
The first batch of answers — mostly in short and simple sentences — appeared at www.welluneednt.com yesterday, adorned by illustrations of a man resembling Murakami alongside several animals.
Photo: AFP
In an early response to a 51-year-old doctor who had asked for “a special invitation ticket” to peek into his life, Murakami said he would prefer to keep his tiny “secrets” to himself.
“I’d be troubled if my life was peeked at. Please take a peek at other people’s lives,” he said.
A single mother asked for tips on persuading her 11-year-old son to stop playing games all the time and start reading books so he would become like the writer.
“Growing up like me? What does that mean? I don’t quite get it... But it’s pretty tough if you become me,” Murakami said.
He said whether to become an avid reader was up to the boy. In any case, he added: “I cannot read many books anymore as my eyes may have weakened recently.”
In response to a 22-year-old student who asked for his thoughts on hate speech, a topic that has caused much liberal hand-wringing in Japan of late, Murakami said: “We have to do something about this trend.”
“It’s not fair” to speak ill of people because of their race or other things they can do nothing about, he said.
A 49-year-old reader asked what he had eaten for his birthday, which fell on Monday.
Murakami, whose writing often wanders off in tangential directions, answered that he had long known he shared a birthday with US author Jack London, but discovered recently that it was also the day Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man was born.
“It’s a bit troublesome. But it is said that [Hermann] Goering had the highest score when the Allied forces arrested Nazi big shots after the War and tested their intelligence. It may be because of the birthday,” he said.
Regardless of birthday doppelgangers, the day had been celebrated with a seafood feast, he added.
The Web site is set to accept submissions until the very last minute of January in Japan — with answers posted over the following two months.
He said he would read all e-mails and write replies by himself.
“It’s not like I just sign what I made an assistant or editor write,” he said in a greeting to readers. “Unfortunately I only have one body... I can’t answer everyone.”
The Web site’s “house rules” ask that questioners pick one of the following four topics:
“1. Things that you’d especially like to ask or consult Murakami-san about;
“2. Things you’d like to chat about with Murakami-san;
“3. Places that I like or dislike;
“4. Issues related to cats,” a favorite animal of his, and the Yakult Swallows, the Japanese baseball team he supports.
Questions can be asked in any language, his publisher said.
Answers will be posted online with the question that was asked, alongside the interlocutor’s pen name, gender, age and occupation.
The scheme echoes a similar project in 2006, and offers a rare chance for Murakami’s legions of fans to communicate directly with a writer who spends much of his time hiding from the glare of the media.
Murakami is one of Japan’s best known writers and has repeatedly been tipped as a future Nobel Literature laureate.
The 66-year-old, who reportedly spends much of his time in the US, has a cult following for his intricately crafted tales of the absurdity and loneliness of modern life, and peppers his work with references to pop culture.
SEEKING CHANGE: A hospital worker said she did not vote in previous elections, but ‘now I can see that maybe my vote can change the system and the country’ Voting closed yesterday across the Solomon Islands in the south Pacific nation’s first general election since the government switched diplomatic allegiance from Taiwan to Beijing and struck a secret security pact that has raised fears of the Chinese navy gaining a foothold in the region. The Solomon Islands’ closer relationship with China and a troubled domestic economy weighed on voters’ minds as they cast their ballots. As many as 420,000 registered voters had their say across 50 national seats. For the first time, the national vote also coincided with elections for eight of the 10 local governments. Esther Maeluma cast her vote in the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was