Japanese readers flocking to buy Haruki Murakami book with long, mysterious title

TOKYO – Japanese readers are flocking to buy Haruki Murakami’s latest even though almost nothing has been disclosed about the book by one of the nation’s most respected and commercially successful writers.

The novel is the first in three years for the writer frequently mentioned as a Nobel Prize contender. It went on sale Friday and is only in Japanese for now.

Publisher Bungeishunju said first printing totals half a million copies for “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and the Year of His Pilgrimage.” The original title reads just as mysteriously.

Murakami’s internationally known works include “Norwegian Wood” and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” He’s also an accomplished translator of American literature and non-fiction writer.

Murakami has become an aggressive critic of Japan’s pro-nuclear policies since the 2011 Fukushima disaster.