Top writer says it’s all in the rhythm
Best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami, hosting a radio show featuring some of the favourite songs he runs to, says writing novels is about rhythm, as in music and running.
Murakami Radio, a pre-recorded show, featured as its themes two crucial elements of his life as a novelist: running and music.
During the 55-minute show, Murakami played nine numbers he enjoyed running to — rock and jazz — selected from thousands of titles stored on several iPods, while sharing stories behind the songs and talking about running and writing.
A perennial contender for the Nobel literature prize, Murakami said he initially had no intention of becoming a writer. After finishing university, he was running a jazz bar in Tokyo and music was his thing, and that was where his style came from, he said.
“Rather than learning storytelling technique from someone, I’ve taken a musical approach, while being very conscious about rhythms, harmony and improvisation,” Murakami, 69, said on the radio.
“It’s like writing as I dance, even though I don’t actually dance. For me, writing tends to be a very physical process, and that’s my style.”
A native of Kyoto, Murakami has precise memories of when he decided to become a writer: about 1.30pm on April 1, 1978, while attending a baseball game at Tokyo’s Jingu Stadium — home to his favourite Japanese team, the Yakult Swallows.
His first novel, Hear the Wind Sing, came out in 1979. His 1987 romantic novel Norwegian Wood was his first best-seller, establishing him as a young literary star. Recent bestsellers include 1Q84, Colourless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage and his latest novel, Killing Commandatore.
Music serves as important motifs in his stories, and he has also written books on the topic. Haruki Murakami at a Tokyo radio station, where he revealed some of his favourite songs for jogging.
Murakami started running soon after becoming a novelist, initially to lose weight. He has since run more than 30 marathons.
He runs to keep up his physical strength. “When you write, your physical ability is extremely important,” he said. “You sit all day and keep writing, so it takes a lot of energy, even though many people don’t seem to believe me.”
Rock music is his usual choice for running to keep a steady pace. He
recommends “songs that you can sing along to, ideally those that give you courage”.
Protagonists in his stories are often troubled young men, but Murakami was upbeat and humorous during Sunday’s radio show, as in his short stories and essays, including his 2001 essay collection, Murakami Radio.
Publicity shy, he joked that sometimes he wished he had a pen name. “Once I had a skin problem and went to a dermatology and venereology
clinic, then a receptionist called out ‘Murakami-san’. It was so embarrassing.”
Murakami opened the show with Donald Fagen’s Madison Times . He then played Heigh-Ho/Whistle While You Work/Yo Ho (A Pirate’s Life for Me) by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.
Murakami took a few questions he selected from 2000-plus submitted in advance. Asked what music he would want at his funeral, he said none: “I would rather go quietly.”