A great many people were helpful to me in the preparation of this book. Chronologically, I should begin with Honda Hiroko, the delightful NHK producer who first suggested it was time for me to write another book. Numerous friends and colleagues at Tōyō University also deserve mention: Satō Akira, Sugimoto Futoshi, Tsuchida Kensei, Katō Chieko, Murakami Makoto, Mochizuki Osamu, and Terada Nobuyuki, among many others. I thank the staff of the International Programs Office at Tōyō University (particularly Fukushima Narutoshi), as well as its library staff, for permitting me unfettered access to their excellent Japanese collections through the past five summers. Thanks also to Oikawa Masahiro at Ritsumeikan for arranging opportunities for me to present preliminary ideas about Murakami on his campus. At Tokyo University, I am grateful to Professor Shibata Motoyuki for including me in the 2006 symposium, and for his friendship and support since. I extend thanks to Professor Katō Yūji for his friendship, advice, and encouragement in completing this text. Finally, I offer profound thanks and warmest remembrance to Professor Ueda Yoshinori of Tōyō University, a dear friend and colleague, who lived almost long enough to see this text published.
Here at Winona State University in Minnesota many people have been helpful: Deans Ralph Townsend, Peter Henderson, and Holly Shi were all generous with funding at critical moments; Yogesh Grover was always generous with his time, listening patiently while I tried to explain what this book was really about. My lack of coherence in his office, happily, led to greater clarity in the present volume. I extend thanks as well to all the members of the Global Studies and World Languages department.
As always, deepest gratitude is due my friend and mentor Jay Rubin, who got me started on Murakami and continues to be the perfect model of what a mentor should be; and to John Treat, whose rigorous teaching has always remained in my mind. My debt to these two teachers can never be fully expressed in words. Sincere thanks also to Rebecca Suter, a fellow Murakami scholar and good friend, and to Ken Henshall, who has been a most supportive voice for many years. Thanks to Alex Bates for his help in locating a rare text on the 1923 Kantō earthquake, and to novelist Ruth Ozeki for sharing her knowledge, enthusiasm, and interest in Murakami with me. And finally, among the many professionals who have contributed, I wish to thank editors Jason Weidemann and Danielle Kasprzak at the University of Minnesota Press and the excellent readers of the first draft of the manuscript, whose comments and suggestions helped make this volume so much better. And also a note of gratitude to Mary Keirstead, who is one of the finest copy editors I have ever worked with.
On a more personal note, thanks to my parents, Victor and Barbara Strecher, who listened patiently to my weekly updates on the project and probably discovered the true meaning of the expression “at a glacial pace.” Finally, love and gratitude to my wife, Mei, whose remarks about being a “writer’s widow” were rare and always spoken with humor; and to Victor and Lizzie, who grew up alongside this volume and learned that the “monster living in the basement” was just their dad.