THE latest novel by well-known Japanese writer

and translator Haruki Murakami is on its way to becoming one of the fastest-selling Japanese novels of the past few years.

    Representatives of the novel’s publisher, Bungeishunju, said they’ve ordered 1 million print copies of the book that was released April 12. Tens of millions of online copies have sold through Amazon’s Japanese site, according to media reports.

    The novel is titled “Shikisai wo Motanai Tazaki Tsukuru to Kare no Junrei no Toshi,” or “Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage.” Bungeishunju ordered 500,000 copies before the book’s launch and added 300,000 more as demand quickly grew. The company has continued to order copies, according to media reports.

    While confirmed sales figures are not yet available, Bungeishunju claimed sales of 350,000 copies in the first three days after the book’s release.

    Many Japanese readers lined up at bookstores April 12, when several shops opened at midnight after a countdown for the book’s release.

    Murakami has many top awards around the world for his fiction and non-fiction. His works often are humorous and surreal, focusing on themes of alienation and loneliness.

    In Japan, publishers often print no more than 10,000 copies of a literary work when it is first launched. Even a popular author might draw no more than 100,000 copies for a first printing. The first printings for Murakami’s books, however, often top 500,000 copies.

    As with Murakami’s previous novel, “1Q84,” no details about the new novel were revealed before its release, leaving many people curious about its content and strange title.

    The 370-page book tells the story of a young man trying to deal with his painful past through the help of a new romance. Tsukuru Tazaki is a 36-year-old man who works at a rail company. His four best friends in high school had cut him off suddenly in their sophomore year, which pushed him into lifelong loneliness and desperation. To find the truth of his painful youth, he decides to take a journey back into the past.

    “I planned to write a short story, but it turned out to become a long story when I finished,” Murakami told Japanese media. “It is very uncommon. The last time I ran into this situation was when I wrote ‘Norwegian Wood.’”

    Many readers have said the new novel has a lot in common with his “youth trilogy.”

    “Judging from the novel’s structure, several characters in the new novel are very similar to characters in ‘Norwegian Wood.’ The biggest difference is that the new book is set around 2010,” Chinese-Japanese writer Mao Danqing said.

    When a Chinese translation of the book will be released on the mainland is unknown. An English-language version was not yet available yesterday on Amazon.

    Since 1989, more than 30 of Murakami’s books have been translated by Lin Shaohua and published by Shanghai Translation Publishing House. But in 2010, when Murakami’s “1Q84” was introduced to China, Thinkingdom Media Group won the copyright war and the book, along with several other of Murakami’s works, was translated by Shi Xiaowei. The change raised a heated discussion about who was a better translator of Murakami’s works.

    Both companies are now battling to win the copyright for the new novel’s Chinese version.

    “We’re evaluating the book and will try hard to get the copyright, but it is not the right time for us to reveal any progress,” said Huang Yuning, a department director at Shanghai Translation Publishing House.

    Lin told Chinese media that he would be the novel’s translator if Shanghai Translation got the copyright.

    “But if the copyright goes to another company, I will not participate in its publication,” he said.

    Thinkingdom Media said they also were preparing to introduce the book.

    “But we are not sure who will be its translator yet,” said Yue Weihua, head of the company’s marketing department.

    (Wang Yuanyuan)