June 1 (Bloomberg) -- Unprecedented demand for Haruki Murakami’s latest novel, “1Q84,” has forced its Japanese publisher to double the first print run of the title, the company’s fastest-selling ever.

The novel is sold in two volumes, simultaneously released on May 30. Shinchosha Publishing Co. is doubling the first print run of Book 1 to 400,000 copies, said Takeyuki Yoshida of the company’s publishing unit. It will also boost printing of Book 2 to 370,000 copies from 180,000, he said in a phone interview.

The two tomes each retails for 1,890 yen ($19.97) and total 1,055 pages. Bookstore chains including Maruzen Co. and Aoyama Book Center sold out of existing stock of the first volume at all Tokyo locations this morning. Additional copies of the Japanese-language novel will hit shelves as early as Wednesday, the company said.

“1Q84” -- the letter Q and the number 9 have the same pronunciation in Japanese -- is Murakami’s first novel in more than four years. It opens with a woman named Aomame, which means “blue bean,” listening to Czech composer Leos Janacek’s “Sinfonietta” in a Toyota Crown Royal Saloon cab. The chapters alternate between Aomame and a male character named Tengo.

Shinchosha wouldn’t discuss the novel’s plot. Readers had complained about leaks prior to the release of Murakami’s previous book, “Kafka on the Shore,” said Shinchosha’s Riki Suzuki, of the publishing department.

“This may have actually worked in our favor,” Suzuki said, referring to demand. “Kafka” made The New York Times’s list of “10 Best Books of 2005.”

Murakami, 60, also wrote “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” and “Norwegian Wood,” which is now being made into a movie directed by Cannes International Film Festival prize-winning Vietnamese director Anh Hung Tran.

To contact the reporter on this story: Makiko Kitamura in Tokyo at mkitamura1@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: June 1, 2009 05:54 EDT