Author Haruki Murakami, who recently published his first book in three years, discussed his work in an interview with teenage reporters from The Yomiuri Junior Press in August.
The 71-year-old writer talked about topics including how he creates his work, as well as his thoughts on preserving the memories of World War II.
"A novel is like a mirror in which the readers reflect themselves. So it's not wrong if your opinion as a reader is different from mine as a writer," Murakami told the three high schoolers, who asked him questions nervously.
He also advised them to enjoy reading books, free from concern about meanings and how they should interpret them.
Murakami's first book in three years, "Ichininsho Tansu (First Person Singular)," is a collection of eight stories released in July by Bungeishunju Ltd.
In April, Murakami published an essay titled "Neko o Suteru: Chichioya ni tsuite Kataru Toki" (Abandoning a Cat: When I talk about my father), in which he dealt with his father's experience of the war. "People in my generation, and also in my father's, see war as evil. I wanted to tell young people about the war," the author said.
The interview was held on Aug. 8 at The Yomiuri Shimbun's headquarters in Tokyo's Otemachi district. To prepare, the reporters read Murakami's latest book and went over their questions together in a videoconference.
Smiling the whole time, Murakami kindly agreed to the reporters' request to take a photo with them after the interview.
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