TOKYO (AP) – If you are troubled, lost in life or just feel like discussing cats and Japanese baseball, visit “Mr. Murakami’s Place” online. Starting Thursday, author Haruki Murakami will be taking questions and responding as best as he can for the next two weeks.
A best-selling novelist and perennial candidate for a Nobel Prize in literature, Murakami is notoriously publicity-shy. But he wants some virtual interaction with his readers, says his publisher Shinchosha.
Murakami’s latest ask-him-anything session starts Thursday at “Murakami-san no Tokoro,” or “Mr. Murakami’s Place” – a website set up by Shinchosha Publishing Co, Ltd.
“Waiting for questions, consultations, etc.,” says a handwritten message from Murakami on the site.
A cat lover and a big fan of the underdog Japanese baseball team the Yakult Swallows, Murakami personally suggested those topics, along with likes and dislikes about places, according to the publisher.