Library devoted to Japan novelist Murakami to open in Tokyo

TOKYO — A room devoted to Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami’s writings, scrapbooks and grounds postulation opens adjacent week successful Tokyo arsenic a spot for literate research, taste speech and a gathering spot for his fans.

The Haruki Murakami library, which opens Oct. 1 astatine Waseda University, his alma mater, features a replica of his survey with a elemental desk, rows of bookshelves and a grounds player, arsenic good arsenic a café tally by students that serves his favourite acheronian roast coffee.

“I anticipation this volition beryllium a spot wherever students tin freely speech and materialize ideas — a free, unsocial and caller spot connected the assemblage campus.,” Murakami, 72, said Wednesday astatine quality league announcing the library’s opening.

Visitors participate done a tunnel-like passageway successful the five-story gathering designed and renovated by designer Kengo Kuma, 1 of Murakami’s galore fans and the decorator of the Tokyo Olympics stadium. Kuma said tunnels are his representation of Murakami’s stories, successful which protagonists often question betwixt the existent and the surreal.

The library, officially called the Waseda International House of Literature, presently houses astir 3,000 of Murakami’s books, manuscripts and different materials, including translations of his enactment successful dozens of languages, and portion of his monolithic postulation of records. At a lounge adjacent to the library, determination is an audio country wherever records are connected display, immoderate stamped “Petercat,” the sanction of the jazz barroom helium ran aft graduating from Waseda.

They see records by Billie Holiday, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

“I privation a spot similar this had been built aft my death, truthful I tin remainder successful bid and person idiosyncratic instrumentality attraction of it,” Murakami joked. “I consciousness a spot tense seeing it portion I’m inactive alive.”

Murakami said helium volition lend arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable to the library. It presently focuses connected his works, but helium said helium hopes it volition beryllium expanded to see those of different novelists “so it becomes a wide-ranging and fluid probe space.”

After his 1979 debut novel, “Hear the Wind Sing,” the 1987 romance “Norwegian Wood” became his archetypal bestseller, establishing him arsenic a young literate star. He is besides known for bestsellers specified arsenic “A Wild Sheep Chase,” “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle,” and “1Q84,” and is simply a perennial campaigner for the Nobel Literature Prize.

Murakami is an avid listener and collector of euphony ranging from classical to jazz and rock, and it serves arsenic an important motif successful galore of his stories. He besides has written books connected music.

Beginning successful 2018, Murakami has hosted a “Murakami Radio” amusement connected Tokyo FM connected which helium plays his favourite euphony and sometimes takes requests and questions from listeners.

The archive task emerged successful 2018 erstwhile Murakami offered to donate his postulation of materials, which had grown truthful overmuch implicit the past 40 years that helium was moving retired of retention abstraction astatine his location and office.

Tadashi Yanai, the laminitis of the genitor institution of Uniqlo and a Waseda alumnus, donated 1.2 cardinal yen ($11 million) for the outgo of the library.