My look at Murakami’s Distant Drums continues!

Via Wikimedia Commons.

The next chapter “Athens” (アテネ) is just a two-page interstitial section that establishes the narrative for Murakami’s trip: He’s arrived in Athens from Rome, not to see any of the sites but to meet with a real estate agent who will help him find a place to stay. Here’s the first sentence:

アテネに来るのはこれでもう三度目か四度目である。 (41)

This is my third or fourth time coming to Athens.

There’s not all that much interesting or compelling in this chapter, it’s just Murakami getting things set up, but it is interesting that Murakami had been to Athens at least twice, potentially three times previously by 1986.

Last year I looked at outgoing tourists numbers from Japan.

There’s a jump between 1970-1977, and then the numbers are somewhat flat until around 1985 when the next big jump begins. So while it’s not that unusual that Murakami had been abroad, having visited Athens three times by 1986 is pretty remarkable.

Looking more closely at this chart, you can see a brief hiccup with the popping of the Bubble in 1992, but then Japanese just…kept on traveling. I didn’t notice the massive drop in 2004, which is due to SARS and the Iraq War. I’m curious what the numbers will look like for 2024, and I wonder when we’ll see the update.

The only other section worth commenting on is Murakami’s characterization of Athens, which is a small area of tourist sites centered on the Acropolis surrounded by unremarkable residential area, which of course people wouldn’t visit:

たとえばあなたが東京に来た外人観光客だとして、ひばりヶ丘とか多摩プラーザだとか西国分寺だとかにわざわざ観光に行きますか？

Say you were a foreign tourist visiting Tokyo, would you go to the trouble of checking out Hibarigaoka or Tama Plaza or Nishi-Kokubunji?

Not really being familiar with any of these areas but knowing vaguely of their reputations, I enjoyed the comparison. I’m sure these places are great these days, though. Am I wrong?