In 1994, Japanese writer Haruki Murakami visited China. When the staff politely asked him to eat, he suddenly said: "I don't eat Chinese food..." After that, he began to eat the Japanese canned food he carried with him.
In 1994, the famous Japanese writer Haruki Murakami was invited to set foot on Chinese soil. At this time, he was already a world-famous literary giant, and his works such as "Norwegian Forest" and "1Q84" have achieved great success worldwide. However, there is a story behind it that makes the visit full of drama.
Haruki Murakami, a superstar in Japanese literature, was invited to set foot on Chinese soil in 1994. The visit was originally part of a cultural exchange and was hoped to add bricks to the relationship between the two countries. However, when the staff enthusiastically prepared a sumptuous Chinese meal for Haruki Murakami, something unexpected happened.
Golden fried spring rolls, braised lion's head, sweet and sour Kung Pao chicken... A table full of delicacies with a tempting aroma. The staff waited with anticipation for Haruki Murakami's praise. However, he only glanced at it lightly, and then uttered the sentence: "I don't eat Chinese food...".
Seeing that Murakami Haruki took out the Japanese canned food from his backpack and began to eat it silently, the atmosphere of the entire banquet hall suddenly became heavy. The staff were overwhelmed, they never imagined that an ordinary dinner would become the focus of Sino-Japanese relations.
Just when he was embarrassed, Murakami Haruki seemed to feel the confusion of those present, and he began to tell the story of his past with his father. It turned out that his father was a soldier of the Japanese army that invaded China and participated in the invasion of China. This history, for Haruki Murakami, is an untouchable wound.
He recalled that when he was a child, he was so close to his father. In the dead of night, he would lie on his father's chest and listen to the familiar heartbeat. His father's stories always fascinated him so much. But when he grew up and learned about his father's past from others, all good memories were shattered.
He could not accept the fact that his father was one of those Japanese soldiers who invaded China and harmed countless innocent people. Those stories described so heroically by my father are actually hurting the Chinese people.
Murakami sighed deeply and explained, "I can't forget that history, and I can't forgive my father's actions. Therefore, I chose not to eat Chinese food to apologize to the Chinese people. ”
The staff present were all impressed by Haruki Murakami's candor. They understand that Haruki Murakami is not motivated by prejudice, but by a sense of guilt. He chose not to eat Chinese food, not because he didn't like it, but because he couldn't forget that history and his father's crimes.
Although this meal did not go as scheduled, it became a small episode in the history of China and Japan, reflecting the different attitudes of the two peoples towards history. For Haruki Murakami, he chose to atone for his father's mistakes in this way. For the Chinese present, they would prefer to see the Japanese face history and treat Chinese people sincerely.
For Murakami's behavior, some people praised his frankness, and some criticized him for being too pretentious. But in any case, his behavior has become a small episode in Sino-Japanese relations. The scars of history need time to heal, and for individuals, how to face history and how to treat the past is a question that needs to be pondered.
Murakami doesn't eat Chinese food, not because he doesn't like it, but because he knows how heavy the history behind it is. He hopes that in this way, he can make a small atonement for his father's mistakes and Japan's crimes.
However, true reconciliation is not achieved through the actions of one person, but requires the two peoples to work together, face that painful history, and find the future direction together.
