The Murakami machine marches on
Haruki Murakami had an epiphany during a baseball game at Jingu Stadium in Tokyo in April, 1978. He was 29 and the game was between the Yakult Swallows and the Hiroshima Toyo Carp. When player Dave Hilton hit the first ball into left field, Murakami was struck by a sudden realisation that he was going to write a book. He started writing that day.