Haruki Murakami in Interview:
You often write your novels abroad. What has been your favorite foreign locale for writing?
MURAKAMI: When I was writing a novel on an island in Greece, I could see a flock of sheep right outside the window and I wrote the novel every day looking at them. It’s not like the sheep helped in any special way, but they might have encouraged me. The novel I was writing then was Norwegian Wood. Not a single sheep in the story.
How important is the classification of “Japanese writer” to you?
MURAKAMI: I write novels in Japanese, so I guess that’s why I’m called a “Japanese writer.” It’s easiest for me to write in Japanese, but it doesn’t mean anything beyond that. I do, though, like being in Japan because of all the delicious soba buckwheat noodle shops.
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