By any Name?

The sixth section returns to the main character's being filled in on why the sheep in his insurance company newsletter are such a big problem.

After having gone through this part of the book, it's clear why we had to be taken out of the story to get the information from the Rat's letters, but they were delivered poorly. They wouldn't have worked through a prologue, since their placement would be too far from where they were relevant, and theirs isn't the tone or the sensibility of the rest of the book as the book's actual prologue is. Why couldn't he have reminisced about the letters and the Rat when he was on the train? Breaking into it right in the middle of the scene is why I found their placement to be so jarring.

Anyway, I'm glad to see that the girlfriend with the cute ears is back. I was worried that that was just one section in the main character's life and that was that.

Actually, now that the wild sheep chase itself is on, we get the main character and his girlfriend leaving to begin their search.

Their departure is typical, but it involves the main character enlisting the help of the chauffeur of the person that the two are now working for.

What for? Well, to look after his cat while they're off looking for this sheep with the brown wool and star birthmark. Since the main character's cat also has no given name, the three of them work their way into a lengthy conversation about names.

Particularly, they tackle the question of why some things are named and others aren't and what either of these possibilities impart. The whole passage runs from page 178 to 182 (or 178-179, just for matters feline), and is one among many of the philosophical digressions in the book. Young Murakami sure liked to linger in wondering.