HARUKI’S HOTSPOTS
FELIX CHAN DIVES INTO THE WORLD OF HARUKI MURAKAMI – THE JAPANESE AUTHOR WHO HAS CAPTURED AN INTERNATIONAL AUDIENCE WITH HIS COMING-OF-AGE AND SURREALIST TALES
LITERATURE transports us – to different countries, continents or entire new universes. But sometimes, we’re able to transport ourselves to literary worlds – discovering the actual places where our favourite stories have unfolded. Haruki Murakami’s novels are full of real-life Tokyo. From Shinjuku’s hole-in-the-wall bars to surfer spots in Tsujido, we explore his world one setting at a time.
1
DUG JAZZ CAFÉ & BAR, SHINJUKU CITY, TOKYO ‘We caught a bus to Shinjuku and went to an underground bar called Dug… We each started with two vodka and tonics. “I come here once in a while”, she said. “They don’t make you feel embarrassed to be drinking in the afternoon.”’
Murakami frequented this subterranean bar as a young writer, and it’s where protagonist Watanabe and his love-starved friend Midori Kobayashi hang out in Norwegian Wood. Dug has hung its little neon sign in various locations across town since 1967: despite all the glitz and glam upstairs around the packed east gate of Shinjuku Station, it’s a quiet sanctum that’s steeped in a nostalgic American vibe.
facebook.com/jazzdug 2
INOKASHIRA ONSHI PARK, KICHIJŌJI, TOKYO
‘We were sitting as usual side by side at Inogashira Park, on her favourite bench. The pond spread out before us. A windless day. Leaves lay where they had fallen, pasted on the surface of the
water. I could smell a bonfire
somewhere far away. The air
was filled with the scent of the end of autumn, and far-off
sounds were painfully clear.’
Almost everyone visiting Kichijōji in Tokyo makes a pilgrimage to the Studio Ghibli Museum to delve into the animated world of Hayao Miyazaki; but little do they know that Inokashira Onshi Park beside it is the place to calm the wanderer’s soul. Look at Sumire in Sputnik Sweetheart: she feels ready for another taste of the topsy-turvy world after a tranquil respite in the park.
3
SANGENJAYA, TOKYO
‘The flow of traffic had been smooth at first, but
suddenly backed up just before Sangenjaya, after which they had hardly moved. The outbound lanes were
moving fine. Only the side
headed toward downtown Tokyo was tragically jammed.’
In 1Q84, protagonist Aomame is stuck in a