My Everyday Blog

Kaho by Haruki Murakami Translated, from the Japanese, by Philip Gabriel Source and Credit : newyorker.com A long time passed as she walked everywhere, examining  countless faces as she went, yet she never found her own face.  What she saw were always the faces of others. She didn’t know  what to do. And before she knew it she was no longer a girl but  an adult woman. Would she never be able to find her own face  again She fell into despair. As she was sitting at the tip of a cape in a northern land, crying in utter hopelessness, a tall young man in a fur coat appeared and sat down beside her. His long hair gently waved in the wind from the sea. The young man gazed into her face and, smiling broadly, said this: “I’ve never seen a woman with such a lovely face as yours.” By then, the face she’d pasted on had become her true face. All sorts of experiences, all kinds of emotions and thoughts, had joined together to create...

"Birthday Girl" (バースデイ・ガール, Bāsudei gāru = Birthday girl) バースデイ・ガール The short story by Haruki Murakami. One may read the same here . The conversation between two friends, describing - the wish, one asked for, on one's birthday. “Happy birthday,” “May you live a rich and fruitful life, and may there be nothing to cast dark shadows on it.” “Which is why,” “I feel it is important for me to give you a birthday present. A special birthday calls for a special commemorative gift.” “No, miss, don’t you give it a second thought. The kind of ‘present’ I have in mind is not something tangible, not something with a price tag. To put it simply” “what I would like to do for a lovely young fairy such as you is to grant a wish you might have, to make your wish come true. Anything. Anything at all that you wish for—assuming that you do have such a wish.” “Something you would like to have happen, miss. If you have a wish—one wish, I’ll make it come true. That is the ...