

There's a voyeuristic sense when we first notice Mari sitting alone in a table and later when Tetsuya randomly accompanies her in a casual dinner and subsequently takes her out in a date in the park. From the very first page of the book, Haruki Murakami introduces us to voyeurism. The reader is quickly identified as a no stranger to this kind of characters.

Of course, there's always a seemingly preppy pervert hidden in the night named Shirakawa and a team of good Samaritans in an unfitted place, a love hotel named Alphaville, Kaoru, Korogi, and Komugi. Another might practice his trombone with his jazz band until the first morning hours like Tetsuya Takahashi – a proper slacker.
One may read a book in a family restaurant like Mari Asai. A variety of activities can be done after midnight next to sleeping.
