“I wasn’t able to be that person for you, and I did a terrible thing. I feel awful about it. But there was something wrong between us from the start, as if we’d done the buttons up wrong.”

Japanese novelist and short story writer, 1949–present. His work blends surrealism with everyday life, exploring themes of isolation and the uncanny. Known for novels like *Norwegian Wood* and *Kafka on the Shore*, which have earned him global literary acclaim.