Murakami Haruki and Higashino Keiko are great Japanese writers who become best sellers every time they release a work in Korea. These novelists work to create imaginary characters and backgrounds, but what does real life for these novelists look like? To answer this question, I would like to introduce their hobby essay books: 'What I Talk About When I Talk About Running' written by Murakami Haruki and 'Dream Running in Torino Olympics’ written by Higashino Keiko.

‘What I Talk About When I Talk About Running’ by Murakami Haruki

Murakami Haruki, born in 1949, had special interests in Western literature and culture. In 1968, he was admitted to Waseda University to major in drama. He started with his first novel named ‘Listen to the Song of the Wind’ and most of his literary works have been translated and published in about 40 countries around the world and generated the ‘Murakami Boom’.

One of the Murakami Haruki’s hobbies is running. In fact, he consistently participates in various marathons each year, including the New York City Marathon and the Ultra Marathon. In the book, he tells readers why he likes running and what he has experienced while running, but the most interesting things about this book are the lessons he learned from running.

First, he finds his motivation in himself before he starts running. A marathon is the most solitary event, so if you only run to beat someone else, you might be easily discouraged and give up quickly. He tries to improve every day with the goal of defeating his past effort. After finding his motive, he perseveres and continues to practice to set goals and achieve them. When preparing for a marathon, if he doesn't practice even just one day, his body loses its pace, so he needs strength to keep up training, whatever the environment is. To better maintain this pattern, he gets up at 5 a.m. and goes to bed at 10 p.m.

Finding motivation inside, working steadily to achieve goals, and setting up a regular lifestyle are essential factors for all of us to do well at something important, as well as running. These methods he learned from running might have helped him become a great writer of good novels. If you read this essay, you can recognize a lot of great lessons apart from the three reasons above, which he learned through running for a long time. Personally, I felt his passion for life inspire me as much as if I had read a self-improvement book.

[Murakami Haruki’s Masterpieces]

‘1Q84’

‘Norwegian Forest’

‘Killing the Order Leader’

‘Running in Torino Olympics’ by Higashino Keiko

Higashino Keiko, born in 1958 in Osaka, graduated from Osaka University in electrical engineering and began to write while working as an engineer. He has written more than fifty books in his 20 years, which are especially popular in Korea. One of his best sellers, ‘Miracle in the Namiya Store’, is the number one selling Japanese book in Korea during the past 10 years.

The book named ‘Dream Running in Torino Olympics’ is the story of his visit to the 2006 Olympics in Torino and introduce events at Japan's Winter Olympics. Unlike a typical essay, the book consists of author Higashino Keiko, communicating with his cat, which becomes human in his imagination. Higashino Keiko is famous for not exposing his private life and in fact, this is the only essay book by Keiko. He has said that writing an essay is too difficult for him, which seems to have brought him to a form of fiction that he can write well, rather than an essay like a diary.

His hidden hobby is winter sports. He talked about an episode of his broken neck while curling. He analyzed unpopular sports with interest such as biathlon, a combination of cross-country skiing and shooting, proving how much he is interested in winter sports. Also, he uses a Japanese point of reference towards Korea's winter sports being too focused on the ice, one can see that he is also interested in the games of other countries.

As the only way to find his philosophy and characteristics in this book, it is fun to see his personality. Reading his works such as "White Night", it is easy to think that he is a quiet, gentle-hearted person because he portrayed the characters delicately. However, after reading his essay, I got to know that he is actually a grouchy person, but it is also interesting to see that he takes care of people in his actions, even though he complains a lot.

[Higashino Keiko’s Masterpieces]

‘Miracle of Namiya Store’

‘White Night’

‘Suspect X’s Devotion’

Usually, novels by novelists are popular, but essays are relatively less popular. However, after reading their essays like the ones mentioned, the writers are more familiar to me because they are human beings just like us and we can experience their personal thoughts that have not been revealed in their novels. Personally, I have read some of their works, but when I read the books again after reading their essays, I got a fresh feeling and found their interests hidden in their fiction books. I hope you find these interesting factors and I recommend the two books above.

Shim Hyebeen  ahdiohim@naver.com

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