Exploring the Enigmatic: A Journey through Murakami’s Japan

We recently came across (and purchased) a manga illustrated book of four short stories by one of our favorite authors, Haruki Murakami.

For those who may not be familiar, Murakami is a renowned Japanese author whose unique and captivating style of writing has earned him international acclaim. Born in 1949 in Kyoto, Japan his literary journey began after he opened a jazz bar in Tokyo and decided to become a writer.

Murakami’s writing is characterized by its surreal and dreamlike quality, blending elements of magical realism, existentialism, and the ordinary with the extraordinary. His novels often feature somewhat detached protagonists who embark on surreal journeys, both physical and psychological, seeking solace from loneliness and alienation in their search for identity in a modern, fast-paced world.

Two of his works that we can highly recommend as a stepping off point for discovering Murakami are “A Wild Sheep Chase”, which combines elements of detective fiction with surrealism as the protagonist embarks on a quest to find a mysterious sheep with a star-shaped birthmark, and “Kafka on the Shore”, which is a mesmerizing tale of two protagonists whose lives intertwine in a world where reality and fantasy blur.

And all this talk of Murakami got us to thinking about Japan. Made up of more than 6,800 islands, Japan is a land of captivating contrasts. From the cacophony of the crowded streets of Tokyo to the tranquility of the temples of Kyoto, every corner of this archipelago tells a different story. From a culture steeped in ancient traditions to cutting-edge technological marvels, this enigmatic island nation often mirrors the surreal and dreamlike narratives from the pages of a Murakami novel.

But what lies beyond the cherry blossoms and the sushi? Indeed, much like Murakami’s captivating novels, Japan itself is a place where reality and imagination intertwine, where the past dances with the present, and where the future remains an open book. So today we’re going to take a look at some fascinating facts and uncover some of the lesser-known secrets about the Land of the Rising Sun as we take a journey through Murakami’s Japan.

Oldest Companies:

A report by the Bank of Korea that looked at 41 countries determined there were 5,586 companies older than 200 years. Of these, 3,146, or 56% are in Japan. The world’s oldest company, Kongo Gumi Co. Ltd., was a construction company that was founded in 578 A.D. It became a subsidiary of a much newer construction firm in 2006, but there are still six other Japanese companies that were founded before the year 1000 A.D. that are still in operation today!

Fortune Cookies:

Even though fortune cookies are served in almost every Chinese restaurant, they didn’t originate in China. They were based on a cookie made in Kyoto. The tsujiura senbei is visually similar to the modern fortune cookie but it contains miso and sesame, rather than vanilla and butter. The modern fortune cookie is believed to have been created by Japanese immigrants to the USA in the early 20th century.

Oldtimers:

It is estimated that more than 25% of the Japanese population is over 65 with over 12% aged 75 or above. Japan has the longest life expectancy with men living to around 81 years and women around 87 and it’s estimated that there are more than 50,000 people over 100 years old. When you take into consideration that the Japanese are an overworked nation that smokes and drinks a lot, this is even more impressive. It’s also a fact that, due to the declining birth rate, there are more adult diapers sold than baby diapers. Incidentally, the third Monday in September every year is “Respect for the Aged Day” in Japan.

Power Naps are In:

The Japanese work longer hours than any other country in the world, and sleep the least hours on a weeknight. So, fortunately, sleeping on the job is allowed. It’s called inemuri, which literally means “to be asleep while present”. Catching a quick snooze is considered as a sign of working hard and being busy, rather than slacking off. There are strict rules that are written nowhere but everyone knows them, like how you do it – remain upright while dozing to show that you are still socially engaged in some way.

Bushu-suru:

On 8 January 1992, at about 20:20 JST, while attending a banquet hosted by the Prime Minister of Japan, Kiichi Miyazawa, U.S.President George H. Bush fainted after vomiting in Miyazawa's lap. Doctors later attributed the incident to a case of acute gastroenteritis. In Japan, Bush was remembered for this event for several years. According to the Encyclopedia of Political Communication, "The incident caused a wave of late-night television jokes and ridicule in the international community, even coining the Japanese term Bushu-suru which means 'to do the Bush thing'" (or "Bushing it").

The Curse of the Colonel:

Kentucky Fried Chicken is a really big thing in Japan on Christmas day. We mean really big. People will order months in advance to be sure they get theirs and to avoid standing in long lines. But apparently, you don’t want to piss off the Colonel. In 1985, while celebrating the Hanshin Tigers baseball team’s win of the Japan Championship Series fans threw a store-front statue of the Colonel into the Dotonbori River. This evidently angered the Colonel’s ghost who, it’s said, placed a curse on the team that they wouldn’t win another championship until the statue had been recovered. At least that was the excuse used to explain the team’s subsequent 18-year losing streak. The statue was recovered in 2009. The losing streak continues.

Blood Type = Personality:

Japanese culture treats blood types much like the Western world treats Zodiac symbols - mythical indicators of one’s personality and their compatibility with others. And blood type-themed products (condoms, drinks, books) are a good business in Japan. The belief is so prevalent that the Japanese version of Facebook has a “Blood Type” drop down option for profiles.

Rascal the Raccoon:

This was a 1977 Japanese animated tv series that ran for one season the plot of which revolved around a young boy who decided to provide shelter to a racoon. The boy attempts to domesticate the wild animal as part of his family, but he realizes through trials and tribulations that his efforts are futile and releases Rascal back into the wild. This cartoon inspired the Japanese to adopt baby racoons as pets and thousands were imported from America. After realizing how nasty and violent racoons really are, families started releasing them into forests as shown in the final episode of the cartoon. Having few natural predators in Japan, the released racoons reproduced like rabbits and today, wild racoons can be found in all 47 prefectures of Japan. It’s estimated that 80% of all temples in Japan have been damaged by rampaging racoons, the import of which are now banned.

Waiter, There’s a Monkey in my Soup:

There was a restaurant that used monkeys as waiters. The Kayabukiya Tavern (which closed after the 2011 earthquake) was located in the city of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo. The restaurant’s owner owned two macaque monkeys who he employed to work. The first monkey, named Yat-chan, would be dressed in a shirt and shorts and would take customers’ drink orders and deliver them to the diners’ tables. The second, named Fuku-chan, was responsible for bringing the diners hot towels to clean their hands before ordering drinks. The customers would tip the monkeys with boiled soya beans. Due to Japanese animal rights regulations, the monkeys were only allowed to work for two hours a day.

Adoption:

98% of all adoptions in Japan are of adult men between 20-30 years old, not children. The reason behind this is that business leaders need a son to take over their business and there’s a several-hundred-year-old tradition in which businesses adopt their executives, so companies or institutions are “family-run” groups. Today, this tradition of legal adoption is often paired with an arranged marriage situation known as ‘omiai’, that is if the company boss has a daughter. What happens is the adopted son marries the daughter of the boss and takes her family’s name. He becomes both the son and son-in-law, known in Japanese as ‘mukoyoshi’. There are even matchmaking companies that recruit available adoptees for company bosses.

Rent A Family:

In Japan, when you feel lonely, you can rent a family or go to a cuddle café. For the former, you can choose from a menu of actors to hire to play a platonic role in your life. You can hire a wife, a son, a mother or a grandfather, for example, and then do everyday activities together, like going shopping or eating dinner. For when you’re longing for affection though, it’s as easy as going to a cuddle café, called ‘soineya’, and hiring a woman in pajamas to snuggle with you for an hour.

Watermelons Squared:

How to fit that huge watermelon in the fridge? And then there’s always the problem of trying to cut the fruit when it kept rolling around. Ever the innovators, the Japanese have come up with compact, non-rolling cube-shaped watermelons. To make it happen, farmers grow melons in glass boxes and the fruit then naturally assumes the same shape. They are shipped all over Japan but, costing up to USD $100 and more, they appeal mainly to the wealthy or fashion-conscious.

Kanamara Matsuri:

This is a Shinto festival which literally translates to the “Festival of the Steel Phallus”. Celebrated the first Sunday in April in the city of Kawasaki, the phallus is the star of the day, and everything is phallic-shaped in its honor. This includes candy, carved vegetables, and various decorations. The origin of the festival comes from an old Shinto fable. Legend has it that a sharp toothed demon, driven by envy, once hid in the private parts of a beautiful young woman and bit off her suitor’s penis. Desperate, the young woman sought assistance from a blacksmith who created an iron phallus, which broke the demon’s teeth and caused it to flee. Apparently, the suitor somehow managed to grow his penis back and everyone lived happily ever after.

The Stationmaster Cat:

Name: Tama.

Born: April 29,1999. Died: June 22, 2015.

Residence: Kishi Railway Station, Kinokawa, Japan.

Occupation: Stationmaster & Operating Officer.

Species: Cat.

In 2006, the Wakayama Electric Railway was going to close the Kishi Station to save money. However, the president of the railway saw Tama, who had been living inside the station, as a maneki-neko, or ‘beckoning cat’, a common Japanese figurine which is believed to bring good luck and wealth. On January 5, 2007, railway officials officially awarded Tama the title of Station Master. Her primary duty was to greet passengers. In lieu of a salary, the railway provided Tama with a year’s worth of cat food and a gold name tag stating her name and position. In July of 2008 Tama was presented with two specially designed station master’s hat, one for cold weather and one for summer.

After the publicity around Tama’s appointment, passenger traffic to the Kishi station increased by 17% and a study estimated that Tama contributed 1.1 billion yen (close to USD $650,000) to the local economy. Often cited as a phenomenon known in Japan as “Nekonomics” (“cat economy”), this refers to the positive economic impact of having a cat mascot. On December 5, 2007, Tama was recognized with the railways “Top Station Runner Award”. Her year-end bonus included a special cat toy and a celebratory slice of crab, which was fed to Tama by the company president.

On January 5, 2008, Tama was promoted to “Super Station Master” in a ceremony attended by the president of the company, the mayor, and approximately 300 spectators. As a result of her promotion, she was “the only female in a managerial position in the company”. An additional “S” was added to her gold name tag for “super”.

In January 2010, Tama was promoted to “Operating Officer” in recognition of her contribution to expanding the railway’s customer base. She still maintained her station master’s job while taking on the responsibilities of the new job. Tama was the first cat to become an executive of a railroad corporation. To celebrate this great honor, the station building at Kishi was rebuilt with a new façade resembling a cat’s face.

Continuing her meteoric career path, in January 2011, she was promoted to “Managing Executive Officer”. This made her third in line in management after the company president and the managing director.

Tama died on June 22, 2015, of apparent heart failure. She was honored with a Shinto-style funeral at the station and over 3,000 people attended. After the traditional fifty day mourning period, Tama was succeeded by her deputy, Nitama. Nitama’s first official duty was to be conveyed to her predecessor’s shrine to pay her respects.

On April 29, 2017, on what would have been her 18th birthday, Google honored Tama with a Google doodle.

So, this brings us to the end our journey through the fascinating tapestry that is Japan. A place where the things we presented could happen nowhere else. A place where ancient traditions seamlessly blend with modern innovations to create a truly remarkable cultural mosaic, much like the literary works of Murakami himself.

Murakami’s ability to seamlessly weave the ordinary and the otherworldly, along with his exploration of the human psyche, has earned him a devoted global following while serving as a mesmerizing mirror into the intricacies of Japanese culture. Within the pages of his novels, one encounters not just the physical landscapes of Japan but also the ethereal landscapes of the human psyche. His exploration of themes like loneliness, existentialism, and the blending of reality and fantasy mirrors the deeply introspective nature of Japanese society. In his dreamlike narratives, readers are transported to a Japan where the mundane and the magical coexist, where ancient traditions harmonize with modernity, offering a glimpse into the soul of a nation that is both deeply rooted in its heritage and unceasingly forward-looking.

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