Haruki Murakami, Magical Realism, and Modern Japan
Travel across Japan, from Tokyo’s bustling streets to Kyoto’s ancient temples, exploring Japanese literature, history, and culture through the stories and places that bring them to life.
Program
Dates
Contact us to inquire
Program
Location
Tokyo, Japan
Application
Status
Partner School Students Only
Cost of
Participation
Contact us to inquire
Eligible
Ages
Grades 9-11
at time of
application
Exploring Japan Through Story and Place
What can fiction teach us about the places we visit and the people who call them home? Using the works of Haruki Murakami as a starting point, students explore questions of identity, memory, belonging, and the ways stories change across languages and cultures. Along the way, they develop their own voices as writers and learn to look more closely at the world around them.
Journey
across Japan by bullet train, from Tokyo’s bustling streets to Kyoto’s historic temples.
Interpret
Japanese literature via translation workshops, local exchanges, and cultural experiences.
Create
field journals combining writing, photography, and reflections on Japanese life and culture.
Program Description
Embark on an immersive, 10-day learning expedition across Japan designed for curious and creative high school readers. Stepping inside the surreal, jazz-infused, and labyrinthine worlds of Haruki Murakami, this journey uses modern Japanese fiction as a gateway to explore urban isolation, historical memory, translation mechanics, and traditional Shinto mythology. From an orientation in Tokyo featuring interactive transit roleplay and custom traveler's notebooks, students will journey through neon-lit streets, independent bookstores, and historic vinyl cafes (jazz kissa) while engaging in academic exchanges with local peers and participating in guest-led translation workshops.
As the expedition moves across the country via high-speed Shinkansen bullet trains, the curriculum grounds magical realism in real-world history and sacred landscapes. In Hiroshima, students will reflect on collective trauma and post-war identity at the Peace Memorial Museum and Atomic Bomb Dome before crossing over to Miyajima Island. Continuing on to Kyoto, students will experience traditional hospitality during a stay at a historic ryokan, walk through the iconic red torii gate pathways of Fushimi Inari, practice guided Zen meditation at Shunko-in, and participate in traditional tea ceremonies and Roketsu fabric dyeing workshops.
The journey culminates with a chartered excursion to Nara’s ancient Todai-ji Temple and deer park, followed by a vibrant culinary and cultural exploration of Osaka’s Dotonbori district, complete with a takoyaki cooking class and a riverboat cruise. Throughout the trip, students capture impressionistic writing, photography, and literary analysis in their field journals, culminating in a capstone presentation that synthesizes their observations of modern Japanese identity before returning to Tokyo for departure.
