"I don't want to express my opinion about actual politics, because if I do, I have to be responsible ..." — Haruki Murakami

I don't think of myself as an artist. I'm just a guy who can write.

I don't get bored.

In Japan they prefer the realistic style. They like answers and conclusions, but my stories have none. I want to leave them wide open to every possibility. I think my readers understand that openness.

Before I became a writer, I was running a jazz bar in the center of Tokyo, which means that I worked in filthy air all the time late into the night. I was very excited when I started making a living out of my writing, and I decided, 'I will live in nothing but an absolutely healthy way.'