Update

I'm currently reading (at home) Murakami's 'A Wild Sheep Chase.' In class, I am reading Murakami's short stories as well as short stories by Yasunari Kawabata.

A brief note on Kawabata: His stories can best be described as long haikus. He's an expert at layering on different images, eventually conveying a unique mood to the reader. If Soseki is only subtly Japanese, Kawabata is intensely Japanese. His short (very short!) stories have been called "palm-of-the-hand" stories, short fables to re-read. They are rich in Japanese imagery, and, in many cases difficult to understand. Reading them, like many of the other works I've examined, requires the utmost concentration. Nonetheless, I enjoy his imagery immensely.