Haruki Murakami Honored in Manhattan for Literary Legacy and Lifelong Love of Jazz

Celebrated Japanese author Haruki Murakami was feted in Manhattan last week with two major honors and a music-led tribute that reflected both his literary legacy and his lifelong love of jazz. The 76-year-old writer, who lives in Tokyo and is frequently mentioned as a Nobel Prize contender, was recognised for his decades-long contribution to global literature as a novelist, translator, critic and essayist. On Tuesday, the Center for Fiction conferred on him its Lifetime of Excellence in Fiction Award during a gala at Cipriani 25 Broadway. Past recipients of the honour include Nobel laureates Toni Morrison and Kazuo Ishiguro. Two days later, the Japan Society hosted a special programme at The Town Hall titled Murakami Mixtape and presented him with its annual award recognising “luminous individuals who have brought the U.S. and Japan closer together." Murakami is widely known for novels such as Kafka on the Shore and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, which explore themes of memory, isolation and identity. Over the years, readers have also come to associate him with pursuits beyond literature, including long-distance running, baseball, beer and jazz — interests that were woven into both New York events. At the Center for Fiction ceremony, musician and poet Patti Smith, a longtime admirer of Murakami, introduced him by performing her song “Wing," featuring the refrain, “And if there’s one thing/I could do for you/You’d be a wing/In heaven blue." She then recalled discovering his work for the first time, displaying a copy of his debut novel, Hear the Wind Sing, and reading aloud its opening line: “There’s no such thing as perfect writing, just like there’s no such thing as perfect despair." Smith said, “I was hooked, immediately." The second event, Murakami Mixtape, unfolded as a sold-out, bilingual evening combining live music, readings and commentary. The programme was framed by opening and closing remarks from Murakami and curated by jazz pianist Jason Moran, translator and publisher Motoyuki Shibata, and author-scholar Roland Nozomu Kelts. The evening blended accessibility with depth, featuring not only well-known texts but also lesser-known pieces from Murakami’s body of work. A makeshift bar onstage underscored the informal, jazz-club atmosphere. Selections ranged from the novel Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World to the memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running. The programme also included rarer material, such as the short story “The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema," in which the narrator shares a drink with the iconic bossa nova figure, and an early essay written about New York before Murakami had ever visited the city. “Does New York City really exist?" Murakami wondered. “I don’t believe, one hundred percent, the existence of the city. Ninety-nine percent, I would say. In other words, if someone came up to me and said, ‘You know, there’s actually no such thing as New York City,’ I wouldn’t be that surprised." Kelts also spoke about Murakami’s favourite international cities, recalling that places such as Boston and Stockholm appealed to him in part because of their used jazz record stores. Murakami’s relationship with jazz dates back to 1963, when he heard Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers during their tour of Japan. That connection came full circle at The Town Hall when Moran invited 88-year-old bassist Reggie Workman — the last surviving member of that lineup — to join the musicians onstage for a performance of “Ugetsu," culminating in an extended solo. Murakami made a brief appearance at the end of the evening to read an excerpt in Japanese from Kafka on the Shore. He also reflected on the possibility that his life might have taken a different path. He explained that he might have pursued music instead of writing but could not accept the discipline of rehearsing every day. Earlier in the programme, Murakami’s reflections on his first experiences of New York after arriving in 1991 were shared in English by Japan Society President and CEO Joshua Walker. “Back then was the height of Japan bashing," Murakami said. “You could find events, where, for a dollar, they hand you a hammer and let you take a whack at a Japanese car." He recalled being advised to stay indoors on Dec. 7, 1991 — the 50th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor — “just in case there was any trouble." Murakami said he began to feel more accepted in the U.S. after Japan’s economic downturn reduced perceptions of threat, though he continued to grapple with concerns about Japan’s cultural visibility abroad. “You often hear that Japan has no real face, no identity. I almost never came across contemporary Japanese fiction in American bookstores. As a Japanese writer, I couldn’t help but feel a real sense of crisis," he said. Reflecting on the present, Murakami noted a shift in that landscape. “And now I see young Japanese writers venturing abroad, earning recognition, their books being picked up by readers as a matter of course, in music, film, anime and more. The advances have been remarkable. Economically, people talk about Japan’s three last decades, but culturally, I think it’s fair to say that Japan’s face has finally emerged."