No, these oysters, they were purely oysters as a concept

April 22, 2015 9:43 AM

A trio of Haruki Murakami's Advertorial Short Stories: In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Onward spent massive sums on advertising J. Press in the print media. The classic ad format, often seen on the back cover of lifestyle magazine Popeye, showed a Japanese or American man telling a colorful story about their favorite trad clothing item. In 1985, as Japanese pop culture went in more avant-garde directions, Onward came up with a new idea — asking up-and-coming novelist Murakami Haruki to write a very short story inside each month’s advertisement for magazines Popeye, Box, and Men’s Club.

The third, which is tucked away as a link in the main article. And here's three more from the same collection (Night of the Spider Monkey; 夜のくもざる) by the same translator. A comprehensive list of the stories, detailing their history and context.

posted by byanyothername (2 comments total)

These are spectacular - I love how much they manage to get across the Murakami feel despite being so short. Thanks for posting!
posted by Itaxpica at 10:14 AM on April 22, 2015

These are really great. It's a shame a lot of Murakami--nonfiction especially, as the first link notes--is unavailable in English, but these were very nice to read. Thanks!
posted by branduno at 7:37 PM on April 26, 2015