novel story - Popular Modern Japanese Writer: Haruki Murakami

The most popular Japanese writer in the modern world is likely to Haruki Murakami. His works have been translated into 38 languages and are often very accessible to readers, while described with a depth of those who see not so easy.
Haruki Murakami was born in 1949 in Kyoto. His mother and father both taught Japanese literature and spent most of his youth in Kobe. As a child, Murakami has more influenced by Western culture in literature, that his parents taught. It has always been interested in Western music and grew up reading Dostoevsky, Balzac, and Vonnegut, instead of classical Japanese literature. Critics say, because Murakami is separated from the rest of the Japanese writer because of this Western influence in his style, which more than most free form style of Japanese authors is seen. His novels have more musical themes in them. For example, his novel "Norwegian Wood" after a song from "Rubber Soul" Beatles is named.
Murakami met his wife, Yoko, at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he studied acting. He first practiced in a record shop, where one of his characters work in one of his novels. After graduation, he opened his own jazz bar in Tokyo called Peter Cat. This bar has lasted eight years 1974 to 1982. Later in life, Murakami has also worked at Tufts University, where he taught literature.
Murakami wrote his first novel in 1979, 30 years after his birth. If you watch a baseball game on television, it suddenly was inspired to write a novel: "Hear the Wind Sing". Although it has been translated into English, it was not published outside of Japan, as Murakami think the novel is fragmented and not quality. But shortly after the letter, he sent a contest and won first prize for her. Since his first novel, Murakami had his own style and humor. Does he likes with nostalgia, which is manifested in several of his works.
"Hear the Wind Sing", were found later from the first book of the three, a trilogy by the same characters. "Pinball 1973" was because of the success of his first novel, which was written by "a Mad Dash sheep." Although "A Wild Sheep Chase has made" on U.S. coast, "Pinball 1973" suffered the same fate as "Hear the Wind Sing". Murakami has continued to write and release "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" in 1985. It was not until 1987, but it really became popular when he won the national award for "Norwegian Wood".
Murakami continue writing and all his books are very well received by critics around the world. Murakami has also some of his most popular novels of the West in Japanese including "Catcher in the Rye" translated. Recently, his short story "Tony Takitani" has been transformed in a film by Jun Ichikawa. His next novel, "After Dark", which was already launched in Japan, will be published in English in 2007.