Motivations
In his introduction to the book, Murakami describes his motivations for writing it:
The Japanese media had bombarded us with so many in-depth profiles of the Aum cult perpetrators—the 'attackers'—forming such a slick, seductive narrative that the average citizen—the 'victim'—was an afterthought ... which is why I wanted, if at all possible, to get away from any formula; to recognise that each person on the subway that morning had a face, a life, a family, hopes and fears, contradictions and dilemmas—and that all these factors had a place in the drama ... Furthermore, I had a hunch that we needed to see a true picture of all the survivors, whether they were severely traumatized or not, in order to better grasp the whole incident.
Jay Rubin holds that Murakami also had highly personal reasons for wanting to write Underground, notably that he wished to learn more about Japan after living almost entirely abroad for nine years and that he wanted to fulfill a responsibility he felt towards Japan's society.
Read more about this topic: Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack And The Japanese Psyche
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