Tokyo — a new book by Haruki Murakami This will be the first time a full-length novel by a Japanese author will feature a female lead character and her quest to find a way out of a strange world.
“The Tale of Kaho,” which is scheduled to be released in print and digital formats on July 3, focuses on a 26-year-old picture book author named Kaho.
The new novel is Murakami’s first novel in three years. His previous novel, “The city and its precarious walls,” It is a story of a male protagonist who explores love, loss and the boundaries between the real and subconscious worlds.
Kaho is the first solo female protagonist featured in Murakami’s full-length novel, Shinchosha Publishing Co. said in a statement Thursday.
Initially, the novel began as a short story titled, “Say,” Which Murakami had practiced two years earlier at a book reading event at his alma mater Waseda University in Tokyo with Meiko Kawakami, a famous female author and admirer of his work. The story was published in the June 2024 edition of Monthly Shincho magazine.
Kaho’s character, who has average looks and intelligence, is also a curious person. One day she dines with a man who tells her, “I have never seen someone as ugly as you.” Not angry but astonished, the curious Kaho tries to figure out her hidden message.
Soon he starts experiencing strange things in his life.
A brief promotional teaser released by the publisher states, “I have to find a way out of this world.” “The Murakami world is in full force.”
Murakami has since released three “Say” series stories in Shincho magazine, most recently in the March edition. These include “The Anteater of Musashi-Sakai,” “Kaho and the Termite Queen” and “Kaho and the Motorcycle Man, and Scarlett Johansson.”
The English version of the first piece, translated by Philippe Gabriel, was published in The New Yorker magazine in 2024.
Murakami brings together the four volumes and gives them new life in a new 352-page novel, the publisher said.
