Norwegian Wood (ノルウェイの森, Noruwei no Mori) is a 1987 novel by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.

[2] It is told from the first-person perspective of Toru Watanabe, who looks back on his days as a college student living in Tokyo.

[3] Through Watanabe's reminiscences, readers see him develop relationships with two very different women—the beautiful yet emotionally troubled Naoko, and the outgoing, lively Midori.

[4] This novel is set in late-1960s Tokyo during a period when Japanese students, like those of many other nations, were protesting against the established order.

[5] While it serves as the backdrop against which the events of the novel unfold, Murakami (through the eyes of Watanabe and Midori) portrays the student movement as largely weak-willed and hypocritical.

[6] Norwegian Wood was hugely popular with Japanese youth and made Murakami something of a superstar in his native country (apparently much to his dismay at the time).

Thirty-seven-year-old Toru Watanabe is landing in Hamburg, West Germany, when he hears an orchestral cover of the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood".

Inexplicably, the students end their strike and act as if nothing had happened, which enrages Watanabe as a sign of hypocrisy.

When he returns to Tokyo, Watanabe is distracted by his continuing thoughts about Naoko, and unintentionally alienates Midori by moving to a suburb without telling her.

After about a month of wandering, he returns to the Tokyo area and gets in contact with Reiko, who leaves the sanatorium to come to visit.

It is through this experience and the intimate conversation that Watanabe and Reiko share that night, that he comes to realize that Midori is the most important person in his life.

The second translation, by Jay Rubin, is the authorized version for publication outside Japan and was first published in 2000 by Harvill Press in the UK, and Vintage International in the United States.

The film stars Kenichi Matsuyama as Watanabe, Rinko Kikuchi as Naoko, and Kiko Mizuhara as Midori.