Author Murakami talks music, running, novels on radio show

Best-selling Japanese author Haruki Murakami, hosting a special radio show featuring some of his favorite songs he jogs to, says writing novels is about rhythm, as in music and running.

"Murakami Radio," a pre-recorded show broadcast Sunday night, featured as its themes two crucial elements of his life as a novelist: running and music.

During the 55-minute show, Murakami played nine numbers he enjoys running to rock and jazz selected from thousands of titles stored on several iPods, while sharing stories behind the songs and talking about running and writing.

A perennial contender for the Nobel literature prize, Murakami said he initially had no intention of becoming a writer. After finishing university, he was running a jazz bar in Tokyo and music was his thing, and that's where his style comes from, he said.

"Rather than learning storytelling technique from someone, I've taken a musical approach, while being very conscious about rhythms, harmony and improvisation," the 69-year-old Murakami said on the radio.

"It's like writing as I dance, even though I don't actually dance. For me, writing tends to be a very physical process, and that's my style."
A native of Kyoto, Murakami has precise memories of when he decided to become a writer: at around 1:30 p.m. on April 1, 1978, while attending a baseball game at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium home to the underdog Japanese baseball team the Yakult Swallows, his favorite where he saw an American named Dave Hilton hit a double, he wrote in his 2007 memoir, "What I Talk About When I Talk About Running."
He said he runs to keep up his physical strength. "When you write, your physical ability is extremely important," he said. "You sit all day and keep writing, so it takes a lot of energy, even though many people don't seem to believe me."
Rock music is his usual choice for running to keep a steady pace, he said, recommending "songs that you can sing along to, ideally those that give you courage." Protagonists in Murakami's stories are often troubled young men seeking their self-identity in grim, dark or fantastical settings. But Murakami was upbeat and humorous during Sunday's program as in his short stories and essays, including his 2001 essay collection titled "Murakami Radio."