{"id":183381,"date":"2021-11-01T14:15:38","date_gmt":"2021-11-01T05:15:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/?p=183381"},"modified":"2021-11-01T14:15:38","modified_gmt":"2021-11-02T03:15:43","slug":"designed-by-kengo-kuma-and-associates-the-new-haruki-murakami-library-at-waseda-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/architect\/designed-by-kengo-kuma-and-associates-the-new-haruki-murakami-library-at-waseda-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, the new Haruki Murakami Library at Waseda University – Interview to Prof. Giorgio Amitrano"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new Haruki Murakami Library opened its doors at Waseda University in Tokyo<\/h3>\r\n
\r\n

L<\/span>Learning is really no different from breathing. Whether you\u2019re in a classroom or not, you are constantly taking in the world around you. I hope that this Library will become a place of learning where you can breathe easy, a place that will allow you to pass through walls of all kinds- whether those erected within academic institutions or along national borders.<\/p>\r\n

Haruki Murakami<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates<\/a>, the new Haruki Murakami Library<\/a> opened its doors this month at <\/span>Waseda University. The Library is dedicated to the work of the renowned Japanese author and hosts 3,000 of his books in 50 different languages. \"To be honest, I wish a place like this could have been built only after I'm dead,\" joked the Japanese novelist at the inaugural press conference. We had the chance to visit this unique project and interview professor Giorgio Amitrano<\/a> - eminent orientalist and expert of Japanese literature \u2013 who translated the works of Murakami into Italian.<\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00009\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00002\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00001\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00007\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00017\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The idea of remodeling the pre-existing Building No. 4 of Waseda Campus<\/a> started in 2018 when Murakami offered to donate his collection to Waseda University. \u201cThe original Building No. 4 was just your average ordinary building, but its ordinariness is what makes the building stylish. Discovering the ordinary is an important theme, you see. Just how stylish, and how intriguing, our everyday life can be\u2026 Doesn\u2019t this concept run throughout Murakami\u2019s literature? The same concept applies when dealing with architecture.\u201d, said the architect Kengo Kuma when describing the construction works. The Library was entirely funded by Fellow Waseda alumnus Tadashi Yanai<\/a> \u2013 the owner of Uniqlo - who donated 1.2 billion yen for this project.<\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00006\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00005\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00011\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

The Waseda International House of Literature (this is the official name of the Library) is conceived as a space to encourage the young generations of students to challenge themselves. Describing this project, Kuma mentioned his efforts in \u201cconjuring Murakami\u2019s world to the space.\u201d The wooden tunnels \u2013 featured both inside and outside the construction - are a metaphor for Murakami\u2019s stories. Here the protagonists often travel between the real world and parallel reality. Similarly, the tunnels bring the visitors from their everyday world to a different one, the world of Murakami. Kuma has imagined this space as a lively place to socialize, rather than a traditional quiet library. The Library's motto is \u201cExplore Your Story, Speak Your Heart,<\/a>\u201d and the founders aimed to encourage Waseda\u2019s students to be more proactive, starting by traveling abroad to discover the diversity of other cultures.<\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00015\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00018\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

<\/p>\r\n

Designed by Kengo Kuma and Associates, the new Haruki Murakami Library opened its doors at Waseda University in Tokyo Part\u2161<\/h3>\r\n

Some critics claim that Murakami\u2019s books express a globalized culture because their cosmopolitan environments are not strictly linked to Japan. Yanai, with his international brand Uniqlo, and Kuma - with projects realized all around the world \u2013 are also the expression of a global culture. Though, the three fathers of this project are also credited for having enormously contributed to spreading the Japanese culture worldwide in their different fields. In an interview about his book Kafka on the Shore<\/em><\/a>, Murakami said that that for him, writing a novel is like \u201criding on the back of a runaway horse and let yourself be led without knowing where clinging with all her strength to his neck so as not to be thrown to the ground.\u201d Whether in literature, architecture, or business, creativity is born from hard work mixed with enthusiasm. Success cannot be planned nor achieved with premeditation. It comes from passion and perseverance. The same values that you can learn and breathe at the new Murakami Library.<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\"giorgio<\/a>

Prof. Giorgio Amitrano<\/p><\/div>\r\n\r\n

Interview to Professor Giorgio Amitrano<\/h4>\r\n

Matteo Belfiore -\u00a0Besides your academic career and four years in Tokyo as director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Tokyo, you are the translator of some of the most significant Japanese storytellers, from Yoshimoto Banana to Kawabata Yasunari, from Mishima Yukio to Murakami Haruki. You've got to meet Murakami on several occasions. What did you understand about his personality, and how do you think this is reflected in his writings?<\/p>\r\n

Giorgio Amitrano\u00a0- Murakami gave me the impression of a very reserved person in all of our meetings. He usually answers the questions with rather terse but always interesting, original, and profound answers. Even knowing that one should not look for an autobiographical component in narrative works - and especially in his, so rich in invention - it seems clear that there is a remarkable correspondence between him and his characters. In other words, I think that his personality is in line with his writing.<\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00019\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00003\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Matteo Belfiore -\u00a0As a book lover - and an estimator of the typical Tokyo bookstore's atmosphere - what do you think of this project? Did Kuma succeed in his intent to materialize Murakami's style?<\/p>\r\n

Giorgio Amitrano\u00a0- I have only seen the Library in photos and videos, not yet in person. From what I have been able to see, it seems to me that Kuma created a splendid work from an aesthetic point of view and managed perfectly to evoke the world of Murakami. Perhaps more than materializing it, which would be impossible (it would take entire cities), he managed to create a visual correlative. There is in his creation a clarity, cleanliness, and attention to detail that are very close to Murakami's style. A library that is neither baroque nor minimalist - as Murakami's work is not - and which instead recalls the quality of the writer's imagination and mental circuits.<\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00004\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00016\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00014\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Matteo Belfiore -\u00a0Kuma Kengo described the project as a tunnel-shaped structure that transports us from our daily reality to a parallel dimension, or even a tunnel that takes visitors to discover the world of Murakami Haruki. What do you think of this metaphor? Do you find it in the work of the Japanese writer?<\/p>\r\n

Giorgio Amitrano\u00a0- It seems very beautiful that Kuma used the tunnel - a metaphor not usually associated with Murakami's books - where wells, labyrinths, stairs recur. I think it's good because it shows how Kuma didn't \"flatten\" himself on Murakami's personality, but he interpreted it by expressing his own. If the parallel worlds have become almost a \"trademark\" of Murakami, Kuma has focused on something that can connect them. Designing the tunnel, Kuma has created an image that, in addition to joining the parallel worlds, connects his world with those of Murakami.<\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00012\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00013\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

\"adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00008\"<\/a><\/p>\r\n

Matteo Belfiore -\u00a0In your recent book entitled \u201cIro Iro. Il Giappone tra pop e sublime,\u201d you examined in-depth Murakami's work. In the book, you state that the Japanese writer uses two registers in his narrative works: realistic and fantastic. I see a similarity with the creation of Kengo Kuma. There is a fantastic register in his projects - the poetic concept that describes and guides each project \u2013 and a realistic register, the attention for the structure, the details, and the construction techniques. Have you ever experienced these feelings while visiting the works of Kengo Kuma?<\/p>\r\n

Giorgio Amitrano\u00a0- Yes, it seems to be a fair observation. There is a kind of elective affinity between Kuma and Murakami because they both move with agility and lightness between the realistic and the fantastic register. Obviously, in the case of Kuma, the term \"fantastic\" must be contextualized, given that an architect must still express himself by passing through the most concrete elements of reality. Those foundations are necessary to construct buildings that are used to make our dream and live or use them. The Library that Kuma has designed for Murakami is visionary, like the one described in the novel \u201cWonderland\u201d, but it is also realistic and aimed at users: like the one we find in \"Kafka on the beach.\"<\/p><\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new Haruki Murakami Library opened its doors at Waseda University in Tokyo Learning is really no different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":183362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"\"Designed by #KengoKuma and Associates, the new #HarukiMurakami Library at Waseda University\"\r\n#adf #npoadf #\u6751\u4e0a\u6625\u6a39 #\u65e9\u7a32\u7530\u5927\u5b66","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[7],"tags":[4,38,49,68,83,110,134],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/adf-web-magazine-murakami-matteo-00002-rotated.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183381"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183381"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183381\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.adfwebmagazine.jp\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}