Renowned Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami's finest motivational and life-altering words are now compiled in one single tome for the convenience of his fans seeking advice on cats, broken hearts, jazz and everything in between.
According to The Guardian, the new book, which has already been released in Japan, is a compilation of Murakami's answers to 3,716 of the 37,465 questions that the enigmatic bestselling author received online. Japanese publisher, Shinchosa, has assembled 473 of those in a print title.
All 3,716 questions and answers, on the other hand, will be released in the form of a digital book, which the aforesaid publication says runs up to eight volumes. This e-version of the book, Asahi Shimbun says, is Murakami's personal request and is now on the 13th spot in Amazon Japan's Kindle charts.
The sea of questions Murakami received are utterly diverse to say the least. Among these talk about the author being a contender for the Nobel Prize for Literature award, nuclear power plants, burps and how to stop them and whether or not he secretly wanted to be a cat all along (no, he doesn't).
"I figured I might get as many as 10,000 questions, but it ended up being nearly four times that," Murakami told the Japan Times in May. "I went to Jingu Stadium the other day and realized with a sigh that I'd received more questions than the number of people that can fit in the stadium," he added.
Needless to say, Murakami didn't realize that so many of his fans will seek his assistance when he started the online advice column, which ran from January 15 to 31. He compared the unexpected surge of queries to the Agora of Athens in ancient Greece, "where everyone came together and anyone could put up their hand and say whatever they wanted to say."
Although 2,350 questions from fans in 62 regions and countries were written in 14 languages other than Japanese as per Asahi Shimbun, publisher Shinchosha will only release the book in Japanese.
Unfortunately, for fans who do not speak or understand the language, British publishing company Harvill Secker via The Guardian, says that there are "no plans at the moment" in launching an English copy of Murakami's book of advice will be.
The latest English translated works from the author include "Hear the Wind Sing" and "Pinball, 1973." Fans can check these out to get their Murakami magic fix. But for those who really want to get in the groove with the eight-volume advice-filled book from the author, check out some of the Q and A translated by The Vulture.