Overview
- His publisher Gentosha announced on Friday that Murakami died on October 17 and that the family held a private funeral.
- Reports say he died at his home in Tokyo and that the news was made public six days after his death.
- Murakami rose to fame with his 1976 debut Transparent Blue, which won the Akutagawa Prize and brought attention to drug use and social alienation among postwar youth.
- He worked across media as a novelist, essayist, screenwriter and director, and several of his books inspired films by directors such as Takashi Miike and Hideaki Anno.
- Recent republications in Italy have renewed international interest in his work, and publishers and readers are likely to revisit his novels now that his death has been confirmed while clarifying he was not related to Haruki Murakami or Takashi Murakami.