Haruki Murakami

Tanimura moves to Tokyo to pursue his education at the university and befriends Kitaru, a coworker at a small coffee shop he works in. Kitaru speaks in the same Kansai dialect as the narrator, even though he is not from the region, which both sparks curiosity and defines their friendship.

Memories shift and change over time. Our relationships are defined by the sensations that stick out from all the others – the fluttering of our hearts for the first time, the music that plays on the radio. As old age comes for all of us, how will we remember our past?

After an unexpected divorce with his wife, the narrator moves into his friend's mountain home to get away from the city. He quits his mundane job as a portrait painter and decides to pursue his own artistic passions. He soon comes across a powerful painting in the attic of the house that kicks off a mysterious series of events.

In rural Japan, a traveler comes across a rundown inn where a talking monkey works. The traveler is curious about his life, and the monkey confesses he only loves human females. To satisfy his hopeless desires, the monkey steals women's names.