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He went to see her and told her exactly how he felt. How lonely his life had been until then. How much he had lost over the years. How she had made him realize all that.

— Haruki Murakami, from “Tony Takitani” (translated by Jay Rubin)

#haruki murakami #tony takitani #lit #literature #japanese literature #japanese lit #jay rubin

Even if we could turn back, we'd probably never end up where we started.

— Haruki Murakami, 1Q84. Translated by Jay Rubin. (Alfred A. Knopf, October 25, 2011). (via Nella)

#haruki murakami #reverse #turn back #memories #past #jay rubin #1Q84

brusque

#words #interesting words #Things I've learned #brusque #1Q84 #Haruki Murakami #Jay Rubin

When I kill a man, I do it with my sword, but people like you don’t use swords. You gentlemen kill with your power, with your money, and sometimes with your words: you tell people you’re doing them a favor. True, no blood flows, the man is still alive, but you’ve killed him all the same. I don’t know whose sin is greater - yours or mine.

In a Bamboo Grove, Ryunosuke Akutagawa

#akutagawa ryunosuke #in a bamboo grove #jay rubin

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami (tr. Jay Rubin)

#norwegian wood #haruki murakami #quote #typography #literature #aesthetic #dark academia #dead academia #light academia #japan #japanese literature #bookblr #love #the self #humanity #jay rubin

Tall and tan and young and lovely,

The girl from Ipanema goes walking.

When she walks, it’s like a samba

That swings so cool and sways so gently.

How can I tell her I love her?

Yes, I would give my heart gladly.

But each day when she walks to the sea,

She looks straight ahead, not at me.

す、ら、り、として、日に焼けた

若くて綺麗なイパネマ娘が

歩いていく。

歩き方はサンバのリズム

クールに揺れて

やさしく振れる。

好きだと言いたいんだけれど

僕のハートをあげたいんだけれど

彼女は僕に気づきもしない。

ただ、海を見ているだけ。

The 1963/1982 Girl from Ipanema - Murakami Haruki, Jay Rubin.

Great Japanese Stories, 10 Parallel Texts - Penguin

To tell you the truth, I am not a happy man. I am constantly plagued by life’s great questions and oppressed by my own ambitions for the future.

In the deepening hours of a night such as this, alone, facing the lamp, I feel the isolation in which men live, and I experience unbearable sorrow. At these times my brittle egoism seems to shatter, and the thought of others touches me deeply. I think of my friends and of days long past. But more than anything else, images of these people I have described to you come streaming into my mind. No, I see not the people themselves: I see them as figures within a much larger scene. They are part of their surroundings, part of a moment. I remember these people and from deep within me the thought wells up: How am I different from anyone else? Don’t we all receive this life of ours in a place between heaven and earth, only to return, hand in hand, along the same eternal track, to that infinite heaven? And when this feeling strikes me, I find myself in tears, for in truth there is then no self, no other. I am touched by thoughts of each and every one.

Only at these times do I feel such peace, such liberation, such sympathy towards all things. Only then do worldly thoughts of fame and the struggle for fortune utterly disappear.

—Kunikida Doppo, ‘Unforgettable People’ tr. Jay Rubin, in The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories ed. Jay Rubin

#kunikida doppo #jay rubin #japanese literature #the penguin book of japanese short stories #2023 reads #mine #words