Interview: Haruki Murakami

The Wind-up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami is one of my favorite authors. A friend of mine (Nehemiah Blake) sent me this interview the other day and I thought I would mention it here. My favorite book of his is without doubt The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle. I love the tapestry and feeling of disconnection between the protagonist and the world. I love the isolation in the well and the interesting and curious characters with strange hats and the names of Greek Islands. I love the way the story is not a one dimension, linear tale but rather an intricate tapestry of different lives and personalities that have as a foundation the quest and love a man has for his lost wife. I love the simplicity with which Murkami writes and the complexity of the tale he weaves. The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle is without doubt my favorite Murakami. My second favorite is Norwegian Wood. The interview was done shortly before the release of Kafka on the Shore. I am linking to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle above to keep the posts consistent, but the interview is about Murakami's writing in general and is long. I am looking forward to the English translation of 1Q84, his latest novel [review here].

As per the interview (see interview here) Murakami gives some interesting insights on The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

INTERVIEWER

You’ve said elsewhere, referring to The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, that you were interested in your father, in what happened to him, and to his entire generation; but there are no father figures in the novel, or indeed almost anywhere in your fiction. Where in the book itself is this interest apparent?

MURAKAMI

Almost all my novels have been written in the first person. The main task of my protagonist is to observe the things happening around him. He sees what he must see, or he is supposed to see, in actual time. If I may say so, he resembles Nick Carraway in The Great Gatsby. He is neutral, and in order to maintain his neutrality, he must be free from any kinship, any connection to a vertical family system.

This might be considered my reply to the fact that “family” has played an overly significant role in traditional Japanese literature. I wanted to depict my main character as an independent, absolute individual. His status as an urban dweller has something to do with it too. He is a type of man who chooses freedom and solitude over intimacy and personal bonds.

INTERVIEWER

Few novelists have written and rewritten their obsessions so compulsively, I think, as you have. Hard-Boiled Wonderland, Dance Dance Dance, The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, and Sputnik Sweetheart almost demand to be read as variations on a theme: a man has been abandoned by, or has otherwise lost, the object of his desire, and is drawn by his inability to forget her into a parallel world that seems to offer the possibility of regaining what he has lost, a possibility that life as he (and the reader) knows it can never offer. Would you agree with this characterization?

MURAKAMI

Yes.

INTERVIEWER

How central is this obsession to your fiction?

MURAKAMI

I don’t know why I keep writing those things. I find that in John Irving’s work, every book of his, there’s some person with a body part that’s missing. I don’t know why he keeps writing about those missing parts; probably he doesn’t know himself. For me it’s the same thing. My protagonist is always missing something, and he’s searching for that missing thing. It’s like the Holy Grail, or Philip Marlowe.

Read the full interview at the Paris Review Haruki Murakami, The Art of Fiction No. 182.

Movie: Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Norwegian Wood is without doubt one of my favorite novels of all time which I read on average once a year. Its a simple enough coming of age story with incredible complexities and amazing insights into relationships, human nature, frail insecurities and a Japan in transition. So much has been written about Murakami's masterpiece and I doubt there is anything I can add to the dialogue and therefore won't even try. However, I heard rumour of the movie coming out last year and it seems to have a December release date in Japan. I have always thought putting Murakami onto film effectively would be a challenge too far. Can you imagine trying to write the screenplay for The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle or Kafka on the Shore? Murakami is an amazingly gifted and imaginative novelist and one that I have admired ever since I read Dance Dance Dance. Since the movie has been announced I have waited for it with great anticipation (although not with as much anticipation as the The Lord of the Rings trilogy), but still, I am very keen to see if the director gives the novel justice. The challenge of the movie is not only Murakami's story and intent, but the director was Vietnamese who doesn't speak Japanese I believe directing Japanese actors acting in Japanese. The film debuted earlier this year at the Venice Film Festival and has had a good reception by the critics so I am hopeful. Hopefully the Taiwan release will have English subtitles or I will be doomed to waiting for the DVD release a few months down the line. Anyway, a trailer to the movie can be seen below (with English Subtitles). You can see more about the movie at the official Norwegian Wood Movie homepage.

Buy from Amazon @ Norwegian Wood

Current Reading: The Making of Modern Japan by Marius Jansen

The Making of Modern Japan by Marius Jansen

I am currently reading this incredible book by the late Professor Jansen. I am about 1/3 of the way through. It is an incredible book and worth the blood, sweat, tears and time to get through it. I did a quick google search for the book and found a very good "capsule" review of the book on the Foreign Affairs website. The reviewer, Lucian W. Pye writes:

This magisterial work [The Making of Modern Japan] has all the details one would want in a reference work, but the mature reflections of a lifelong Japan scholar at Princeton make it a pleasure to read. Last year, the Japanese recognized Jansen's learning by decreeing him a "National Treasure: A Person of Cultural Merit." (Jansen, who died just as the book was published, is the only foreigner ever to have been so honored.) Nearly half of the book is devoted to the Tokugawa period, when Japan became an integrated feudal state and put in place many of the fundamentals essential for modern nation-building. Jansen answers the question of whether the Meiji Restoration destined Japan to authoritarianism by detailing the interwar period, when Japan went far in the liberal, democratic direction. At every turn, Jansen looks behind the political stage to examine cultural and social developments. He avoids abstract theorizing by recounting the experiences of specific Japanese individuals, giving the story a strong human dimension. This authoritative work goes up to the present and ends with Japan's current economic problems. [See review here.]

To get a small taste of Jansen's writing ability and insights, you can also read this 1990 paper called [pdf link] "The Opening of Japan." I agree with Jansen when he writes:

Within half a century of its forced opening by the West it [Japan] had begun the building of an industrial system, installed the institutions of a modern state, and scored impressive victories over China and Tsarist Russia. Freed of the restictions of the unequal treaties, allied with Great Britain, master of Taiwan and soon of Korea, Japan was poised to alter permanently the balance of political power, and soon the balance of economic power, in East Asia and the Pacific world. On that dimension the opening of Japan was indeed a change with permanent significance for world history.[PDF download of "The Opening of Japan]

As I said, I am only a third of the way through the book but highly recommend it for anyone who is serious about studying Japan. You can buy it from Amazon @ The Making of Modern Japan

Speech: Richard Koo - Japan's Recession & Lessons for Today

The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics: Lessons from Japans Great Recession by Richard Koo

Richard Koo's "Holy Grail" is definitely on my wish list and I will definitely get to it before the end of this year (2010). He has a fascinating proposal that the 15 year recession in Japan was in effect was a "balance sheet recession" whereby asset prices and property prices dropped dramatically giving companies more liabilities than assets on their balance sheet. However, he argues the cash flow of these companies were still good so even though they were effectively bankrupt, they were still able to pay down their debts and it took them 10 years to pay off their debts. He argues (at least in the speech below) that this was the responsible thing to do. The speech below I believe covers a lot of the issues in the book very briefly. He comes accross as very sensible and rational economist and someone worth listening too for, at the very least, very engaging perspectives on Japan and also for the lesson we can learn for today.

I have embedded two speeches. The first is 10 minutes long and covers the essential ideas. The second one is a little more detailes in putting these issues in a global context.

You can buy from Amazon @ The Holy Grail of Macroeconomics, Revised Edition: Lessons from Japans Great Recession

Sino-Japanese War - Paine

The Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy by S.C.M. Paine - 5/5

Paine's history of the Sino-Japanese war is a well argued, clearly written account of what she terms "a seminal event in world history." Paine is able to put this event into the context of its time and shows the clear impact this conflict had on subsequent events and perceptions in the world. Her detailed descriptions of the events are largely derived from daily newspapers that were reporting on events as they unfolded. The book is heavily footnoted showing Paine's commendable effort in developing an objective and accurate narrative.

The book is separated into three clear sections. The first section covers the pre-war period and looks at events China, Korea, Japan and Russia that led to the conflict. Paine draws a distinction between the former two and the latter two arguing that while Japan and Russia were modernizers, China and Korea were corrupt, ineffectively run states that were generally antagonistic towards foreign influence and modernization in general. Paine shows clearly that Manchu's at the time feared the rise in strength of any Han dominated military force as they feared the Han Chinese would want to overthrow them and therefore never developed a strong national defensive structure. This, along with the general level of corruption and disorganization contributed to Chinese weakness in the face of a modern Japanese military. Paine also spends time describing the politics and the intrigues of in Korea and the difficulties the Japanese had in encouraging Korea to modernize against the wishes of China, their "protector".

Paine also explores the modernization in Japan (Meiji Restoration) at the time and also looks at Russia and the collective expansionist goals both countries had. Paine argues that the Sino-Japanese war was instigated by the Japanese to prevent growing Russian influence in East Asia. The announcement of the development of the trans-Siberian railway line was in fact the catalyst for the war. Paine shows without doubt the Japanese were the aggressors and argues successfully that they were increasingly interested in empire building too.

The second section goes into some detail on the four major battles (and some minor ones) of the Sino-Japanese war: The Battle for Pyonyang, the Battle of Yalu River, the Battle of Port Arthur and the Battle of Weihaiwei. Paine looks at the reasons for the rapid Japanese success and argues the best strategy for the Chinese to have employed was to attack the Japanese troop carriers at seas. Manchu military orders also prevented the Chinese from destroying military supplies and thereby, when they retreated, left supplies for the Japanese to consume. Paine argues the Japanese logistic lines were severely stretched and if the Chinese had not been so generous the Japanese would have had more difficulties in resupplying their front line forces. Throughout the progress of the battles Paine is careful to follow the diplomatic discourse in each country and also notes the rising strength of the Japanese military over their diplomatic corp. Paine is also quick to show how Japan wanted to show their best to the foreign powers and were quick to assimilate criticisms of their behavior.

The final section focuses on the consequences of the war (both long term and short term). Of course the Treaty of Shimoneski and the triple intervention by France, Russia and Germany gets significant coverage, but Paine also makes a concerted effort to show the effect the war had on events in the 20th century. Paine's main contention is that the war altered the balance of power in the east and the perception of both foreigners, China and Japan. For example Paine argues that Japan did not win her wars against Japan and Russia, rather, Paine argues, Japan and Russia lost their respective wars. Paine argues this created the wrong perceptions in Japan and gave them self-belief to attack America in 1941. Paine also notes that this war was the beginning of Korea's "20th century nightmare" and marks the rise of Japan as the first successful developing nation.

Paine makes a concerted (and much appreciated) effort to understanding the cultural underpinnings of the main protagonists. She dedicates a whole chapter at the end to the underlying culture of both the Chinese and the Japanese and contrasts this with Western culture to try to help readers understand why foreigners at the time simply did not grasp the cultural undercurrents that were being played out. Not only that, she explores the distinctions between Japanese and Chinese culture, which although have some similarities, are worlds apart in other ways. Throughout the book Paine constantly refers to the shadow games of keeping and losing "face" and takes the time to explain why the foreigners did not fully perceive what was going on.

There is much too commend this book. The detail and depth of Paine's understanding is commendable as is her compassion for some of the main protagonists such as China's military leader in the war Li Hong Zhang (who is heavily criticized despite being the only one in China to understand the need of the Chinese to modernize). Paine's book is a good starting point for any study of 20th century East Asian history. The Sino-Japanese war led to the rise of Japan, the fall of Manchu dynasty, conflict between Russia and Japan, the eventual second Sino-Japanese war and the split of Korea and the Taiwan question. The massacre of Port Arthur was also a tragic harbinger of what was to come four decades later in Nanking. As someone who has lived in Taiwan and East Asia for more than a decade, I really enjoyed and appreciated this book as it sheds light on many of today's pressing questions.