Haruki Murakami thinks the Red Hot Chili Peppers can teach us about aging

Haruki Murakami, the famous Japanese novelist, is both popularly and critically acclaimed. His books — such as Kafka on the Shore, IQ84, and The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle — have been translated into more than 50 languages. He's won many writing awards.

He also recently revealed that he likes The Red Hot Chili Peppers. Apparently a lot. And he thinks they can teach us about aging. Or something.

Murakami, in his free time, launched an internet advice column on January 15 where anyone can email him a question and he will try and respond to it. You can send a question to Murakami on his website. The column, as AMAs on the internet are wont to do, quickly veered away from questions about writing and work and toward more personal questions. The entire advice site is being translated into English by a fan on this site.

"Mr. Murakami, do you think that without John Frusciante, you can't really call them the "Red Hot Chili Peppers" anymore? I love John's guitar playing," tamatebox, a 47 year old man, asked Murakami on January 19.

Murakami responded:

I saw when the Chili Peppers took the stage during Bruno Mars' Super Bowl halftime show. They still rock. It's amazing that they seem like they never grow up. Humans always mature before you know it, so we have to be careful.

It's strange that Murakami picks the Bruno Mars Super Bowl halftime show as his point of reference for the Chili Peppers still rocking, as that is a show during which Flea, the bassist, didn't even plug in his instrument.

On the whole, it's not super surprising that a man who sets many of his novels inside a Denny's also likes The Red Hot Chili Peppers, but what does it mean for the future of Murakami's art? Probably nothing.

We all love art that isn't perfect. We all get "Californication" stuck in our heads when we don't want it there. We've all awkwardly avoided eye contact with strangers at the grocery store while "Under the Bridge" plays. We've all woken in screaming terror to the sounds of "Dani California" echoing in our most terrifying dreams.

Yes, Haruki Murakami, famous person and arguably one of the greatest writers on the planet, is just like us.

[h/t @alex_shephard]

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