Author: Haruki Murakami

War

My father belongs to the generation that fought the war in the 1940s. When I was a kid my father told me stories – not so many but it meant a lot to me. I wanted to know what happened then to my father's generation. It's a kind of inheritance the memory of it.

Haruki Murakami

My father belongs to the generation that fought the war in the 1940s. When I was a kid my father told me stories – not so many but it meant a lot to me. I wanted to know what happened then to my father's generation. It's a kind of inheritance the memory of it.

Teacher

I didn't read so much Japanese literature. Because my father was a teacher of Japanese literature I just wanted to do something else.

Haruki Murakami

I didn't read so much Japanese literature. Because my father was a teacher of Japanese literature I just wanted to do something else.

Sports

Team sports aren't my thing. I find it easier to pick something up if I can do it at my own speed. And you don't need a partner to go running you don't need a particular place like in tennis just a pair of trainers.

Haruki Murakami

Team sports aren't my thing. I find it easier to pick something up if I can do it at my own speed. And you don't need a partner to go running you don't need a particular place like in tennis just a pair of trainers.

Society

Since I have come to America I am often asked whether my next novel will be set in America. I don't think it will. I think I will be living in America for some time to come but while living in America I would like to write about Japanese society from the outside.

Haruki Murakami

Since I have come to America I am often asked whether my next novel will be set in America. I don't think it will. I think I will be living in America for some time to come but while living in America I would like to write about Japanese society from the outside.

Respect

I didn't want to be a writer but I became one. And now I have many readers in many countries. I think that's a miracle. So I think I have to be humble regarding this ability. I'm proud of it and I enjoy it and it is strange to say it this way but I respect it.

Haruki Murakami

I didn't want to be a writer but I became one. And now I have many readers in many countries. I think that's a miracle. So I think I have to be humble regarding this ability. I'm proud of it and I enjoy it and it is strange to say it this way but I respect it.

Politics

I don't want to express my opinion about actual politics because if I do I have to be responsible for my decision.

Haruki Murakami

I don't want to express my opinion about actual politics because if I do I have to be responsible for my decision.

Movies

Some people think literature is high culture and that it should only have a small readership. I don't think so… I have to compete with popular culture including TV magazines movies and video games.

Haruki Murakami

Some people think literature is high culture and that it should only have a small readership. I don't think so… I have to compete with popular culture including TV magazines movies and video games.

Morning

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

Haruki Murakami

Mere humans who root through their refrigerators at three o'clock in the morning can only produce writing that matches what they do. And that includes me.

Morning

I get up early in the morning 4 o'clock and I sit at my desk and what I do is just dream. After three or four hours that's enough. In the afternoon I run.

Haruki Murakami

I get up early in the morning 4 o'clock and I sit at my desk and what I do is just dream. After three or four hours that's enough. In the afternoon I run.

Imagination

I know how fiction matters to me because if I want to express myself I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me it's not imagination. It's just a way of watching.

Haruki Murakami

I know how fiction matters to me because if I want to express myself I have to make up a story. Some people call it imagination. To me it's not imagination. It's just a way of watching.