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Murakami's New Novel “The Tale of KAHO” Releases July 3.

4/24/2026

38 5 Full Breakdown

Summary

Murakami Releases Kaho

Shinchosha Publishing will release Murakami’s The Tale of KAHO in Japan on July 3, 2026.
The Tale of KAHO, Murakami’s first full-length since 2023, features his lone female protagonist, a 26-year-old picture-book author.
It expands four short stories, the last appearing in March 2026.
Murakami has no translation date set, though Philip Gabriel translated “Kaho” for The New Yorker in 2024, and he will release 80-page essay Abandoning a Cat summer.

Summary

Murakami Meets Princess

Haruki Murakami met Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit at the Norwegian Literature Festival in Lillehammer on June 5 2025.
He rehearsed the original “Kaho” short story with novelist Mieko Kawakami at Waseda University two years earlier.
The novel, which includes a story titled “Kaho and the Motorcycle Man, and Scarlett Johansson,” will launch in print and digital on July 3, linking the series to a Hollywood celebrity.

Summary

Murakami Revives Kaho

Month-long hospital stay and loss of 18 kg gave author Haruki Murakami a “resurrection” that enabled him to write The Tale of KAHO.
He told the New York Times the novel feels optimistic and writing from a woman’s perspective felt natural.
He received the Franz Kafka Prize (2006), the Hans Christian Andersen Award (2016) and the Princess of Asturias Award (2023).
His works are translated into 50 languages, giving him a worldwide readership.

History

Historical Context

In 1987 Kodansha released Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, which vaulted the then-little-known author to national fame and began a wave of Japanese novels reaching global markets. The book’s success helped establish a pattern of rapid translation—Murakami’s titles are now available in about 50 languages—and sets expectations that his July 3 2026 release, Tale of KAHO, will follow the same worldwide rollout.

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Murakami Releases Kaho

Shinchosha Publishing will release Murakami’s The Tale of KAHO in Japan on July 3, 2026.
The Tale of KAHO, Murakami’s first full-length since 2023, features his lone female protagonist, a 26-year-old picture-book author.
It expands four short stories, the last appearing in March 2026.
Murakami has no translation date set, though Philip Gabriel translated “Kaho” for The New Yorker in 2024, and he will release 80-page essay Abandoning a Cat summer.

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