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    • In new book, Murakami explores walled city and shadows

    Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami poses for media members during a news conference on the university's new international house of literature as known as The Haruki Murakami Library at the Waseda University in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2021. Murakami wrote a story of a walled city when he was fresh off his debut. More than four decades later, as a seasoned and acclaimed novelist, he gave it a new life as 鈥淭he City and Its Uncertain Walls.鈥 (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo, File) Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami poses for media members during a news conference on the university's new international house of literature as known as The Haruki Murakami Library at the Waseda University in Tokyo on Sept. 22, 2021. Murakami wrote a story of a walled city when he was fresh off his debut. More than four decades later, as a seasoned and acclaimed novelist, he gave it a new life as 鈥淭he City and Its Uncertain Walls.鈥 (Eugene Hoshiko/AP Photo, File)
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    TOKYO, Japan -

    Haruki Murakami wrote a story of a walled city when he was fresh off his debut. More than four decades later, as a seasoned and acclaimed novelist, he gave it a new life as 鈥淭he City and Its Uncertain Walls.鈥

    It was three years ago when he felt the time had come to revisit the story that he thought was imperfect but had important elements, such as the wall and the shadow, and tackle them again based on what he was feeling on his skin.

    鈥淏ecause of the coronavirus 鈥 I hardly went out and stayed home most of the time, and I tended to look at my inner self. Then I thought, perhaps it鈥檚 time to write that story,鈥 Murakami said. And he did, 鈥渁s if recovering it from the back of a drawer.鈥

    He started writing it in January 2020 and finished in December 2022, years that overlapped with multiple earthshattering events. 鈥淲hen I write a novel, I just know it鈥檚 time,鈥 he said.

    There were also Russia鈥檚 war on Ukraine, shaken globalism and the Pandora's box of social media, Murakami noted.

    鈥淚n an age when society is going through rattling changes, whether to stay holed up inside the wall or to go to the other side of the wall has become a greater proposition than ever,鈥 Murakami said in an interview ahead of the book release in Tokyo with selected journalists including The Associated Press.

    鈥淭he City and Its Uncertain Walls鈥 was released Thursday in print and in digital formats by Shinchosha Publishing Co. The availability of an English translation is not yet known. It's his first novel since the 2017 bestseller, 鈥淜illing Commendatore.鈥

    Murakami wasn't in Japan when the book was released. He has been holding seminars about female protagonists in his stories at Wellesley College, the women鈥檚 school in Massachusetts once attended by former U.S. presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and late Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

    Initially, Murakami鈥檚 intention was to rewrite the 1980 story 鈥淭he City, and Its Uncertain Walls鈥 to improve it. But the story didn鈥檛 end there, and Murakami kept writing. The version published in the 鈥淏ungakukai鈥 literary magazine was rewritten, then became the first chapter of what turned into a three-part, 672-page novel.

    In Part 2, the protagonist gets a job as head of a library in a small town in Fukushima, where he meets his mysterious predecessor and a teenage boy as the story leads up to the final section.

    Dozens of enthusiasts of Murakami novels celebrated the release of his new book outside a landmark bookstore in downtown Tokyo at a midnight countdown event Wednesday, and many who didn鈥檛 make it showed up for a special early morning sale Thursday.

    鈥淚鈥檓 so excited,鈥 said Kaori Otoh, a longtime fan of Murakami's work, as she gently held her new purchase. 鈥淚 have to fight my temptation of reading the book at work." Kotaro Watanabe, 32, said he planned to read all night at a caf茅 with his friends. He has read the two previous stories of the walled city and said: 鈥淚 really look forward to finding out how this story ends differently.鈥

    Going to the other side of the wall requires determination, belief and physical strength, Murakami says. 鈥淵ou have to squeeze out all your might, or you can鈥檛 go to the other side of the world.鈥

    His stories are 鈥渂y no means pessimistic,鈥 he says. "Despite many bizarre things and a dark side, my stories are fundamentally positive,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 think stories must be positive.鈥

    In some of his earlier stories, protagonists travel between two worlds, through a wall, a well or a cave.

    鈥淚 think that sliding through a wall, a process that involves going to the other side of the world and coming back from there, is an extremely important step,鈥 Murakami said.

    There are many kinds of walls 鈥 between conscious and unconscious, real and unreal, and the physical walls that separate societies, like what used to stand in Berlin and the barriers between Israel and the Palestinian territories, he said.

    He kept thinking about the meaning of the wall in this story while writing it, Murakami said. Walls can carry different meanings and purpose, depending on who are inside, he said.

    Equally important to Murakami and his stories is the shadow. He says the shadow is a form of his subconscious, or an alter ego, which resembles his negative side and helps him to know himself.

    鈥淲riting a novel, for me, is to dig down to that depth,鈥 he said. The distinction between the main body and the shadow becomes blurry in the book, which broadened its scope of the story. He said it was a difficult process and he had to rewrite many times.

    鈥淚鈥檓 now in my mid-70s, and I don鈥檛 know how many more novels I can write. So I strongly felt that I must write this story with affection, and spend ample time to do so," he said.

    Murakami, who debuted with a 1979 story 鈥淗ear the Wind Sing,鈥 says the original version of his new novel contained the key elements of the wall and the shadow but it also had potential that was too complex for a second-year novelist to handle.

    It then evolved as part of 鈥淗ard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World,鈥 a 1985 bestseller of two intertwined stories of pop and action-filled science fiction and an imaginary world of a secluded walled city of the dead.

    Looking back, Murakami said even that attempt was premature. He shelved a rewriting attempt for another 35 years, though the story stayed on his mind, 鈥渓ike a tiny fishbone stuck in the throat,鈥 he said.

    Murakami said he started feeling confident about his storytelling ability in midcareer, around 2000, just before he wrote 鈥淜afka on the Shore,鈥 the bestselling novel released in 2002. 鈥淔rom there I have come thus far, I thought perhaps now I can finally rewrite the incomplete work of 鈥橳he City and Its Uncertain Walls.鈥欌

    Twice as old now at age 74, Murakami says he is more intrigued by the tranquility as in the 鈥淓nd of the World鈥 part of the 1985 novel than the pop and action depicted in the 鈥淗ard-Boiled Wonderland" side of that novel.

    鈥淵ou can鈥檛 help it, and I think it鈥檚 only natural,鈥 he says, but he never tires of balancing writing novels, translating his favorite Western literature and in recent years hosting his own radio show. 鈥淚 really enjoy writing. It鈥檚 fun to write, and rewriting is more fun.鈥

    The driving force for his multiformat operation, he says, is running. It's his daily morning routine and he has run 40 marathons. 鈥淭ranslation, running, and collecting used records,鈥 he said, citing his hobbies. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 have time for a night life, which might have been a good thing.鈥

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