Iappreciateyouroffer,butIamquitesatisfiedwiththewayIamnow."Ifyoupardonme,Iwanttosayfrankly"Tohellwithmytwenties."

    Thenattheageof29,asuddenimpulseofwritinganovelknoe.NowIllexplainaboutitmore.ItwasanearlyafternooninspringaoseeabaseballgamebetweenYakultSwallowsandHiroshimaCarpinJinguBaseballStadium.Lyingdownifieldbleacher,drinkingbeer,andlayernamedHiltonhitadouble,Imadeasuddenresolutionthat"Nowitstimeformetostartwritinganovel."ThisishowIstartedtowriteanovel.

    WhenIgivesuexplanationtomystudents,allofthemmakeastunnedface."Thatmeansah...theballgamemeantsomethingveryspecialtoyou?""Idontthinkso.Thespringsunshihetasteofbeer,theflyingtwo-base-hitball,alltheseelementsgottogetheraimulatedsomethinginme,Iguess,"Iexplain."AllIneededwasthetimeandtheexperieoidentifymyself.Itdoesnthavetobeaspecialexperiedoesntmatterthattheyarejustaseriesofordinaryexperiences.Buttheyhavetobetheexperiehatareembeddingthemselvesdeeplyinmybody.Whenastudent,Icouldntfindoutwhattowritedespitetheitchforwritingsomething.Ihesevenyearsandhardshipstodiscoverthethemeformywriting,Iguess.""IfyouhadntgoheballgamestadiumonthatAprilafternoon,youwouldnotbeawriternow,Mr.Murakami?"

    "Whoknows?"

    Ireallymeanit;"Whoknows?"IfIhadhestadiumthatafternoon,Imighthavelivedmyordinarylifewithoutwritinganynovels.Butasamatteroffact,IwasiyoutfieldbleacherofJinguStadiumonthatspringafternoohestadiumwasreallyemptyinthosedays-andlyingdown,wa