Trains and Stations, What Could They Mean?

 To me, there seems to be a connection between Murakami’s works and trains. In his works, and especially in Norwegian Wood, train stations seem to always be points where things start or stop — or rather, places where people meet and people depart. At the same time, traveling on trains seems to also be a part of a liminal space, noting the line (which I’m having trouble finding, and is either from The Long Goodbye or A Wild Sheep Chase), which notes the characters' feeling as if they are always in transit to another location.

I feel that this may be a connection to Buddhism, specifically in the tying of everything being transitive and changing, where both trains and train stations represent a place where journeys start and stop, either together or alone. All is changing and in motion from one part of life to another, and thus, like trains and their stations, are full of people who are in motion from one area to the next. I wonder, then, if in Norwegian Wood if this may also represent rebirth, seeing these stations are being a place where one life leads to the next. Stations always seem to be, as stated before, a meeting or departing point within the book, and thus, I do wonder whether these stations can serve as markers where we may note that something may change, and that a character may be reborn. Though I’m not too sure if this is true, I do think the constant reference to trains and stations may hold a deeper meaning.

Rysen