Mishima belongs to the uniqueness of culture which can be found in the rich diversity of indigenous thought patterns. This richness can fuse with various concepts in order to counteract against the flows of modernity and a liberal monoculture which seeks to crush conservatism and self-identity. Murakami belongs to this “self-crushing world” along with the majority of authors. Therefore, while the crushing modernity of Murakami will keep on churning out similar types of writers, all with their own identities but trapped within modern convention; the Mishima’s of this world are hard to find and getting rarer.
More from Lee Jay Walker at Modern Tokyo Times:
Yukio Mishima and Haruki Murakami: Iranian Revolution, Nationalism and Liberal Monoculture


