A day framed by the next morning
In his Summer 2004 Paris Review interview with John Wray, Haruki Murakami described going to bed at nine during periods when he was writing a novel. His day began at four in the morning, followed by five or six hours of work.
Who is Haruki Murakami?
Haruki Murakami is a Japanese novelist and short-story writer whose books include Norwegian Wood, Kafka on the Shore, and 1Q84. His work also includes nonfiction and has been translated into many languages. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker since 1990.
Reading and music after exercise
The afternoon included running, swimming or both, followed by some reading and music. He described repeating the schedule through months of work on a novel. He did not name a bedtime book, recording, app or other sleep product in this passage.
The qualification matters: this was his account of a particular working mode, not a timetable for every period of his life. Bedtime and waking time alone do not establish how long or how well he slept.
Dreaming and writing were separate in his account
In a February 2019 interview adapted from festival conversations in 2008 and 2018, Murakami rejected the idea that he worked out plots in his sleep. He described writing itself as a kind of intentional dreaming that he could resume the following day. That distinction complicates the tempting assumption that his dreamlike novels reflect a particular nighttime practice. The literary interview contains book-retail links; it is not a sleep diary.
Source and scope
The source is the magazine’s public excerpt, republished August 3, 2021 from its 2004 interview. The full interview currently presents a subscription prompt; no paywall was bypassed. The excerpt appears in a subscription promotion. It does not establish Murakami’s current routine or recommend his schedule. Source checked November 7, 2026.
Publisher’s public interview excerpt
This profile has not received clinical review.
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