Mitchell James Kaplan, at The Blogs

Mitchell James Kaplan

Jun 2, 2022, 11:27 AM

Murakami’s hard-boiled anti-Israel line isn’t antisemitic

Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami at the Waseda University Wednesday in Tokyo, Sept. 22, 2021 (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

The real problem is that no one objected when the Japanese novelist included an ill-informed throw-away line slamming the Jewish state

About Me

Mitchell James Kaplan's 2010 novel, "By Fire, By Water," won numerous literary awards both domestically and abroad. "Into The Unbounded Night," a novel of first century Rome and the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, has been garnering rave reviews since its release in September, 2020. "Rhapsody," a novel about Kay Swift and her 1920s Broadway circle, including her lover George Gershwin, appeared March 2, 2021 (Gallery / Simon & Schuster) and quickly won widespread acclaim from trade and mainstream publications. Mitchell received his BA, with Honors in English Literature, from Yale University, where author William Styron encouraged him to become a novelist, and where he won the prestigious Paine Memorial Prize. In addition to writing novels, he travels to industrial facilities around the world to help prevent and curtail environmental accidents, unethical work practices, dangerous activities, and other problems that might affect local and global populations. A licensed private pilot, Mitchell plays classical and jazz flute and lives with his family and their cats in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.