Japanese writer Haruki Murakami receives award from his alma mater

Famed Japanese writer Haruki Murakami has admitted that he was not a model student while receiving an honorary degree from his former university in Tokyo.
"It's a bit strange to receive this award, considering I was a very bad student," Murakami said to laughter from the audience at the prestigious Waseda University.
"I used to skip classes and forget to study. I only did what I liked and caused a lot of trouble at the university," the 75-year-old bestselling author was quoted as saying by AFP.
That's why this diploma is "quite a generous gesture from Waseda," he told the enthusiastic audience made up of hundreds of admiring fans and students of the university.
In awarding the diploma, Waseda University praised the "cosmopolitan atmosphere" in his novels and the writer's ability to "move between the real and the surreal."
The author of "The Ballad of the Impossible" and "Kafka on the Shore" is known for his tales of absurdity and loneliness in the modern world. He has been translated into almost 50 languages.
In Murakami's World, readers discover giant frogs challenging office workers and mackerel falling from the sky.
His latest book, "City of Precarious Walls," has been in Japanese bookstores since last year. It was published in English in November.
A regular nominee for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Murakami is a private man who shows no interest in the media.
"If I hadn't studied at Waseda, I probably wouldn't have made a career as a writer. I want to continue writing good novels," he concluded. | BGNES