Haruki Murakami graduated from Waseda University, Tokyo, in 1975. Widely considered one of Japan's most important 20th-century novelists, he is heavily influenced by American culture and has been criticized by some Japanese critics as overly Westernized. His often solitary, withdrawn, and world-weary protagonists are generally stripped of Japanese tradition. Frequently called postmodern, his fiction, which often includes elements of surreal fantasy and is sprinkled with references to America ...[Read Story]