Essay Questions

Give a possible interpretation of the story "super-frog saves tokyo."

This Kafka-esque story is a highly symbolic one. Katagiri comes home from work to find an imposing six-foot frog at his house, who talks with him and explains his mission: he needs Katagiri's help to combat Worm, a giant worm under the city of Tokyo that grows as it feeds on hatred, and that is currently threatening to cause a huge earthquake to destroy Tokyo.

This story can be seen as a symbolic representation of the clash between perspectives after a natural disaster, and the effects of each type. Worm represents the nourishing of bitterness and hatred in pessimistic reaction to the seemingly meaningless suffering caused by the world and/or God. When hatred is fostered instead of hope, it threatens to spill over and destroy society, plunging it into chaos and depression. Frog serves as the antithesis to Worm: he represents the embrace of peace and hope in the wake of suffering, choosing to forego bitterness in favor of content acceptance. When people support Frog in his war to hold back Worm, they choose the path of optimism, holding on to light in a world that desires darkness.

How does after the quake differ from the rest of Murakami's canon?

after the quake is an interesting and emotionally powerful set of short stories. It is unusual in the context of Murakami's larger canon in that all the stories are written in the third person, and they don't incorporate many supernatural elements; the style rather falls into the category of light magical realism, a genre that incorporates minor fantastic elements into reality, but they serve to illustrate reality, not build upon it. This subtler approach fits Murakami's seriously contemplative mood in this collection rather well.

This collection of stories is unique in another way as well. The Kobe earthquake of 1955 has a personal significance for Murakami, and he wrote these stories as a response to that tragedy. The natural disaster affected the entire country of Japan, but it was particularly person for Murakami, whose parents lost their homes as a result of the earthquake, having to rebuild their lives from the ground up. This collection, subsequently, has an autobiographical touch, one that impacts the general pathos and brings a poignant sobriety to these stories.