artist

attention

being hurt

Bursting of the Bubble Economy in Japan

cell phone

chance encounter

coffee

convenience

curiosity

death

detour

dream

earthquake

ethics

evolution

exhaustion

fairness

fate

Franz Kafka

handkerchief

harmony

Haruki Murakami

hatred

imagination

irony

life

little happiness in hand

loneliness

love

magnetism

mathematics

mediocrity

memory

morning

music

myth

night

novel writing

novelist

novelty

ordinary

originality

pain

present

rain

realism

reality

recognition

responsibility

retrospect

seeing

silence

story

Sunday

theory

time

understanding

veranda

wasting time

whisky

word

world

writer

writing

nationality

Japanese

occupation / innovator as

translator

short story writer

innovator in the field of

magical realism

linguist

university teacher

essayist

science fiction writer

prosaist

athletics competitor

performing arts

Artists are those who can evade the verbose.

My Archive

is everything -- If you never noticed, it never happened.

is inevitable. Despite your best efforts, people are going to be hurt when it's time for them to be hurt.

Despite your best efforts, people are going to be hurt when it's time for them to be hurt.

is responsible for a loss of Japan’s own narrative, of confidence. self-confidence, socially and economically.

“We lost our own narrative,” Haruki Murakami, one of Japan's most prominent contemporary novelists told me one day, when I asked him to explain the meaning he drew from his nation's lost decade. When the bubble collapsed, “what we lost was confidence. Confidence in ourselves—socially and economically.”

is so convenient that it's an inconvenience.

Cell phones are so convenient that they're an inconvenience.

Chance encounters are what keep us going.

is the smell that separates night from day.

The fresh smell of coffee soon wafted through the apartment, the smell that separates night from day.

is like a fun friend you can't really trust. It turns you on and then it leaves you to make it on your own - with whatever guts you can muster

Curiosity can bring guts out of hiding at times, maybe even get them going. But curiosity usually evaporates. Gust have to go for the long haul. Curiosity's like a fun friend you can't really trust. It turns you on and then it leaves you to make it on your own - with whatever guts you can muster

is not the opposite of life. It is already here, within your being, it had always been here, and no struggle will permit your to forget that.

Death was not the opposite of life. It was already here, within my being, it had always been here, and no struggle would permit me to forget that.

is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.

Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.

Death leaves cans of shaving cream half-used.

is tied to human nature -- That's what we all do: endlessly take the long way around.

That's what we all do: endlessly take the long way around.

 always comes from the past, not from the future. Dreams shouldn't control you--you should control them.

Dreams come from the past, not from the future. Dreams shouldn't control you--you should control them.

is on our radar. Try again later or consider contributing!

is the fuel people burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel.

You know what I think'' she says. 'That people's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel. Advertising fillers in the newspaper, philosophy books, dirty pictures in a magazine, a bundle of ten-thousand-yen bills: when you feed 'em to the fire, they're all just paper. The fire isn't thinking, 'Oh, this is Kant,' or 'Oh, this is the Yomiuri evening edition,' or 'Nice tits,' while it burns. To the fire, they're nothing but scraps of paper. It's the exact same thing. Important memories, not-so-important memories, totally useless memories: there's no distinction they're all just fuel.' (Murakami 'after dark' 168-9)

is not just the absence of sound: there is a sound called silence.

He talked a lot about silence. Silence is not just the absence of sound: there is a sound called silence.

is like a beautiful woman, it demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it's time to drink.

Whiskey, like a beautiful woman, demands appreciation. You gaze first, then it's time to drink.

is, as in novel-writing, like intentionally dreaming while still awake and continuing that dream from day to day.

For me, writing a novel is like having a dream. Writing a novel lets me intentionally dream while I'm still awake. I can continue yesterday's dream today, something you can't normally do in everyday life. Haruki Murakami

is with novel-writing, like planting a forest. Writing short stories is more like planting a garden.

If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like planting a garden.Haruki Murakami

Haruki MurakamiThinkers

Haruki Murakami