“What I do know is that I had fun writing this story.
That's all.
So, please read it and enjoy.”

Haruki's quirky imagination combined with Mizumaru's delicious illustrations
A collection of surrealist short stories

Haruki Murakami's rich imagination, ingenious settings, and unique, lingering writing style are combined with Mizumaru Anzai's quirky and charming illustrations.
A collection of 37 short stories that stimulate the sensibilities of modern readers, the video generation.


The short stories included in this book were originally written as a series of advertisements for a magazine.
Haruki Murakami's works included in Part 1 are 'J.
The second part of the suit advertisement for the 'Press' company was written for the 'Parker fountain pen' advertisement.
However, in that Haruki Murakami wrote stories as he pleased, and Anzai Mizumaru drew pictures as he pleased, regardless of the practical purpose of product advertising, it is possible to fully enjoy the unique artistic worlds of these two representative masters of this era.


“I actually enjoy writing short stories of this length.
Of course, writing long novels is the most precious thing to me, but writing short, fun, and funky stories like this every now and then gives me a lot of relief.
“It may be closer to a hobby than a job.” ─Haruki Murakami, from the author’s preface

“I really enjoyed Haruki Murakami’s surreal short stories.
My heart always raced, as if I was opening a magic box, never knowing what would come out.
“I was excited, I laughed a little, I felt strange, and then I pressed the image switch in my mind and started drawing.” ─Anzai Mizumaru, from “Review, Part 2”

Haruki Murakami's writing style, which humorously sketches the imaginary landscapes hidden within the dry and dull reality of everyday life, shines even brighter in his short stories.


In "Trump," the sea turtles that haunt the house every night as if ready to devour us all just want to sit around and play Trump properly.
In "Newspaper," a large monkey that appears on the Ginza subway line appears in front of the protagonist and switches the left and right letters of the newspaper that passengers are reading.
In "Spanner," Mayumi mercilessly punishes men who attempt to sexually harass her with a spanner.
“They say there are a lot of guys in this world who would rather break their collarbones than be cheap.” In “The World Where Words Sell Tickets,” the father suddenly turns into a horse, and in “No Juice,” the camel man (reminiscent of the sheep man from “A Wild Sheep Chase”) tortures the protagonist for the absurd reason of teasing his wife.
The main character just thought about eating radish juice while serving his wife.


Meanwhile, in this play of extraordinary imagination, the irony of human existence is subtly pointed out.
In "Donut-ization," the donut-ized lover speaks to the protagonist.
“The center of our human existence is nothing.
Zero, nothing.
Why don't you look straight at that void?" The hollowed-out donut is a metaphor for the hollow hearts of modern people.
Also, in "Bangkok Surprise," the woman who called in the middle of the night was calling from an unknown number because she wanted to share with anyone the "amazing experience" she had on her trip to Bangkok.


"The Spider Monkey of the Night" fully displays the source of Haruki Murakami's unique fantasy and imagination.
As you read each short story, you can easily see that the fantastical elements in Murakami's novels, such as Colonel Sanders, the "Stone at the Entrance," the Sheep Man, the Frog Man, and the woman who is a corrections officer, ear model, and call girl, were created from this playful imagination.
Accompanied by humorous and witty illustrations by Haruki's longtime partner, Mizumaru Anzai, this is a collection of short stories that any Haruki fan cannot afford to miss.

All I know is that I wrote this story fluently - and with great enthusiasm.
So, please read it and enjoy.
Shouldn't we enjoy ourselves in our own way, and the field mice live their lives in their own way?

--- p.11

To be honest, I really enjoy this kind of short, not-so-useful—and sometimes almost meaningless—writing.
Although I said this, it is true that I also squeezed out various wisdoms, some of which were there and some of which were not there.
I didn't just lie under a pear tree and wait for the pears to fall on their own.

--- p.174

Anzai Mizumaru: I really enjoyed Haruki Murakami's surreal short stories.
My heart always raced, as if I was opening a magic box, never knowing what would come out.
I was excited, laughed a little, felt strange, and then I pressed the image switch in my mind and started drawing.

--- p.179