Murakami T: The T-Shirts I Love

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The t-shirts in the book all have a story behind them, whether they are gems found in bookshops, charity shops, record shops or collected at marathons and at concerts. Some feature whisky, animals, cards and superheroes and look out for bands from Springsteen to The Beach Boys to R.E.M. Between photographs and essays, Murakami’s multifaceted and wonderfully eccentric persona shines through, a true master of stories, and the ‘world’s most popular cult novelist’ ( Guardian) 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’ Record Stores Are A Blast" story about his record stores hunting, jazz music and all those vinyl shirt designs

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!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 - 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. Although maybe it’s fitting that the t-shirts themselves are unimpressive given that the essays too are quite forgettable. They’re easy to read and well-written, but for the most part they’re a series of underwhelming pieces. The only one that stood out is the t-shirt with “Tony Takitani” printed on it which inspired the short story, and subsequent film adaptation, of the same name (published in the collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman). 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.” 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.

As always, it's Murakami's mixture of casual friendliness paired with a kind of sagely wisdom that charms in the extreme. His eye for the bizarre, or just downright random. Did you know, for example, that 'If you wear a T-shirt with an animal design, the chances are very good that a girl or woman will tell you, "Whoa - that's so cute!"' - In Murakami's novels, chance encounters and happenstance like this are the stuff that a whole novel's worth of action springs forth from, but even here, these bitesize essays give off the buzz of the everyday banal turned life-affirming wonder. Philip Gabriel - serving on translation duties here hot on the heels of his work on Murakami's recent short stories collection First Person Singular as well as a number of earlier works - does sound business again in capturing this easy breeziness in all its glory.

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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. This is light diversionary reading but it may also make you realize what your own qualifications are for which T-shirts you'll actually wear as opposed to those you keep as souvenirs or memorabilia. Aside from his well known collection of jazz LPs, Murakami is also quite the collector of T-shirts, most of which he doesn't wear but instead stores away in file boxes. As you can imagine, many of these are ones that he is given as take-aways from book signings or readings and/or marathon runs (one of his other obsessions c.f. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running ). 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.) 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. I wonder if he'll ever write something about his stubs of pencils collection, I would love to read that too)

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 studied drama at Waseda University in Tokyo, where he met his wife, Yoko. His first job was at a record store, which is where one of his main characters, Toru Watanabe in Norwegian Wood, works. Shortly before finishing his studies, Murakami opened the coffeehouse 'Peter Cat' which was a jazz bar in the evening in Kokubunji, Tokyo with his wife. 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 I’m not particularly interested in collecting things, 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’ Keep Calm and Read Murakami" story on T-shirts related to his books; of his book launch and about his publisher (love both the Dance Dance Dance and Norwegian Wood shirts)