Haruki Murakami's emotional essay that sparked the "small but certain happiness" craze
A life of leisure and pleasure, a life of margins, like Haruki Murakami's

Visualizing Haruki's mind
Includes illustrations and conversations with Anzai Mizumaru
tvN's 'Knowing Bros' recommends a hot topic!

A collection of 16 essays serialized monthly in the magazine SINRA in the early 1990s when Haruki Murakami was writing The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.
It is also well known to us as a collection of essays that created the buzzword 'Sohwakhaeng' (short for 'small but certain happiness').


In this book, Haruki Murakami candidly reveals his two years of life in Cambridge, a college town near Boston.
It contains stories of everyday life, such as participating in the Boston Marathon, having his car stolen and getting into a fight with a female insurance company employee, news about the neighbor's cat, and the food allergies that plagued him while traveling in China and Mongolia.


Reading his essays is as enjoyable as reading his novels.
This is because in his essays, we can discover Haruki's human side, which is difficult to find within the fictional device of a novel.
In particular, unlike his previous essay collections that reveal his literary views or stance on reality, 『This Small But Certain Happiness』 highlights his everyday life as a person, allowing us to glimpse into the daily life of Haruki Murakami, not as a writer, but as a human being.

At the time I was serializing these articles in the magazine, I was seriously and deeply immersed in writing a novel, so I also felt like writing an essay—although it might be a bit awkward to say it like that—with a carefree and enjoyable mind.
So, I think you will feel a very different atmosphere from that of 『Sad Foreign Language』 in this book.
Please do not pick up this book in a stiff and tense posture, but read it leisurely.
- From the author's note

From the time it was published in the magazine, I thought it would be good to do it in a “soft picture diary style,” so I published it with the pure art style of Mr. Mizumaru Anzai and my wife’s amateur snapshots.
(.…) I am deeply grateful to Mr. Anzai and his wife.

--- p.7

People are often surprised when I tell them that I usually go to bed at 10 p.m., wake up at 6 a.m., go for a jog every day, and never miss a deadline for a manuscript. (I'll add that I've never had a hangover, constipation, headache, or stiff shoulders in my life.) When people hear things like that, it seems like their mythical image of what a writer should be crumbles.
I feel sorry when I see your disappointed expression, but there's nothing I can do about it.

--- p.11

Of course, running a half marathon is painful, but it's the kind of pain that goes away as soon as you finish running.
But after running the full marathon course, I am left with a lingering, irritating, petty, emotional 'resentment' that is difficult for humans (at least for me) to accept.
It's hard to explain properly, but I feel like I have to face that "suffering" thing I just experienced in that extreme situation again soon, and see it come to some kind of conclusion.
'I have to repeat it again.
'We need to repeat this so that we can do it better.'

--- pp.21-22

To find personal 'small but certain happiness' in life, thorough self-regulation, big or small, is necessary.

For example, it's like drinking a cold beer after a strenuous workout.
“Yes, this is the taste!” The pleasure of closing your eyes and muttering to yourself without realizing it, that is the true taste of ‘small but certain happiness’, no matter what anyone says.

--- p.136

But even when writing, people can't always be in good condition.
If you keep doing something for a long time, you will encounter mountains and valleys.
When you're in bad shape, I think it's important to be able to calmly and accurately assess your own pace and do your best within that range.
If you don't push yourself too hard, keep your head up high, and persevere, your condition will gradually return to normal.

--- p.213