Ryu Murakami

Ryū Murakami is a Japanese novelist and filmmaker. He is colloquially referred to as the "Maradona of Japanese literature". Born as Ryūnosuke Murakami in Sasebo, Nagasaki on February 19, 1952. The name Ryunosuke was taken from the main character in Daibosatsutoge, a piece of fiction by Nakazato Kaizan . He attended primary, middle and senior high school in Sasebo. While a student in senior high, Murakami helped form a rock band, in which he was the drummer. After the band’s breakup, he went on to join the rugby club, which he found especially grueling. He soon left the rugby... club and transferred to the school’s newspaper department. In the summer of his third year in senior high, Murakami and his colleagues barricaded the rooftop of his high school and he was placed under house arrest for three months. During this time, he had an encounter with the hippie culture which influenced him greatly. Murakami graduated from high school in 1970, around which time he went on to form yet another rock band and produce 8-millimeter indie films.
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