Kafka on the Shore

Kafka is at peace with the woods and silence. On Monday, Oshima arrives to take Kafka back to the civilization and the library. They eat lunch and close up the cabin. Oshima drives them back to Takamatsu. It’s Monday, so the library is closed.

On the long drive back to the library, Oshima tells Kafka some of Miss Saeki’s history. Miss Saeki has been Oshima’s mother’s closest friend since childhood, so Oshima knows all about her. As children, Miss Saeki and the eldest son of the Komura family were inseparable. They fell in love as young teenagers. Komura decided to go away to college, which split them apart for the first time in their lives.

Miss Saeki wrote and recorded a song about their time apart, called “Kafka on the Shore.” The song became a huge hit. While at college, the young man got caught up in student uprisings on his campus, and one night he was mistaken for a leader of the opposition. He was kidnapped, interrogated as a spy, and tortured to death. He was twenty years old.

Miss Saeki was overwhelmed by grief, dropped out of college, refused to sing again, and eventually disappeared.