Japan
Haruki Murakami against destroying park in Tokyo
Haruki Murakami has spoken out against the redevelopment of a historic park in Tokyo. photo
© Eugene Hoshiko/AP/dpa
Hundreds of trees are to be cut down in Tokyo and a historic baseball stadium is to disappear. The bestselling author Haruki Murakami is working against these plans.
The successful Japanese author Haruki Murakami (“1Q84”, “The Assassination of the Commendatore”) has spoken out against the highly controversial redevelopment of a historic park in Tokyo that is particularly close to his heart. “Please leave the beautiful jogging track surrounded by lush greenery and the beautiful Jingu Baseball Stadium as it is. Once something is destroyed, it cannot be restored,” the 74-year-old said on his monthly radio show, like the newspaper “Tokyo Shimbun” reported.
The author, who has become a cult figure in the West and is considered a hot candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, is a baseball fan and known for his great passion as a runner.
In the course of the redevelopment of Tokyo’s popular Jingu Gaien park district, which has already been approved by Tokyo’s governor Yuriko Koike, hundreds of trees are to be felled and a skyscraper with shops and new sports facilities will make way. Not only would Murakami’s favorite jogging track disappear, but the nearly 100-year-old Jingu Ballpark, which once inspired Murakami’s writing, will also be demolished. Sports fans, conservationists and citizens’ initiatives are protesting against it. The first construction work has already started and should be completed in 2036.
After watching a baseball game at Jingu Stadium in 1978, Murakami had the idea of writing a novel. His first work, Hear the Wind Sing, written in Japanese, promptly won the Gunzo Prize for Young Authors. After this success, he decided to work as a writer. He was firmly against the redevelopment of the park area, he said. The recently deceased film composer, musician, actor and producer Ryuichi Sakamoto (“The Last Emperor”), like his compatriot Murakami, spoke out against the controversial development plans.