Haruki Murakami

is a popular contemporary Japan writer and translator. His work has been described by the Virginia Quarterly Review as "easily accessible, yet profoundly complex." Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949 but spent most of his youth in Kobe. His father was the son of a Buddhist priest. His mother was the daughter of an Osaka merchant. Both taught Japanese literature. Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers for his Western influences. Murakami studied theater arts at Waseda University in Tokyo. His first job was in a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe from Norwegian Wood, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the jazz bar "Peter Cat" in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife, Yoko. They ran the bar from...