[elcapitan]

Interestingly, Murakami actually wrote (at least) his early works in English, after he found that writing in his native Japanese he was channeling too much other Japanese authors as well as the classical style of the time. His English was more plain, so he ended up with this relatively simple style that is now his trademark. He translated them back to Japanese for publication.

(source: Murakami wrote a couple of essays on his writing career)