After the Quake

by Haruki Murakami
Read by Rupert Degas, Teresa Gallagher, and Adam Sims
UNABRIDGED
4 CDs
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Tool : LAME3.97

In 1995, the Japanese city of Kobe suffered a massive earthquake. Nearly 6,000 p
eople died. after the quake was the imaginative response from Japan’s leading nove
list, Haruki Murakami: six stories, each dealing not directly with the catastrop
he but the wider seismic effect it had on the emotional lives of people many mil
es away.
It became a catalyst for individuals to reassess their lives with unexpected con
sequences for themselves and their families and friends around them. after the q
uake is Murakami’s most popular short story collection.

Amazon.com Reviews:
All of Murakami s novels are best sellers, and he is perhaps the most recognized
and noted Japanese author in the U.S. and around the world. Murakami is one of
my favorite authors. I have enjoyed all of his previous novels, and now this lit
tle book of short stories kept me turning the pages past the midnight hour. Mura
kami drew me in with his simple language and the powerful dialogue of his intrig
uing characters. These six stories are all related to the devastating Kobe earth
quake of 1995. The stories are set in the months between the natural disaster an
d the poison gas attacks that occurred in Tokyo s subways. Both of these events
dramatically changed the physical and social landscape of Japan. For each of the
characters in these stories, the earthquake s emotional aftershock set off an u
nreal chain of events.
I enjoyed all of these stories, but a few were my favorites. In "Super-Frog Save
s Tokyo", a loan-collector teams up with a man-sized frog to fight an enormous w
orm that threatens to destroy Tokyo. In "Landscape With Flatiron", we learn abou
t Miyake s passion in building bonfires with his companion Junko, and what it al
l symbolizes. And last but not least, in "Honey Pie", we are presented with a co
mplex, passionate story about a love triangle that takes place over many years.

We are exposed to a lot of human suffering in these stories. Murakami, however,

sheds light and hope in all of these stories by showing us the courage, strength
, and compassion these devastated people possess in overcoming any tragedy that
they may have to face. I always look forward to Murakami s new novels. Now, I ca
n, hopefully, look forward to more short stories by this talented author. This i
s a beautifully written collection of stories. Hope you enjoy it as much as I di
d!
Joe Hanssen
-------------------------
At the end of my first semester as a graduate student I was faced with the task
of writing two fifteen to twenty page papers on the works of Ihara Saikaku. Havi
ng already finished reading Five Women who Loved Love and The Life of an Amorous
Man, I was then faced with the task of reading his longest work The Great Mirro
r of Male Love which, after a long and dense introduction by the translator goes
into minute detail about the male loves of the samurai and kabuki actors. Faced
with the task of reading all forty short stories contained in the book, I turne
d to Murakami Haruki s after the quake to give my mind a break from the massive
tome of Edo period homo-erotica. Since that time after the quake has been a stor
y collection that I have turned to a number of times when I needed something qui
ck and enjoyable to read when faced with a large number of books for graduate sc
hool. This, of course, does not mean that after the quake is fluff reading, beca
use that is far from the case. The time period this collection of short stories
takes place is during February 1995, the month sandwiched between the Kobe Earth
quake which occurred on January 17th and the Aum Shinrikyo s sarin gas attacks t
hat occurred on March 20th of the same year. Although none of the six short stor
ies protagonists were directly harmed by the earthquake, each one is affected b
y its "aftershocks."
UFO in Kushiro: the collection opens with the story of Komura a handsome, succes
sful sales representative whose wife leaves him after the Kobe Earthquake. Leavi
ng a note that states that living with Komura is like living with a "chunk of ai
r" Komura s wife heads back north to her home and sends her husband the divorce
papers. Needing a break from work in order to think, Komura goes to Hokkaido to
deliver a package for a coworker and there he meets two young women who try to p
ut his life into perspective.
Landscape with Flatiron: This short story tells the tale of Junko a young woman
who ran away to Ibaraki to escape the stifling atmosphere of her home and school
. Seemingly content with her surfer boyfriend Keisuke, Junko also enjoys the com
pany of Miyake a small, balding man who likes to make bonfires on the beach. Thi
s short story describes what may be the final meeting between Junko and Miyake.
In my opinion, this might be the saddest story within the book.
All God s Children can Dance: Yoshiya seems like a decent enough fellow. He migh
t enjoy drinking too much, but he gets along with his coworkers and he has a str
ing of girlfriends who like the way he dances. He is also the son of God. Or at
least this is what he is told by his mother who was "saved" by a member of new r
eligion group when she was going to commit suicide after becoming pregnant with
Yoshiya after following her doctor/lover s contraceptive methods perfectly. Not
believing that he is the son of God, Yoshiya eventually spots a man who looks li
ke an older version of the man his mother slept with almost three decades before
. One day pursues this man and he finds...
Thailand: After going to a large gathering of thyroid specialists, Satsuki decid
es to spend some of her vacation time in Thailand. In the capable hands of her c
hauffeur Nimit, Satsuki is able to relax, swim, and enjoy impeccable little cucu
mber and cheese sandwiches. However, anger burns within her. With her ex-husband
living in Kobe, Satsuki hopes that the bane of her life has been crushed the fa
llen debris. However, to be truly whole again, she must release he anger.
Super Frog Saves Tokyo: Katagiri is an average fellow, perhaps even below averag
e. Short, bald, and basically unlikable, the only thing that he is successful at
is his job collecting overdue loans. However, one day, something spectacular ha
ppens to Katagiri. After arriving home from the grocery store, Katagiri encounte
rs a six-foot tall frog in his kitchen. Able to quote Nabokov, Tolstoy, and Dost
oyevsky, Frog informs Katagiri that he needs his help in the battle with Worm, a
huge blind worm that was awakened by the earthquake in Kobe and is determined t
o cause an enormous earthquake that will destroy Tokyo and only Katagiri can hel
p him prevent it!
Honey Pie: Probably the sappiest short story that Murakami has ever penned, howe
ver, it is also quite effective in tugging on the heart strings. A trio in colle
ge: Junpei, Sayoko, and Takatsuki spent all of there time with each other eating
out, going to movies, drinking beer, and sharing notes. Brought together by the
outgoing Takatsuki, Sayoko and Junpei generally went along with what Takatsuki
wanted to do. Also, although Junpei loved Sayoko, and it seemed Sayoko loved him
as well, he was afraid to express his feelings, and Takatsuki beat him to the p
unch and asked Sayoko to marry him. Although his world almost crumbled around hi
, Junpei endured to become a moderately successful short story writer. Now Sayok
o and Takatsuki are divorced and Sayoko lives alone with her daughter Sala. Can
Junpei finally tell the woman he loves his true feelings?
While the earthquake itself is rarely addressed directly, it plays a role in tha
t it gives a jolt to each of the protagonists lives and changes them for better
or worse. Murakami, a loner himself, can perfectly paint the portrait of loneli
ness and it is this skill that makes these stories so effective and while it May
not be one of Murakami s best works, after the quake is still a good, quick rea
d and it might be a good starting point for the Murakami novice.
Michael W.
-------------------------
Other review:
The English title of this collection, After the Quake, refers to the devastating
earthquake that hit Japan in 1995, centered around Kobe in the Kansai region. I
t is not one of the story titles, but rather a summing-up overview. (The Japanes
e title is the same as one of the stories, "All God s Children can Dance".)
The earthquake is a presence in each of the stories, an event that is mentioned
and that has had some sort of lingering (though usually only tangential) effect
on at least some of the characters. Murakami never really ventures to earthquake
-country, or describes what the effects were there: he is more interested in the
larger effects, on the country as a whole and those peripherally affected. The
earthquake is merely another symptom of the general unease and uncertainty faced
by contemporary Japan.
There are six stories in this small collection. Most of it is the usual Murakami
-stuff: lost souls, odd encounters, late nights, unlikely and inexplicable creat
ures and occurrences, some jazz music, some unfulfilled love, disappearances, an
d at least one Murakami-like author. The book is sparsely populated: characters
often meet late at night or in isolation. There are few crowds, and people have
few friends.
Particularly striking is the trust found in the novel, with strangers forming un
likely bonds. Friendships also are reliable, the rare bond (unlike marriage or f
amily relationships) that holds. But even where there are divorces these are not
rancorous. Murakami s interpersonal relationships are pleasant but so unlike mo
st people s experience that they help give the collection a very surreal feel.
In "UFO in Kushiro" the central character s wife leaves him, a sudden and comple
te break -- without, of course, any personal confrontation: he just returns home
to find she has gone. The man, Komura, then travels to Hokkaido at the suggesti
on of a colleague, who has him deliver a mysterious small box. The Kobe earthqua
ke plays a large role here, both in his wife s leaving and as a reflection of hi
s own unsettled state.
"Landscape with Flatiron" is dominated by a late-night beachside bonfire lightin
g. Not much happens, the most tense moments involving the question of whether th
e collected driftwood will catch fire. Yet it still manages to be a nice reflect
ion of youthful life and concerns:
What s important is now. Who knows when the world is gonna end ? Who can think a
bout the future ?
In "All God s Children can Dance" Yoshiya is the son of a woman who found religi
on (and is, during the story, down in Kansai helping with the earthquake relief)
. He only learnt the secret of his mysterious birth when he was seventeen. Her
e he believes to see the man who might be his father. He follows him, and finds
release from some of what oppressed him. The story verges on the mystical.
"Thailand" represents a rare foreign foray for Murakami. After attending a confe
rence, Satsuki takes a vacation at a resort. Her driver, Nimit, is the perfect c
are-taker for her, taking her to a secluded swimming pool away from the hotel wh
ere she can rest and swim in peace. Nimit is also an unusual man, having worked
for thirty years for a Norwegian who fled to Thailand. The two form an odd bond,
and help each other in a way. Again, the story moves towards the mystical.
"Super-Frog saves Tokyo" tells of an odd relationship between Katagiri and a fro
g that appears to him and asks him to help save Tokyo from an earthquake far mor
e devastating than the one in Kansai. What sounds ridiculous at first unfolds in
neat turns into a surprisingly appealing tale, each advance never quite the exp
ected one. Note also that the frog is just called "Frog" or "Mr.Frog" in the sto
ry itself; the name "Super-Frog" is from another story, "All God s Children can
Dance": it is what Yoshiya s girlfriend called him in college .....
Frog -- who spouts Nietzsche and reads the Russian greats -- tells Katagi
ri:
The whole terrible fight occurred in the area of imagination. That is the precis
e location of our battlefield. It is there that we experience our victories and
our defeats.
So it is often in Murakami s work, but here far more explicitly than usual.
The final story, "Honey Pie", presents a familiar wistful Murakami-scenario: an
odd threesome (two men who love one woman), a small child (to whom stories are t
old), and a somewhat successful writer. The writer is looking to the new -- in h
is personal life, in what he wants to write. He takes a first stab at action, bu
t it s never that easy. Here an Earthquake Man interferes ..... But there is h
ope at the end.
A nice collection, more resonant than it might first appear. Deceptively simple,
with the familiar Murakami tropes, there is more to these stories than first me
ets the eye.
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7 mp3 files
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101 _ UFO in Kushiro.mp3
107 _ Landscape with Flatiron.mp3
201 _ All God s Children Can Dance.mp3
208 _ Thailand.mp3
304 _ Superfrog Saves Tokyo.mp3
 401 _ Honey Pie _ Part One.mp3
407 _ Honey Pie _ Part Two.mp3

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