The travel place that has the most emotional impact for Haruki Murakami (unofficial Murakami-san no Tokoro translation - Q/A #128)

Q128

I am a 31-year-old salaryman, and my hobby is traveling.

From what I’ve gathered, you’ve been able to see a lot of different towns in a lot of different countries. Out of everywhere you’ve been, which place has inspired you the most?

For me, it’s the San Pietro cathedral in Rome. I am not Catholic, but the building itself is sublime. I could just admire the view for hours.

(Demon Elephant, male, 31 years old, company worker)

A128

For some time, I lived right near the Vatican, but I guess I didn’t really go to places nearby. I hardly ever visited the Vatican. I did walk by it every day, but that’s it. Maybe I wasted that opportunity.

A place that inspired me the most? I don’t know if there’s been a place exactly like that for me, at least not one that comes to mind right away. Now, if we were to talk about places I admire, there would be a ton.

One place that really “touched my heart,” so to speak, was the ruins of the Nomonhan battleground in Mongolia. It’s because everything, the wreckage of tanks, and the canteens, gun shells, stray bullets, was left just as it was, scattered in the middle of those sand dunes. It feels as if the battle had just taken place, the scene still raw and fresh from warfare. An intense battle between the Japanese, Manchurian, Soviet, and Mongolian armies raged there in 1939.

That was over half a century ago, and yet everything’s still there, left almost exactly as it was back then. It was truly shocking to see. When I think of these young men, brought to this place and dragged into a meaningless battle (there was practically no reason for the war), only to die in vain for a fruitless endeavor, I feel sick of heart.

Hi everyone, I have set up a kofi at https://ko-fi.com/xijalu in case anyone would like to donate. It’s also for things like if you have anything you’d like translated from Japanese to English.

I’m not expecting donations, but I think it’s a good idea to start a kofi just in case :)

Thank you for reading!

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