The economy was booming. People had more money than they knew what to dowith. And then, the earthquake struck. Komura's wife follows the TV reportsfrom morning to night, without eating or sleeping. The same images appearagain and again: flames, smoke, buildings turned to rubble, theirinhabitants dead, cracks in the streets, derailments, crashes, collapsedexpressways, crushed subways, fires everywhere. Pure hell. Suddenly, a cityseems a fragile thing. And life too. Tomorrow anything could happen. Forthe characters in Murakami's latest short story collection, the Kobeearthquake is an echo from a past they buried long ago. Satsuki has spent30 years hating one man: a lover who destroyed her chances of havingchildren, and who now lives in Kobe. Did her desire for revenge cause theearthquake? Junpei's estranged parents also live in Kobe. Should he contactthem? Miyake left his family in Kobe to make midnight bonfires on a beachhundreds of miles away. Four-year-old Sala has nightmares that theEathquake man is trying to stuff her inside a little box. Katagiri returnshome to find a giant frog in his apartment on a mission to save Tokyo froma massive worm burrowing under the Tokyo Security Trust Bank. "When he getsangry, he causes earthquakes" says Frog. "And right now he is very, veryangry."