Cherry blossom viewing parties, also known as hanami, are a big deal in Japan. Every year in spring, groups of people gather under trees in bloom and have a little picnic or drinking party. Despite being such a big part of Japanese culture, hanami parties play little role in Murakami’s fiction. Nevertheless, some of the best […]
As most of Murakami’s main characters are Tokyoites, it’s only natural that they go on plenty of shopping trips throughout his novels. Like with bars and restaurants, however, Murakami rarely reveals the name of the exact store they visit. Luckily, there are several exceptions. Here’s a list of six places in Tokyo you can shop from
We know that Haruki Murakami’s characters love going out to fancy French restaurants in Aoyama, hotel bars in Shinjuku and coffee shops in Ginza. Throughout the author’s work, however, surprisingly few specific restaurants or bars are actually named. Fortunately, most of the establishments which have been named in the books are still around in modern-day
EIGHT TOKYO BARS AND RESTAURANTS FROM MURAKAMI’S NOVELS Read More »
SPOILER ALERT: This post contains significant spoilers for A Wild Sheep Chase and Norwegian Wood and minor spoilers for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle and Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. In Murakamis’s fiction, the first time we’re introduced to Asahikawa, Hokkaido’s second largest city, is in his third novel A Wild Sheep Chase. During the narrator’s transfer there on
