村上[むらかみ]春樹[はるき]さんの本[ほん]を読[よ]んだことがありますか。
Have you ever read books written by Haruki Murakami?
村上[むらかみ]春樹[はるき]さんは日本[にほん]で、そして世界[せかい]でとても人気[にんき]がある小説家[しょうせつか] (= novelist)です。去年[きょねん]、『1Q84』という本[ほん]が日本[にほん]で出版[しゅっぱん]されました(shuppansuru is to publish)。この本[ほん]はいつもよりもっと人気で、Vol 1 とVol 2をあわせて既[すで]に(= already)244万[まん]部[ぶ] (bu is a counter for copies of books and magazines)売[う]れたそうです。そして、今日[きょう]、4月16日、Vol 3が発売[はつばい]されました(hatsubaisuru means to sell)。このVol 3も人気[にんき]が出[で]ると予想[よそう]されていて(yoso is prediction; expectation)、既[すで]に50万部印刷[いんさつ]されています(insatsusuru is to print)。今日[きょう]はなんと! 発売日[はつばいび]なので午前[ごぜん]12時から（そう、夜中[よなか]です!）多[おお]くの本屋[ほんや]が本[ほん]を売[う]り始[はじ]めました。今日[きょう]の朝日新聞[あさひしんぶん]にその記事[きじ]が出[で]ています。
英語[えいご]の翻訳[ほんやく] (= translation)が出版[しゅっぱん]されるまでには、まだまだ時間[じかん]がかかりそうです。私[わたし]も早[はや]く読[よ]みたいです。
Haruki Murakami is one of the most popular novelists in Japan as well as all over the world. A book entitled “1Q84” (the pronunciation of “Q” sounds like “nine” (the number) in Japanese) was published in Japan last year. There were two volumes and these two sold very well – apparently 2,440,000 copies have been sold in total (yes, it is over two millions!). Today, the 16th of April 2010 is the date for “1Q84” Vol 3 to be published. The publisher is, of course, expecting this one selling well and 500,000 copies of this were already printed. Because of its popularity, quite a few bookstores in Japan started selling “1Q84” Vol 3 at midnight today and believe or not, there were queues for that! You can see the photo of this festive (!?) book selling incident at Today’s Asahi Shimbun Newspaper.
It will take some time till the English translation version will become available. I would definitely like to read it!
Tracy says:
村上春樹’s book is always quite known by people in Taiwan too. 🙂
Fumiko Nishimura says:
そうですか。村上春樹の本は今、いろいろなことばに翻訳されて、いろいろな国で読まれていますよね!