Murakami, 57, was chosen as winner of the world's biggest short story prize by a five-member jury and will receive a ¥5 million prize.

"This is a truly wonderful collection by a master craftsman of prose. He writes with a terrific sense of magic as well as with that contemporary ability to create extended monologues of fear," the jury said in a statement about their decision.

The Japan Times Weekly: Sept. 30, 2006
(C) All rights reserved