The Longest Marathon: 54 years

A hundred years ago...

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Tsubasa: It took 18 days to reach Sweden from Japan. By Trans-Siberian Railway. It took him five days to recover when he arrived in Stockholm for the 1912 Olympic marathon.

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Akira: But you say he didn’t finish the race.

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Tsubasa: He keeled over, locals took care of him, and when he woke up the race was long finished. So embarrassed, he quietly returned to Japan.

1912 to 1967

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Akira: Just disappeared?

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Tsubasa: Then in 1967, a Swedish TV company invited him to complete the run. He did. Total time elapsed for the race: over 54 years.

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Voice-over

Shizo Kanakuri (1891-1983) competed in two more Olympic marathons: 1920 and 1924. He must have understood Murakami’s “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.”

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Murakami's epiphany

Two Harukists discuss revelations...

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Matthew: What’s that word when you have a sudden insight into what you should do?

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Mark: An epiphany?

I'll start writing!

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Matthew: That’s it. Murakami had an epiphany; he was at a baseball match and decided he would become a writer. Like St Paul on the road to Damascus.

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Mark: There was a difference.

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Matthew: Being?

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Mark: That Jesus appeared, struck Paul blind, instructed him to seek a healer in Damascus. He did, regained his sight, and was converted.

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Matthew: See what you mean. Murakami just saw a baseball fly by and decided he could write a book.

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Voice-over

So an epiphany has its origins in a religious revealing, a turning point in a journey shimmering to life as a story. More than a sudden insight leading to a decision about what to do tomorrow.

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Murakami Haruki and back translation

Back translating?

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Franz: One writer I’ve heard of who does that is Murakami Haruki.

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Yoko: Yes. He did. That’s how he got started, how he developed his distinctive voice. He thought in Japanese, wrote in English and back-translated into Japanese.

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Franz: Is that why he doesn’t mind giving speeches in English?

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Yoko: Yes, he’s comfortable with planning a speech in English. He says writing short sentences in English reduces his choices, makes it clearer, gives him confidence.

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Franz: He delivers well. He’s good at getting the audience on his side. They laugh, they nod in agreement.

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Yoko: Oh, but he also practises. Over and over. Often when he goes out running. Even gestures and facial expressions.

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Franz: Surprising passersby no doubt.

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Voice-over

Reversing Murakami's method

It has been said that Murakami's Japanese often reads, in the original, as if it has been translated from English. If an English writer were to do the same; by writing in Japanese first then back-translating into English, would it have a redolence of having come from the Japanese? It goes without saying though that such a writer must first be fluent in Japanese.

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