
Kino by Haruki Murakami - pmcpinto
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/02/23/kino
======
Remnant44
Murakami has always been one of my favorite writers...

Fundamentally, he explores the space between a person and the greater society,
loneliness and alienation and the way people connect with each other like two
sparks in a vast darkness.

If you're just reading the comments, go ahead and read this short story :)

~~~
hurin
Murakami is one of those authors that has good enough style, culture and
influences that at first they come of as quite profound, and at the same-time
are pleasant to read in a way that say Kafka or Dostoevsky are not - then
about half-way through the novel you realize it's a cheap knock-off to sell
profundity to the general public.

~~~
joecasson
That's a rather negative way to look at his writing. Sure, he still has plenty
of room for improvement in his writing, but it definitely doesn't qualify as a
"cheap knock-off." Is there anything specific you can point to, or do you just
not like the writing?

~~~
obstinate
I would say it's a realistic way to look at his writing. It probably seems
negative to you because you believe Murakami has more merit than the GP does.
Personally I am in agreement with the GP's estimation.

~~~
gajomi
One oftentimes hears arguments along these lines about Murakami. That his
writing is just pop commercial stuff. I am not sure I ever really grokked what
these complaints were all about. Can you say more about what makes his writing
like a "cheap knock-off"? At the very least what is the argument that it is a
knock off at all (deferring considerations of its valuation)?

~~~
obstinate
I can't speak for everyone who makes these arguments. My problem with his
writing has nothing to do with its status as a knockoff.

That said, if I had to guess, the answer to your question would be that faux
profundity is always a knockoff of the truly profound.

------
fitzwatermellow
A further sampling of non-paywall Murakami short stories from The New Yorker:

Yesterday (Jun. 9, 2014 issue)
[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/09/yesterday-3](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/09/yesterday-3)

Scheherazade (Oct. 13, 2014 issue)
[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/scheherazade-3](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/10/13/scheherazade-3)

Samsa In Love (Oct. 28, 2013 issue)
[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/28/samsa-in-
love](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/10/28/samsa-in-love)

Town of Cats (Sep. 5, 2011 issue)
[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/09/05/town-of-
cats](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/09/05/town-of-cats)

U.F.O. in Kushiro (Mar. 28, 2011 issue)
[http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/03/28/u-f-o-in-
kushir...](http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/03/28/u-f-o-in-kushiro-2)

------
mayayo3
When I started reading Murakami, I couldn't stop. He weaves a world which
seems so surreal without feeling absurd. Eventually, I read 4 of his books
back to back and then bought the rest.

But, then I read the 5th one. And for some reason it felt like I've read it
before. The protagonist in his novels has some very common characteristics -
they like being alone, they cook and like to run. More often than not, a cat
is involved (probably owing to the crazy high ratio of cats/people in Japan).

The last thing I read by him was actually a short story in New Yorker called
'Town of Cats'. I am now reading 1Q84. After a few pages, I felt like I had
read some of it before. Even the character's jobs were the same. Peculiar
details were common. And then I realised that I had read this in the short
story.

~~~
caractacus
IQ84 turned me off Murakami for a long time. Count how many times he recounts
the same incident in almost the same words (narrator, mother). Count how many
times he mentions breasts and the shapes of them (it's likely the same number
of times he mentions any female). I read book one and two and realised at the
end of it that I couldn't bear to buy the third book just to discover what
happens to the protagonists.

------
cmpaul
Time for Murakami Bingo:

[http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/01/books/review/0...](http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/06/01/books/review/03snider.html?_r=0)

~~~
nemo1618
I count: mysterious woman (?), cats, old jazz record, urban ennui, cooking,
weird sex, Tokyo at night, unusual name, and vanishing cats -- no bingo!

Is Murakami really this predictable though?

~~~
hucker
Yes.

------
ixtli
I studied Japanese lit as well as CS in college so I've read a bunch of his
stuff in english and japanese. This is one of his better short stories in a
while. If anyone is looking for something international by him I recommend
Hardboiled Wonderland and the End of the World ( [http://www.amazon.com/Hard-
Boiled-Wonderland-End-World-Inter...](http://www.amazon.com/Hard-Boiled-
Wonderland-End-World-International/dp/0679743464) ). Read it in your first
language: you're missing nothing. It's one of the best Japanese -> English
translations I've ever seen.

~~~
aomurphy
Partially because Murakami i very involved in the Japanese to English
Translation. He cares a lot about translation, he's actually a very
accomplished English to Japanese translator himself, he's translate F. Scott
Fitzgerald and Truman Capote among others. Plus he has an excellent series of
English translators, like Jay Rubin and Philip Gabriel. He's noted that he
really learned to love novels by reading imported English language dime novels
as a teenager in Kobe.

------
ArtDev
Ever since I found a tattered copy of "A Wild Sheep Chase" at a used bookstore
in Bangkok, he has been my favorite writer.

------
yukinon
This was a great short read for a Sunday morning, thanks for posting this.

Just yesterday, I read Sputnik Sweetheart, and convinced myself to read more
Murakami. In the process, I've noticed his works tend to be subtle, and yet
are very good at making me feel all sorts of emotions in the process.

~~~
aerovistae
_Wind-Up Bird Chronicle_ is amazing. My two favorites by him are that and
_Afterdark_ which is very short but incredibly fascinating...I think it's his
best work, pound for pound.

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liprais
"Kino" is the protagonist's name as well as the name of the bar he run. It may
be interpreted as an identfity, an armor and a comfortable place hidden in a
crowded world. It provides a perfect hideout for Kino where he doesn't have to
face the reality. I wonder if he has been suppressing his feelings when he
found out about his wife and his colleague or she left a void in his heart and
he is incapable of having any emotions until that rainy night.

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mewwts
Super cool! One of my favorite contemporary writers.

~~~
calebm
I just started "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle", and was instantly hooked.

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lukas099
Can anyone offer an explanation for why Kamita needs to specify that his name
is not pronounced 'Kanda'?

~~~
gizmo686
His name would be written as "神田". Those two symbols are refereed to as kanji.
The reading of a kanji depends on what word it is used in.

Kamita is literally the combined readings of the words "神"(god- _kami_ ) and
"田"(field- _ta_ ), not their readings for when used in a name, or when
combined with other kanji. Additionally, the "t" sound at the beginning of a
kanji often becomes a "d" when it is placed in the middle of a word (although
it is hit or miss for when this happens).

Out of curiosity, I looked up "神田", and it turns out that it is an (archaic)
word, pronounced _kamita_ , meaning "field affiliated with a shrine (the tax-
exempt proceeds of its harvest going to pay for shrine operations)" [1]

[1][http://jisho.org/words?jap=%E7%A5%9E%E7%94%B0&eng=&dict=edic...](http://jisho.org/words?jap=%E7%A5%9E%E7%94%B0&eng=&dict=edict)

~~~
minikomi
It's interesting to note that in the original, a reader would also be reading
his name as Kanda until the first explanation pops up.

------
touristtam
I didn't know Murakami's short were published in the New Yorker. Thanks for
sharing. :)

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pmcpinto
I love this short story

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hasenj
[SPOILER ALERT]

I don't quite get it.

Who is Kamita? Why did he tell him to shut the bar and go far away? Who was
knocking on the door and how did the knock suddenly start coming from the
outside window of an 8-story building?

~~~
pdm55
To me, Kino is a portrayal of the emotionally inert, of those who will not
risk. The longer I live, the more of these persona I recognise (myself
included). Come on, look about you, the computer profession is replete with
this personality type. The "tap, tap" of rain on a window is Nature's message
to Kino: Let life, with all its sweet sorrows, in.

~~~
hasenj
Ah .. it was the rain tapping the window? That makes more sense now.

I think I did get the part where he's repressing his emotions, etc. Not even
properly "crying" over his ended marriage.

Still the setting and the narration hit me as pretty dark. If this was made
into a short anime film, I can't help but imagine it would be one of those
dark silent films.

