Underground 2

Only Part I, which interviews the victims, was originally published in Japan. After some critics panned the book, Murakami interviewed several cult members (for Part II) and republished it. (Both parts were published in the English translation.) Why do you think Murakami at first didn't want to interview the terrorists?

1. I imagine it would be controversial to interview the cult members since they caused so much harm to innocent victims at the scene. After reading some of the interviews the people's reactions varied from calm to extremely angry towards the perpetrators. Also, I feel like it would have taken away from the actual normal people's words since the cult member's thinking and processes are too extreme.

The very last interview in today's reading was not really an interview, but a description of Murakami's visit w/ Shizuko Akashi, the survivor w/ the worst injuries that we encounter in the book. Since she is mostly nonverbal due to her injuries, why do you think Murakami included this visit? Why did he title it "Disneyland"? What does Disneyland symbolize to Akashi? To Murakami? In the previous reading, we encountered "the Big Lie." Murakami writes about "the Big Question" (103). What does it mean to be alive?

Akashi's recovery is a miracle but at the same time, it made her brother and family realize how fragile "happiness" is in reality. I admit I've never been to Disneyland so I'm just working off when I think of when I see the word on paper but it's like a surreal place. Disneyland would be a callback to a happier time for her family and in the end, I feel like many people can relate to childhood memory similar to it. "The Big Question" would be it better for Akashi to have died? I can't say since we don't know if she will ever fully recover or that her brother will always be haunted by it.