"And yet, as clear as the scene may be, no one is in it... Naoko is not there, and neither am I... I can't even bring back Naoko's face -- not right away, at least. All I'm left holding is a background, sheer scenery, with no people up front." (Murakami 4-5)

In this scene, which is told early in the novel although it happened at a later point in time, Toru and Naoko walk through a meadow while Naoko ponders the exact location of a field well that is rumored to be nearby. Although Toru as he narrates has trouble recalling what Naoko looked like on that day, he gives a lot of detail about their surroundings as they walked through the meadow and the woods. Toru never actually saw the field well which Naoko was talking about, yet he describes it as he pictures it in his mind.

The fact that Toru is able to describe in detail an object which he never saw while struggling to recall Naoko's face speaks to his unreliability as a narrator. The above quote from Toru also shows the importance of setting and location in Murakami's works. Murakami often gives specific locations and describes them in a way that allows readers to easily picture the scene. This attention to detail is not arbitrary in his texts as he often uses the scenery or location to reflect the thoughts and emotions of the characters as seen in many scenes throughout Norwegian Wood.

"Now and then she would look back and say something. Sometimes it would be a remark I might have responded to, and sometimes it would be something to which I had no reply. Other times, I simply couldn't hear what she was saying. She didn't seem to care one way or another. Once she had finished saying whatever she wanted to say, she'd face front again and keep on walking. Oh, well, I told myself, it was a nice day for a stroll." (Murakami 21)

Toru and Naoko meet coincidentally on the train, each on their way to different destinations. Naoko suggests they get off the train, and they walk aimlessly together from Yotsuya to Komagome. The trip takes up their entire afternoon, which they spend together in relative silence, Toru walking not with Naoko but a small distance behind her the entire way.

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The purpose of their walk was supposed to be to catch up since they hadn't seen each other in almost a year. However, just as in the past when Kizuki left them together in a room, they are unable to hold a conversation. Naoko makes an effort, but Toru doesn't seem to care about anything she has to say.

"'Oh, I'm sorry, I've been dragging you around all day.'
'Still, I'm glad we had a chance to talk. We've never done that before, just the two of us,' I said, trying without success to recall what we had talked about." (Murakami 21)

""Play 'Norwegian Wood,' said Naoko.
Reiko brought a porcelain beckoning cat from the kitchen. It was a coin bank, and Naoko dropped a hundred-yen piece from her purse into its slot.
'What's this all about?' I asked.
'It's a rule,' said Naoko. 'When I request 'Norwegian Wood,' I have to put a hundred yen into the bank. It's my fvorite, so I make a point of paying for it. I make a request when I really want to hear it.'
Reiko gave her fingers a good flexing and then played 'Norwegian Wood.' Again she played with real feeling, but never allowed it to become sentimental. I took a hundred-yen coin from my pocket and dropped it into the bank.
'Thank you,' said Reiko with a sweet smile.
'That song can make me feel so sad,' said Naoko. 'I don't know, I guess I imagine myself wandering in a deep wood. I'm all alone and it's cold and dark, and nobody comes to save me. That's why Reiko never plays it unless I request it.'" (Murakami 109)

This scene takes place in Ami Hostel, the sanatorium in which Naoko is supposedly working to improve her mental health. Instead of focusing on getting better and surrounding herself with things that make her happy, she identifies "Norwegian Wood" as her favorite song even though she says it makes her sad. The fact that she often asks Reiko to play the song for her, which makes her feel lost and as though no one is able to save her, shows that she was never really getting better.

"'Both of us have a lot of feelings we need to get out in the open. So if you want to take those feelings and smash somebody with them, smash me. Then we can understand each other better.'
'So if you understand me better, what then?'
'You don't get it, do you?' I said. 'It's not a question of 'what then.' Some people get a kick out of reading railroad timetables and that's all they do all day. Some people make huge model boats out of matchsticks. So what's wrong if there happens to be one guy in the world who enjoys trying to understand you?'
'Kind of like a hobby?' she said, amused.
'Sure, I guess you could call it a hobby. Most normal people would call it friendship or love or something, but if you want to call it a hobby, that's O.K., too.'" (Murakami 140)

During Toru's first visit to Ami Hostel, he, Naoko, and Reiko take a walk outside the grounds of the sanatorium. They pass through an abandoned village and reach a small farmhouse which is a cafe. They sit on the porch and order drinks, enjoying listening to the radio and Reiko's guitar playing. Although it is against the rules of the sanatorium, Reiko allows Toru and Naoko to wander off by themselves.

Toru asks Naoko to tell him about herself and her feelings, stating that he wants to be able to understand her. Even though Toru claims that he loves Naoko, his actions throughout the novel prove otherwise. Whenever he and Naoko have actual conversations, he only takes away from it what he wants to while ignoring everything else about Naoko and her mental state. There are many instances where Naoko talks to him and he does not even care to listen, like during their walk from Yotsuya to Komagome. He is able to recall every detail about where they walked that day, yet he remembers nothing that Naoko said during the walk.