<P> Yukiko was married to Hajime at her age of 30 . But Hajime rarely mentioned her in the 6 years' marriage life as a husband, until he met Shimamoto again at his age of 36 . The author only slightly mentioned her . However, the image of Yukiko as a wife is still pale . Until the end of story, Yukiko as a woman and a wife had the first initial conversation with Hajime, while he feels helpless since Shimamoto left . Her figure was clearly fleshed out, and played a vital role in the end of the story, such as she pointed out Hajime is egocentric, and he only pays attention to his own feelings while ignoring other people's feelings, especially her psychological process in the marriage life . In addition, she has been acting as a traditional wife who always listen to her husband, but suddenly standing in a strong position in the end and lecture the husband how to be a better man . She is the person who can love and light up others in love, and only her love is not destructive in this novel . Her husband's betrayal once made her desperate, however she returned to love and opened her heart to accept her husband . </P> <P> Hajime, born in 1951, belongs to the first birth tide of Japanese post-war . At that time the aftermath of war is almost nonexistent . Japan has just recovered from the rubble and entering the high - speed development period, but lacking of laborers and material resources . Therefore, the State encourages people to have children to build their homes . Most families had at least two or three children and middle - class families who have only one child such as Hajime are rare . Hajime is forlorn being the only child without any siblings, and therefore develops a relationship with books and music in his childhood . This situation and people's prejudice affect him personally establishing a little solitary and obsessive view of the world . </P> <P> Murakami wrote the novel in 1992 while he was a visiting scholar at Princeton University . The English translation, by Philip Gabriel, was released in 1999 . </P> <P> Part of the title,' South of the Border,' refers to the song as sung by Nat King Cole . However, there is no evidence that Nat King Cole actually ever recorded this song . The other half refers to an Inuit syndrome called Piblokto or Arctic (or Siberian) hysteria . </P>

Murakami south of the border west of the sun quotes