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quotes:

"all I could think about when writing fiction in my youth was how to run as far away as I could from the japanese condition. I wanted to distance myself as much as possible from the curse of japanese"
"I think of myself as an asset and that's why I want to be private"
"in 1995 I was 46 years old and I felt some kind of responsibility as a writer. Before that, I was a simple person. I was like I'll write for myself, that's all I wanted, all I have to do, but after that I felt a responsibility as a japanese author... after the earthquake and the sarin gas attack I just wanted to do something for my people. I feared for the people of Japan"
"That people's memories are maybe the fuel they burn to stay alive. Whether those memories have any actual importance or not, it doesn't matter as far as the maintenance of life is concerned. They're all just fuel. Advertising fillers in the newspaper, philosophy books, dirty pictures in a magazine, a bundle of ten-thousand-yen bills: when you feed 'em to the fire, they're all just paper. The fire isn't thinking 'Oh, this is Kant,' or 'Oh, this is the Yomiuri evening edition,' or 'Nice tits,' while it burns. To the fire, they're nothing but scraps of paper. It's the exact same thing. Important memories, not-so-important memories, totally useless memories: there's no distinction--they're all just fuel."
“Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it.”

motifs:

characters:

As a whole, in most of the Murakami books I've read the male narrators are fairly interchangeable. Maybe the male narrator Murakami trope can be counted as one character.

locations:

author information:

heavily influenced by western culture, to the point of being criticised of not being "Japanese enough". I noticed a few western pop culture references in his work
worked at a record shop and studied Drama, like Toru in Norwegian Wood, and went on to own a jazz bar like Hajime in South of the Border. I wonder how much of his characters are based on his own experiences, particularly considering how many of his protagonists are so similar.
not technically trained in writing, and only began writing at the age of 29 after being "inspired by a baseball game"
writes non-fiction and essays as well as fiction
he has received many awards and praise in his time. Norwegian Wood was incredibly well received, particularly among younger crowds, and propelled Murakami to almost superstar status, which he didn't seem to enjoy (he left the country shortly after). He donated 80,000 euros prize money to those who suffered in the 2011 earthquake and nuclear disaster of Fukushima, and is openly anti-nuclear (energy or weapons)

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