The site where you can read Murakami's personal collection

BarcelonaTokyo isn't a city; it's a giant ocean of endless buildings. A place where the future and the past seem to coexist in balance, where everyone can find an alleyway with a corner to hide in. A place that overwhelms and seduces, that you never quite understand and never stops, with surprising corners that make you rethink the concept of space. Here, a hotel has its reception on the 78th floor of a skyscraper, a bookstore is hidden in an underground parking lot, and an ancient temple has been placed inside the courtyard of a shopping mall. In Tokyo, you can also read the books and listen to the vinyl records that writer Haruki Murakami personally bought. Not a copy, no: the originals.

In a fairly quiet area of the Shinjuku district is Waseda University's House of Literature. Murakami, arguably the greatest Japanese writer of the last 40 years, gave them his entire giant collection of books and vinyl records. The writer, who had studied at Waseda, wanted everything to be accessible to students and curious visitors, so a new building was created with spaces for reading, studying, and listening to the author's magnificent jazz collection. There's also an entire office you can explore. Where can you pick up a vinyl record Murakami bought and play it while you listen to him in peace? In Tokyo.

The writer has created a space to enrich a city that you can explore by looking for the settings of his books. You can still find some of the settings for his first major hit, that one. Norwegian Wood from 1987 translated as Tokyo blues in our house. A love triangle in 1960s Tokyo, between demonstrations and concerts, in places like Inokashira Park, where one of the protagonists of Tokyo blues, in Toru Watanabe. Or bars like the Dug Jazz Café & Bar, which is still open not far from the busy Shinjuku station. The writer used to come here as a student, and that's why he appears in the book. Fortunately, Tokyo still has several jazz bars of this type. One of those that no longer exists is Peter's Cat, the bar Murakami and his wife Yoko owned during the 1960s and 1970s. It was their refuge when they weren't famous and didn't know he would make it big with literature. Initially, they had him in Kokubunji, a neighborhood far from the center, and later moved to Sendagaya, between the subway station and the national stadium, a quiet and fascinating place. The bar now houses a sort of Italian restaurant, but it's worth wandering the alleys where Murakami found inspiration on his way to Meiji Jingu, the baseball stadium where he used to watch the Yakult Swallows games, his team. It's beautiful to visit neighborhoods that seemingly have nothing. You discover that it's all there, especially if someone like Murakami looks at it.

Recommendation for traveling to Tokyo

Book: Tokyo Blues

Author: Haruki Murakami

Publisher: Empúries