The Murakami Museum
On day four, we went to the Murakami library.
In a typhoon.
"This isn't that bad," Eli 22.1 said, as rain pelted him. This was right before the umbrella thoughtfully left for us by our host turned inside out from the wind. "Maybe I can fix it," he said, looking at the snarled metal rods that used to provide support. "I mean, once you're wet, you're wet. It doesn't get any worse. It's all a matter of perspective."
"My perspective is that we are literally walking through a typhoon," I said. He laughed.
We made it to the bus stop, then rode for half an hour to the library, which is on the campus of a University. We were greeted by a spectacularly enthusiastic woman who spoke only Japanese but seemed delighted to see us.
The museum was beautiful and immaculately designed, and here are a few pictures.
This was one of the most beautiful staircases I've ever seen. Well, everything above the staircase, technically.
This is a faithful recreation of Murakami's office where so many wonderful books have been written. In the background is a listening room where you can listen to albums from Murakami's jazz collection on god-level speakers.
If you look closely, you can see little human figures on the empty shelves, which is entirely in keeping with Murakami's whimsical nature.
It was all incredibly inspiring, and I slowly accumulated ideas during the trip that will greatly strengthen the new book.
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