Murakami, Haruki

Haruki Murakami grew up as the only child in a family with strong Japanese traditions. His parents were both teaching Japanese literature and his paternal grandfather was a Buddhist priest. Murakami was born in Kyoto in 1949, but his family soon relocated to the suburbia of Kobe and Osaka. He dropped out from his literary studies at Waseda University in Tokyo when he married fellow student Yoko Takahashi, who became his lifelong companion.