Well-known contemporary Japanese author and likely Nobel Prize candidate Haruki Murakami, will release a new book this April, according to his publisher. It will be his first book in three years since his mammoth 1Q84, which was originally released as a trilogy in Japan.

Details are scarce about the plot, but considering Murakami reuses the same themes in all his books, (to the point where the New York Times Book Review put together a “Haruki Murakami Bingo”) basic plot points can be pieced together. The main character will most likely be middle aged, enjoy drinking beer, feel alienated and lonely, and have an interest in old records. Cats will also make an appearance, as will teenage girls. Despite recycling similar themes and plots, Murakami has a large fanbase–1Q84 sold millions of copies worldwide.

It has been suggested that Murakami’s new work could be an expansion of the 1Q84 series. Murakami has said, “A fourth volume featuring an older ‘Tengo’ may come out…who knows.” Tengo starred as the male lead in the book. “What I can say now is there are stories before (volume 1) and after (volume 3).”

It is unclear if Murakami aims to write a new book or simply a few short stories, something he has done before. The title story in his collection Blind Woman, Sleeping Willow focuses on the protagonist of his novel, Norwegian Wood, several years after the events of that book.

It is highly likely that this upcoming book will be much shorter than 1Q84, given that the trilogy took him five years to pen.

Murakami’s varied influences may help explain his popularity with western readers compared to other Japanese authors. He spends his time reading writers such as F. Scott Fitzgerald, Raymond Carver, Philip K. Dick, and Truman Capote, and also translated their works into Japanese. Most recently, during the composition of this current work, he translated Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. 

Although no translation has been commissioned yet, Murakami’s popularity makes it almost certain that one will appear eventually. However, fans who cannot read Japanese will probably have to wait two or three years to read it, the average time it takes translators to bring his works into English. In the meantime, bored readers can read through Murakami’s long list of other books: ten novels, three short story collections, two non-fiction works, and two out-of-print novellas (the first two stories he ever wrote). His most well-known works include Norwegian Wood, Hard-boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.

Image Courtesy : Haruki Murakami

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According to a government report by Japan, the Japanese population will by 2060 only be 87 million, down one third from the current level of 128 million people. It means that within 1000 years, the Japanese could be faced with extinction, according to researchers at Tohoku University Graduate School of Economics in Sendai. Therefore, if the number of children born keeps declining, Japan may celebrate “Kids Day 5/5/3011 with only one child,”  said Hiroshi Yoshida, a professor at Tohoku University. But what is the fundamental cause behind this decline?

Across developed countries, there is a general trend among women that they keep working more and marrying later. There are generally three possible reasons why the desire to have children is diminishing: financial worries, employment problems, and lack of family support. Meanwhile, financial worries seem to affect Japan the most as many Japanese men prefer to stay single because of economic difficulties. French newspaper La Croix mentioned that due to economic difficulties, many Japanese men are afraid of the prospect of getting married. This situation leads to increased rates of singles and a decline in birth rate in Japan. The phenomenon of an aging population is now accelerating with people over 65 years of age amounting to 22.9% of the Japanese population. A new Japanese government survey which was conducted by the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research (NIPSSR) showed that about 61% of single men aged 18 to 34 have no girlfriend and 45% of women are unmarried.

Notably, many people cannot marry even if they want to because of the weak financial situation. According to La Croix, this situation is a consequence of the speculative bubble in Japan of the 1990s and the prolonged economic crisis after that. One expert said, “Many young employees lost their long-term labor contract. Therefore, many people believe that marriage is too risky”. Another reason is that the Japanese society is still emphasizing a lot on the importance of the men earning the household income and the role of okusan, meaning “person in the back of the house,” which reflects the image of the Japanese wives staying at home.

In addition, many women want to find a husband that has a stable job and good income to ensure the material life of a family. However, it is not easy to find such a man with national economic conditions like this. At the same time, having a child out of wedlock is considered a taboo in Japanese society, so the number of these children accounts for is only 2%. In contrast to reproductive problems, the average life expectancy of Japanese people is up to 83 years, leaving Japan with the world’s oldest population. It also takes a lot of money to raise a child and many women are afraid of losing their job during pregnancy. According to Dr Kuniko Inoguchi, former minister of Social Affairs and Gender Balance, about 70% of pregnant women in small and medium enterprises quit their job and if they return to work, so things can be very difficult to balance.

The next hurdle is raising children. “Families used to live with all the generations together,” said one Tokyo pensioner. “That was good for everybody, as there were more people around to provide support.” In rural areas, this is common; birth rates are higher than the national average. But many couples who live in a city far from their relatives lack the family support they often need when a baby is born. They are also too busy with their work to perform the responsibilities of parents to child. So, many Japanese couples decide to have only one child.

In recent years, the Japanese government has worked hard to introduce family-friendly policies to help young families. There are now more day care places available for children of working mothers. Primary schools are running after-school programs for children who have busy parents. There is a desire to stifle the current development, but it may take a generation or two to match tradition with modern needs. Therefore, it is encouraged of the Japanese Government to introduce more policies to improve the birth rate.

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Beginning on March 1, 2012, join the celebration of Japanese food and culture during Japan Week, a multi-part festival to be held in various locations in NYC. The key events of Japan Week — the Kickoff Event and Japan Pavilion — will specifically focus on the unique world of Japanese cuisine.

Sponsored by the Organization to Promote Japanese Restaurants Abroad (JRO), these events aim to promote a deeper understanding of Japan through a positive image of its food. Additional support is provided by the Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) and Japan Tourism Agency (JTA).

Japan Week’s Kickoff Event will be held in Vanderbilt Hall in Grand Central Terminal from March 1 – 3, 2012. Hosting a diverse array of vendors featuring distinct Japanese food and merchandise, the Kickoff Event will welcome the public to cultural performances as well as cooking demonstrations of Japanese dishes by renowned chefs. During the evening of March 1st, an Opening Gala at Vanderbilt Hall will invite New York’s restaurant industry connoisseurs and major media to experience the latest in Japanese cuisine.

The second event, the Japan Pavilion at the 2012 International Restaurant & Foodservice Show of NY at the Javits Convention Center, is open to professionals in the food trade only. For the sixth consecutive year from March 4 – 6, 2012, the Japan Pavilion will provide an exclusive opportunity to encounter enticing gourmet Japanese foods and products from various companies in one place.

The Japan Pavilion’s highlights include the Soul Food of Japan Section, the Japanese Bar, and numerous seminars on Japanese food and restaurant business trends. An additional feature is the JRO Umami Culinary Challenge Recipe Contest, in which the grand prize winner will receive a round-trip ticket to Japan for a special culinary tour.

Japan Week will also be celebrated throughout the city in other related events. Taking place concurrently with the Kickoff Event on March 1st will be a Japan tourism-focused event in Times Square commemorating the National Cherry Blossom Festival Centennial. An additional related event includes one that encourages restaurants and patrons to voluntarily raise money for Japan’s recovery from the Great Tohoku Earthquake.

Image Courtesy of   Jose Gil / Shutterstock.com

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It is hard to ignore if you are a fan of anime. Each season, you can expect the same type of shows with the same types of characters to come out, and it seems like they are not even trying to differentiate themselves. Ano Natsu de Matteru bears a striking resemblance in name, character design, and setting to Ano Hana from the summer season. Even tropes as specific as “shy, well-endowed, red-haired girl” show up over and over again. Why is this?

It may have something to do with a fundamental aspect of Japanese culture. Anime is created for and aimed towards the Japanese themselves. Remember, we westerners do not hold much sway over what goes into making an anime and what does not. For the Japanese, and indeed throughout many Asian cultures, copying, imitation, and repetition is highly valued.

Katana are forged by a student imitating the exact process that their master uses.  Also, Chinese characters have one correct way to be written and must be written over and over again to perfect the flow and the form.

This obsession with perfection through repetition bears itself out in many visible ways in Asia. Think of the notorious Chinese copies–fake iPads, fake Louis Vuitton, fake Starbucks, fake Mercedes-Benz, fake everything. The Japanese themselves have rarely invented anything themselves in the course of history, but they have adopted the inventions of other countries and vastly improved upon them.

Whereas in the west, we put a high value on original concepts and are quick to yell plagiarism or copyright infringement. The Japanese seem comfortable with the truth that we all must stand on the shoulders of the giants that came before us. We must learn from the best, and the best way to learn is to copy. The endless parade of slightly tweaked anime, then, is a culturally instinctual pursuit of perfection, even if to us westerners, it can feel exasperating and boring.

Perhaps it is instinctual, rather than intellectual, judging from a poll done by BigGlobe.jp, which asked readers to rank the most important aspects of anime when deciding whether they would watch a show or not.

The top three were story, character, and seiyuu. The next highest ranked were design, music, and cinematography. Considering the popularity of anime based on four-panel comic strips, moe characters, and high school settings, it is curious that story and character are ranked so high.

It is possible that the anime fans responding wanted to appear to have deeper tastes than they do in reality. At any rate, it seems ratings speak louder than polls, as there is no sign of a lull in shallow, moe-driven, and trope-heavy anime for the next season or those to come. Still, if you enjoy that sort of thing, there is plenty to look forward to. For the rest of us, a new season of Kore ha Zombie Desu ka? is also on the horizon, a show that takes all those ubiquitous tropes and turns them into hilarious self-parody.

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