Murakami returns with first novel in three years

Haruki Murakami has said that he writes novels that are "completely different" from what AI can create, as his first book in three years hit shelves in Japan Friday.

Starring a woman as the main character for the first time, his new volume went on sale at midnight in bookstores in Tokyo. Dozens of fans queued to get their hands on the novel, local media reported.

"AI takes into account everything that has happened so far and draws analogies," Murakami said in an exclusive interview with Kyodo News published Friday.

"But the process of how I write novels is something completely different," he said.

With the rapid advances in generative AI, it is now possible to use the technology to write novels. However, the role of a novelist is "to drag in something new that suddenly flashes into your mind," Murakami said.

The Japanese author of "Norwegian Wood" and "Kafka on the Shore" is known for his intricate tales about the absurdity and loneliness of modern life, which have been translated into about 50 languages. When he is deeply focused on writing a story, characters suddenly show up, and "that's not something that comes out from analogy," he said, adding "AI probably can't do that." Titled "The Tale of KAHO", the author's latest release will see the titular character as the first female protagonist in his catalogue of full-length novels, publisher Shinchosha has said on its website.

In a separate interview with the Asahi Shimbun, also published on Friday, Murakami said: "I had the feeling that I was seeing the world through eyes that were different from my usual ones."

"Of course, I can only imagine how women see the world," he said. "But when I wrote 'Kafka on the Shore', I was looking at the world through the eyes of a fifteen-year-old boy, and in that sense, a novelist can become anything."

"Not long before I wrote this, I spent some time at Wellesley College, a women's college in the United States," he told the Asahi.

"Right now, women's perspectives are being valued very highly, and I think breathing in that kind of atmosphere also had an influence on 'Kaho' this time around," he said.

Murakami also said he never really liked writing about parents and children but "every time I write a novel, there's always an urge to try something I haven't done before."

"This time, that might have been the parent-child" relationship, he said.