Analysis Of 'UFO In Kushiro' By Haruki Murakami

My first encounter with the short stories left me frustrated, confused, and in dire need of wanting more. It was probably due to the choice in literature, Haruki Murakami didn’t hold back in leaving his novice readers in a state of ‘shoot me’—but once you’ve read behind the lines and understood the implications Murakami depicted, epiphany hits you. The six stories were set at the time of the Kobe earthquake, wherein the Japanese became aware of how fragile their daily existence was. Murakami represented the concept by using characters that only experienced the earthquake through second-hand such as television images, and reports of the devastation.
‘After the quake’, the title which linked all of the stories’ setting also served as a crucial focal point that moved along some of the stories, like the perspective change Junpei experienced in ‘honey pie’. The man lived a life full of indecisions and regrets. Murakami portrayed him to be a complete loser, but when the earthquake struck he had a life-altering realization; death was drawing near, and he should do what he wanted.
The stories had similar themes, images, and traits—some of the most obvious ones were of death, life, and a sense of loss. In ‘UFO in Kushiro’, Komura’s wife packed up and left him, leaving only a note that served to justify her departure—He was but a “chunk of air”, meaning he was boring. A similar situation was presented with the characters of Junko and Miyake in ‘landscape of flatiron’, however it