Nobel literature crown again eludes Japan’s hope, Haruki Murakami
It’s a plot that could almost have come from Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami, the wildly popular author known for writing about disillusionment, who has been a top pick for the Nobel Literature prize for nearly a decade – in vain.
To the bitter disappointment of fans gathered around Tokyo, the jinx persisted yet again on Thursday, despite Murakami being ranked number two on British betting site Ladbroke’s.
The prize went to Belarusian Svetlana Alexievich.
“This is really too bad, I thought he’d get it this year,” said one man in his 30s, gathered with a group of about 40 at a shrine in a Tokyo neighborhood frequented by Murakami in his youth.
“When I heard the news, tears just came welling up.”
