Murakami recited “The Rise and Fall of Sharpie Cakes,” an early short story, and “Landscape with Flatiron,” a short story inspired by the Great Hanshin Earthquake, which ravaged the city ...

For those unable to visit the Tokyo National Museum, where Iwasa Matabei’s famous 17th-century epic gold leaf painting “Rakuchu Rakugai Zu Byobu” currently hangs, the Gagosian gallery in ...

This eerie landscape of snows, forests and torrents is beautifully evoked as Mr. Murakami the seasoned storyteller of loss, loneliness and passing time takes charge. The action dawdles ...