New volume of Haruki Murakami’s top-selling novel “1Q84″ goes on sale in Japan

New volume of Murakami novel goes on sale in Japan

TOKYO — The new volume of Haruki Murakami’s novel “1Q84″ — the top-selling book in Japan last year — is now on sale.

Publisher Shinchosha said 500,000 copies will hit bookstores Friday. Due to massive orders, the company will print 200,000 more copies by the end of this month.

The first and second volumes of “1Q84″ ranked as Japan’s top-selling book in 2009, according to publishing distributor Tohan Co. Ltd.

Shinchosha said it has printed a combined 2.44 million copies of the two volumes of “1Q84″ since their release in Japan last May.

Murakami’s past works include global best-sellers “Norwegian Wood,” ”Kafka on the Shore” and “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” He is considered a top Japanese candidate for the Nobel Prize in literature.