Haruki Murakami’s Sapporo beer commercials

A few days ago we reported about the television commercials Haruki Murakami wrote for Japanese beer brewery Sapporo. Those commercials (four in number, not only one like previously assumed) were aired during the annual Tokyo-Hakone Ekiden which is a very popular race telecasted on Nippon TV. The four videos which are each one minute in length were produced by movie director Hirokazu Koreeda and voiced by actress Yukie Nakama. See them here:

Haruki Murakami’s Sapporo beer commercials

or on Sapporo’s homepage (only until the end of January)

The commercials are based on “What I Talk About When I Talk About Running”. It seems like most passages were taken directly from the book and perhaps a little bit modified by Murakami-san to fit the TV format.

Those commercials were produced to encourage the people struck by the earthquake and tsunami back in March. Murakami is going to donate his writing fee to them.

See our ramblings and a few of the passages quoted from the book down below.

The first commercial seems to be based on this extract:

“Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional. Say you’re running and you start to think, Man this hurts, I can’t take it anymore. The hurt part is an unavoidable reality, but whether or not you can stand any more is up to the runner himself. This pretty much sums up the most important aspect of marathon running.”

The fourth is most definitely based on this:

“The thoughts that occur to me while I’m running are like clouds in the sky. Clouds of all different sizes. They come and they go, while the sky remains the same sky as always. The clouds are mere guests in the sky that pass away and vanish, leaving behind the sky. The sky both exists and doesn’t exist. It has substance and at the same time doesn’t. And we merely accept that vast expanse and drink it in.”

The other two sound familiar, too, but we couldn’t figure out what passages they’re based on. Tell us if you know.

Notes

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