On Saturday 15th April 2006, the first part of Haruki’s short story “Hanalei Bay” appeared in The Guardian. The story later appeared in “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman”.
Here’s an extract from the beginning, followed by a link to the full article:
Sachi lost her 19-year-old son to a big shark that attacked him when he was surfing in Hanalei Bay. Properly speaking, it was not the shark that killed him. Alone, far from shore when the animal ripped his right leg off, he panicked and drowned. Drowning, therefore, was the official cause of death. The shark all but tore his surfboard in half as well. Sharks are not fond of human flesh. Most often their first bite disappoints them and they swim away. Which is why there are many cases in which the person loses a leg or an arm but survives as long as he doesn’t panic. Sachi’s son, though, suffered some sort of cardiac arrest, swallowed massive amounts of ocean water, and drowned.
When notice came from the Japanese consulate in Honolulu, Sachi sank to the floor in shock. Her head emptied out, and she found it impossible to think. All she could do was sit there staring at a spot on the wall. How long this went on, she had no idea. But eventually she regained her senses enough to look up the number of an airline and make a reservation for a flight to Hawaii. The consulate staff person had urged her to come as soon as possible in order to identify the victim. There was still some chance it might not be her son.
[...] Short Story: Hanalei Bay (part 2) [...]