<P> While this book has many major and minor characters, these are among the most important: </P> <Ul> <Li> Toru Okada: The narrator and protagonist, Toru is a passive and often apathetic young man living in suburban Japan . He is Kumiko's husband and continually follows the orders or wishes of others . He had a job in a law firm, but currently unemployed, and he is the embodiment of passivity . </Li> <Li> Kumiko Okada: Kumiko is Toru's wife and, as the breadwinner of the couple, is the more autonomous of the two . She works in the publishing business . </Li> <Li> Noboru Wataya: Noboru is Kumiko's brother . He is presented as a mediagenic figure; the public loves him, but Toru cannot stand him . Noboru appears as an academic in the beginning, becomes a politician in the story, and has no apparent personal life . He is said to be hidden behind a façade--all style, and no substance . ("Noboru Wataya" is also the name Toru and Kumiko gave to their pet cat, whom Toru later renames Mackerel, like the fish; the character name also appeared in "The Elephant Vanishes" and "Family Affair", both translated by Jay Rubin, in The Elephant Vanishes collection .) </Li> <Li> May Kasahara: May is a teenage girl who should be in school, but, by choice, is not . Toru and May carry on a fairly constant exchange throughout a good deal of the novel; when May is not present, she writes letters to him . Their conversations in person are often bizarre and revolve around death and the deterioration of human life . Even more bizarre is the cheerful and decidedly non-serious air with which these conversations take place . </Li> <Li> Lieutenant Mamiya: Mamiya was an officer during the Japanese occupation of Manchukuo, and meets Toru while carrying out the particulars of Mr. Honda's will . He has been emotionally scarred by witnessing the flaying of a superior officer and several nights spent in a dried - up well . He tells Toru his story both in person and in letters . </Li> <Li> Malta Kano: Malta Kano is a medium of sorts who changed her name to "Malta" after performing some kind of "austerities" on the island of Malta for some time . She is enlisted by Kumiko to help the Okadas find their missing cat . </Li> <Li> Creta Kano: Malta's younger sister and apprentice of sorts, she describes herself as a "prostitute of the mind ." Disturbingly, for Toru, Creta bears a near - identical resemblance to Kumiko . </Li> <Li> Nutmeg Akasaka: Nutmeg first meets Toru as he sits on a bench watching people's faces every day in Shinjuku . The second time they meet she is attracted to the blue - black mark on his right cheek . She and Toru share a few strange coincidences: the wind - up bird in Toru's yard and the blue - black cheek mark appear in Nutmeg's World War II - related stories, and also Nutmeg's father and Lieutenant Mamiya (an acquaintance of Toru's) are linked by World War II . "Nutmeg Akasaka" is a pseudonym she chose for herself after insisting to Toru that her "real" name is irrelevant . Her real name is never mentioned in the novel . </Li> <Li> Cinnamon Akasaka: Cinnamon is Nutmeg's adult son who has not spoken since age 6 . He communicates through a system of hand movements and mouthed words . Somehow, people who've just met him (who presumably have never lipread or used sign language) find him perfectly comprehensible . "Cinnamon," too, is a pseudonym created by Nutmeg . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Toru Okada: The narrator and protagonist, Toru is a passive and often apathetic young man living in suburban Japan . He is Kumiko's husband and continually follows the orders or wishes of others . He had a job in a law firm, but currently unemployed, and he is the embodiment of passivity . </Li> <Li> Kumiko Okada: Kumiko is Toru's wife and, as the breadwinner of the couple, is the more autonomous of the two . She works in the publishing business . </Li>

Where does the wind up bird chronicle take place