Since childhood, Murakami has been heavily influenced by Western culture, particularly Western music and literature. He grew up reading a range of works by American writers, such as Kurt Vonnegut and Richard Brautigan, and he is often distinguished from other Japanese writers by his Western influences. In Murakami T, the famously reclusive novelist shows us his T-shirts–including gems from the Springsteen on Broadway show in NYC, to the Beach Boys concert in Honolulu, to the shirt that inspired the beloved short story “Tony Takitani.” Accompanied by short, frank essays that have been translated into English for the first time, these photographs reveal much about Murakami’s multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona. Murakami’s charming, utterly self-effacing eccentricity—one of the hallmarks of his fiction—shines brightly here…”—Bill Ott, Booklist Welcome to the other side of Murakami's world; no fictional characters whatsoever, just Murakami and a closet of his personal T-shirts collection with a writing series spotlighting those collection-- short and light, uniquely told, bit quirky and so chilled! It feels so delightful to read his stories and how each T-shirt bringing a memorable fragment to his life-- a record hunting day, a thrift shop encounters, walking into an event, launching a book, running a marathon, meeting a friend, a beach visit, surfing or movies outing; these are all a story living in a piece of his T-shirt. Might be underwhelming to few and the collection pretty ordinary too, but being a fan to the novelist, this was such an endearing read to me.

Considered “the world’s most popular cult novelist” ( The Guardian), Haruki Murakami has written books that have galvanized millions around the world. Many of his fans know about his 10,000-vinyl-record collection, and his obsession with running, but few have heard about a more intimate, and perhaps more unique, passion: his T-shirt-collecting habit. If you’re looking for the perfect gift for Murakami fans this Christmas, then look no further. Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love is a gorgeous, small-format, full-colour, photographic gift book, revealing Haruki Murakami’s favourite t-shirts collected on his international travels and giving fascinating autobiographical insight into the internationally acclaimed writer, through his accompanying essays. Review of the Knopf hardcover (November 2021) translated by Philip Gabriel from the Japanese language original 村上T 僕の愛したTシャツたち (June 2020) In works such as The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, 1Q84, What I Talk About When I Talk About Runningand Men Without Women, Murakami’s distinctive blend of the mysterious and the everyday, of melancholy and humour, continues to enchant readers, ensuring his place as one of the world’s most acclaimed and well-loved writers.Photograph of one of Murakami’s favourite T-shirts, which became the source inspiration for his “Tony Takitani” short story. Image sourced from World News The international literary icon opens his eclectic closet: Here are photographs of Murakami’s extensive and personal T-shirt collection, accompanied by essays that reveal a side of the writer rarely seen by the public.

Haruki Murakami has certainly been keeping his translators busy this year. First, he published the very good short-story collection First Person Singular, and, later this fall, he’ll be publishing in English a rather slim volume of autobiography about his T-shirt collection, of all things. That book is called Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love and features photos and essays of more than 100 T-shirts in his massive collection — some that he never wears and keeps inside boxes. The short essays first appeared in the Japanese men's fashion magazine Popeye not too long ago, and this book also features a couple of interviews Murakami did for the same magazine around the time that the photos and essays were published, just to pad things out a little bit. (I found that the interview section did repeat some information found in the essays, so I’m not entirely sure why it’s there in this book or was even included in the magazine to begin with, except that, in the case of the former, it slightly lengthens a very short book.) Murakami T is not significant or earth-shattering in any sense. He shows the readers his t-shirts collection - from a shirt that inspired “Tony Takitani” to shirts with cute animal design that he feel a little uncomfortable to wear; from shirts with the names of colleges on them to shirts that relate to books and reading; and from whiskey-themed shirt to the shirts he got after completing his running marathons. In the words of Murakami himself: “I doubt that this collection will be that useful to anyone, much less being of any help in solving any of the myriad problems we face at present.” Many of Haruki Murakami’s fans know about his massive vinyl record collection (10,000 albums!) and his obsession with running, but few have heard about a more intimate passion: his T-shirt collecting. The essays and photos in Murakami T stem from Haruki Murakami’s collaboration with Japanese magazine, Popeye, and are translated into English for the first time here. Record Stores Are A Blast" story about his record stores hunting, jazz music and all those vinyl shirt designs

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I love how we're diving into his life, and his stories from all around the world with the t-shirts that he owned. Goes to show how he values his things, and quite frankly, I can relate to some things as well. There is a sort of intimacy whilst going into someone's closet and choice of clothings, but I love how Murakami just went all in and talked about where and why he didn't wear his t-shirts. Whats exciting is how we get to somehow go an adventure with him as well, a trip to his past and his experience as a lecturer, as an author and even as a normal human as well. Haruki Murakami's books have galvanized millions around the world. Many of his fans know about his 10,000-vinyl-record collection, and his obsession with running, but few have heard about a more intimate, and perhaps more unique, passion: his T-shirt-collecting habit. Murakami Haruki (Japanese: 村上 春樹) is a popular contemporary Japanese writer and translator. His work has been described as 'easily accessible, yet profoundly complex'. He can be located on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/harukimuraka... The t-shirts are grouped thematically so there’s a bunch on food, booze, cars, books, superheroes, animals, and marathons he’s competed in (see his other non-fiction book, What I Talk About When I Talk About Running, for more information on that hobby). The tactics he employs as a novelist have been discussed to death, but the agony uncle side of him, the uncaring, sloppy, endearing, and well-intentioned side of him, remains absurdly interesting out of all proportion to what he is writing about, which has long since ceased to matter, since all we want is more Murakami, more Murakami, more Murakami.

For the multitudes whose appetite for details about Murakami’s wardrobe is not sated by Uniqlo’s interview, in November, Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love will be published. In it, the “famously reclusive novelist” (ahem) will show off his T-shirts, “including gems from the Springsteen on Broadway show in NYC, from the Beach Boys concert in Honolulu to the shirt that inspired the beloved short story, Tony Takitani,” says US publisher Knopf. “Accompanied by short, frank essays that have been translated into English for the first time, these photographs reveal much about Murakami’s multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona.” One of the running T-shirt during Murakami triathlon that he gets a lot of people asking; "So, Mr. Murakami, you're sponsoring a marathon now?" In Murakami T, the famously reclusive novelist shows us his T-shirts - including gems found in bookshops, charity shops and record stores - from those featuring whisky, animals, cars and superheroes, to souvenirs of marathons and a Beach Boys concert in Honolulu, to the shirt that inspired the beloved short story 'Tony Takitani'. Accompanied by short, frank essays that have been translated into English for the first time, these photographs reveal much about Murakami's multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona.

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I began by pretending this was a short novel about a t-shirt and vinyl-record-obsessed old guy, who happened to also be an obscenely successful novelist and it worked for the most part in the sense that I enjoyed reading these table scraps of autobiographical reminiscences from the most influential Japanese author ever. In Murakami T,the famously reclusive novelist shows us his T-shirts—from concert shirts to never-worn whiskey-themed Ts, and from beloved bookstore swag to the shirt that inspired the iconic short story “Tony Takitani.” These photographs are paired with short, frank essays that include Murakami’s musings on the joy of drinking Guinness in local pubs across Ireland, the pleasure of eating a burger upon arrival in the United States, and Hawaiian surf culture in the 1980s. No need to describe that I’m one of Murakami biggest fans, I’ve read almost everything he wrote either in Arabic or English translation except (The underground). Reading this book was like a cozy invitation to his magical world & Murakami himself has invited me to do the introduction and telling stories about each certain category .. I admire the writer & his unique style in life .. that somehow felt so intimate and I’m totally grateful for giving me this chance! I enjoyed the laughter as he has a very nice sense of humour, the places that I would like to visit some day, his curiosity & searching everything on Google to get advices due to culture or historical differences. Mr. Murakami takes readers through a sartorial journey, sharing memories and musings through the lens of the clothes he has accumulated over the years.”–Anna P. Kambhampaty, The New York Times Originally run in Popeye Magazine, the articles have been collected and printed in book format with two additional follow-up interviews at the end.

I wonder if he'll ever write something about his stubs of pencils collection, I would love to read that too) Many Murakami fans will know about his 10,000-vinyl-record collection, and his obsession with running, but few have heard about his T-shirt collection. ‘I’m not particularly interested in collecting things’, he writes in the Preface, ‘but there’s one sort of running motif in my life: despite my basic indifference, objects just seem to collect around me, of their own volition’ From why he always wore ties when living in Italy (“you would get these dirty looks if you weren’t”) to what makes a person stylish (“I think it’s great when somebody can make everyday clothes look comfortable”), it turns out Murakami has more to say about fashion than you might imagine. Perhaps the most intriguing revelation is his habit of carrying around a spare pair of trousers, getting the idea from the novelist Komimasa Tanaka, who shared his love of shorts.

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In a new book, Haruki Murakami, the international literary icon, opens his eclectic closet and shares photos of his extensive unique personal T-shirt collection, accompanied by essays that reveal a side of him rarely seen by the public.