Haruki Murakami pleads for keeping Tokyo park and baseball stadium that inspired his writing
Author Haruki Murakami says he's strongly opposed to the redevelopment of a Tokyo park district that would remove his favorite jogging path and tear down the baseball stadium where he was inspired to become a novelist.
Murakami plays antiwar songs on radio to protest Ukraine war
Playing James Taylor’s “Never Die Young” and going back to songs that marked the antiwar movement in the 1960s, Japanese author Haruki Murakami added his voice to protests against the war in Ukraine with a special edition of his Tokyo radio show.
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Author Murakami hosts live jam for relaxation amid pandemic
Murakami has a remedy for those who need relaxation from stress and worries in time of a pandemic - Brazilian Bossa nova music. (TOKYO FM via AP)TOKYO – Japanese author Haruki Murakami has a remedy for those who need relaxation from stress and worries in a pandemic — bossa nova. “As we are going through a time of anxiety, I hope to help you relax even just a little bit,” Murakami said as he hosted a live music event, “Murakami Jam — Blame it on the Bossa Nova,” bringing together renowned Japanese performers of bossa nova, jazz and classical music. Despite the pandemic, Murakami — known for bestsellers including “A Wild Sheep Chase," “The Wind-up Bird Chronicle" and “1Q84” — said he still maintains a daily routine including running and writing, but the frequent world traveler has stayed in Japan. Murakami, who on his radio show has expressed concern about prejudice and discrimination against coronavirus patients, said he finds that the rhythm of bossa nova has a healing effect.
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Murakami urges politicians to speak sincerely about virus
FILE - In this Nov. 3, 2018, file photo, Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami signs his autograph on his novel "Killing Commendatore" during a press conference in Tokyo. Murakami said politicians need to reduce public uncertainty and fear over the coronavirus by speaking sincerely about the pandemic. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko, File)TOKYO – Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami says politicians need to help reduce public uncertainty and fear over the coronavirus and gain people's support by speaking sincerely about the pandemic. Murakami has hosted “Murakami Radio” shows almost every two months since August 2018 on Tokyo FM. Murakami began writing while running a jazz bar in Tokyo after graduating from university.
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American poet Louise Glück wins Nobel Prize in Literature
American poet Louise Gluck speaks with the media, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2020, outside her home in Cambridge, Mass. Gluck, a professor of English at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., won the 2020 Nobel Prize for literature "for her unmistakable poetic voice that with austere beauty makes individual existence universal." (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)STOCKHOLM – Louise Glück, an American poet long revered for the power, inventiveness and concision of her work and for her generosity to younger writers, has won the Nobel Prize in Literature. “As one of our most celebrated American poets, we are thrilled that Louise Glück has received this year’s Nobel Prize in Literature," Michael Jacobs, chairman of the Academy of American Poets, said in a statement. In 2018, the award was postponed after sex abuse allegations rocked the Swedish Academy, which names the Nobel literature committee, and sparked a mass exodus of members.
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Author Murakami DJs 'Stay Home' radio show to lift spirits
Murakami said comparing the fight against the coronavirus to a war, as politicians often do, is inappropriate. Its not a war to kill each other but a fight of wisdom to let us all live, he said. Murakami has hosted his Murakami Radio every two months since August 2018 on Tokyo FM. Murakami began writing while running a jazz bar in Tokyo after graduating from university. Murakami said he worries the post-corona world may be a more closed and selfish place even if it has better protection.