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Boyhood cities abound with Haruki Murakami landmarks

BY NAOYUKI MORI STAFF WRITER

photo：A cage that used to house monkeys has been left standing at the Uchide park in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture. (Naoyuki Mori) A cage that used to house monkeys has been left standing at the Uchide park in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture. (Naoyuki Mori)

photo：The Uchide branch of the Ashiya municipal library in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, is more than 100 years old. (Naoyuki Mori) The Uchide branch of the Ashiya municipal library in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, is more than 100 years old. (Naoyuki Mori)

photo：Kenichi Ozaki, manager of Henri Charpentier, an upscale coffee shop in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, holds a gourmet dessert. (Naoyuki Mori) Kenichi Ozaki, manager of Henri Charpentier, an upscale coffee shop in Ashiya, Hyogo Prefecture, holds a gourmet dessert. (Naoyuki Mori)

photo：Takeo Tanabe, a senior priest at Nishinomiya Shrine, stands at a pond on the premises of the shrine in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. (Naoyuki Mori) Takeo Tanabe, a senior priest at Nishinomiya Shrine, stands at a pond on the premises of the shrine in Nishinomiya, Hyogo Prefecture. (Naoyuki Mori)

Novelist Haruki Murakami, a perennial contender for the Nobel Prize in Literature, never forgot his small-town roots growing up in two cities near Kobe, in western Japan.

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