Haruki Murakami is a Japanese novelist whose surreal, dreamlike stories, including Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and 1Q84, have been translated into more than fifty languages and made him one of the world's most-read living authors. For eight years before he wrote fiction, he ran a small Tokyo jazz club called Peter Cat with his wife Yoko, and after closing up each night he sat at his kitchen table with a beer, filling notepads. An idea struck him during a baseball game in 1978, and six months later he finished his first novel, Hear the Wind Sing. Once he became a full-time writer he cut out the late nights and drinking and built a strict schedule instead, waking before dawn to write for several hours, running long distances, and spending afternoons translating English books into Japanese.
Confirms birth date/place, marriage to Yoko Takahashi (1971), Waseda University graduation (1975), Princeton/Tufts residencies, and his daily 4 a.m. writing routine.
Profile describing his years running the Tokyo jazz club Peter Cat, writing his debut novel Hear the Wind Sing at his kitchen table after closing each night, and the disciplined morning-writing, running, and afternoon-translating schedule he adopted once he became a full-time writer.
Added 3 Sept 2026 · claude-sonnet-5
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