Ono: Haruki Murakami·Coffee·Travel

Coffee online Ono column

In my mind, Haruki Murakami and his books have always been defined in this way-a seemingly easygoing uncle next door who likes to write some advanced youth novels, travel notes and essays are very kind and lovely. I reread Murakami's travels and essays again and again, and the novel is occasionally re-flipped, but I can never say that I am an ardent fan of Murakami.

So when I saw that Guo Zhengpei wrote not one book, but two books, looking for the projection of Haruki Murakami's literary world in real life, I really admired it. Looking for the origin of a writer's imaginary world is not so much a person's textual addiction as a real fan pursuing the love in his heart.

The book Haruki Murakami in Greece is a combination of Guo Zhengpei's personal travels in Greece and Murakami's "textual research" trip. She painstakingly went to Springtree Island, which has the same pronunciation as Murakami's Japanese name, and found Captain Kanahara, who Murakami had dated. She visited the "Seven Falls Restaurant" on Rhode Island. She also went to Specha Island, where Murakami once lived-- her material is only a travel book written by Murakami 20 years ago, the sound of drums far away. Twenty years later, those personnel still exist, this confirmation across time, not only let the writer excited, we readers, also feel incredible magic.

When it comes to the writing of the Tokyo Murakami Haruki Brigade, the difficulty of Guo Zhengpei's "textual research" has suddenly increased, because the textual research material of the second book is mainly based on imagination. The capital staircase, which changed the fate of the heroine Qingdou in 1Q 84, the heroine Pansy in the Sputnik Lovers, a day of daily life in the Jixiang Temple, Watanabe's Tokyo walk route with Naoko in the Norwegian Forest. Guo Zhengpei went to inspect and experience one by one. Murakami is very good at depicting the details of daily life, and the pursuit trip of his fans is bound to be a fun and interesting trip.

To me, "Haruki Murakami Tour" can also be regarded as "Tokyo Coffee Tour", because Guo Zhengpei collected a lot of coffee-related words in Murakami's works as an introduction to each chapter, and in the places she visited, there are quite a few scattered in a variety of jazz cafes, tea shops and popular cafes on the streets of Tokyo, Guo Zhengpei, who is good at taking pictures. A whole page of coffee photos of cafes is even attached at the end of the book.

Japan is a country where people's life and coffee culture are well developed. However, after reading Guo Zhengpei's book, I gained more perceptual experience. Although these two books have not been published for a long time, they have become objects for me to read and read again and again. I am proud to tell you that, um, I am an ardent fan of Ms. Guo Zhengpei.