So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish: Underground

Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche

Underground by Haruki Murakami (村上春樹 MURAKAMI Haruki)

Haruki Murakami is one of the most popular novelist in Japan and even all over the world. However, I don't like him very much. The characters in his novels are apt to turn inwards. So, sometimes I started to get irritated. When I read Hear The Wind Sing, Wild Sheep Chase and Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World, I often wanted to speak out to the characters "How precious and special you are!" I thought these three books were enough for me and I couldn't get interested in any more. I've not paid any attention when a new his book was released after that.

However, sarin gas attack by Aum Shirinkyo (オウム真理教) disturbed me. It's a terrible discriminate murder. Underground is about sarin gas attack by Haruki Murakami. I don't like Haruki Murakami but I got interested in the incident of sarin gas attack.

In Japan, Underground was published in 1997 as a newly written book of Haruki Murakami. It is a collection of interviews of victims of sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway. The Place That Was Promised - Underground2 was published in 1998 as a collection of serial interviews in a magazine. At first, he didn't consider The Place That Was Promised - Underground2 . Haruki Murakami might have felt need of another side of the people who belonged to Aum Shinrikyo.

Translation edition contains Underground and The Place That Was Promised but some interviews of sarin attack victims in original Underground are omitted. Japanese edition of The Place That Was Promised - Underground2 includes the conversation of Hayao Kawai (河合隼雄 KAWAI Hayao) and Haruki Murakami at the end of interviews. Hayao Kawai is not only a famous psychotherapist but also a humorous essayist in Japan. Hayao Kawai mentioned the distance of interviewer and interviewee. It's a sort of technique of conversation. From his experience of psychotherapist, he has a deep understanding of symptom and influences of talking. It's very interesting and makes us relieved. His words are full of affection but calm. I'm not sure, but regarding of table contents, the conversation is omitted in English translation edition. It's a pity.

Sarin gas attack on Tokyo subway was a shocking incident. Aum Shirinkyo was a religious cult that got together highly educated people. I could understand that some educated people kept something they couldn't resolve by themselves even if they studied harder. If someone resolved their inside incongruity, they might have been possibly on Aum Shirinkyo side. They couldn't exist in any area except for Aum Shinrikyo because of their pureness. Haruki Murakami and Hayao Kawai worried that there was no place such people were able to keep alive at the present day.

Underground is not a mainstream work of Haruki Murakami. But I can catch on to the meaning of a previous statement by Haruki Murakami, "I often consider 'commitment' recently. Even when writing, I feel 'commitment' is very important. Before, I felt 'detachment' was important..." He seemed to change the style of writing after Kobe quake or sarin gas attack. If so, I think I'm going to try After the Quake or 1Q84.

Underground (Japanese paperback edition)