We learn that before he was married, the parents of the main character's wife insisted that they see Lieutenant Mamiya. An earlier version of the first chapter appears in the author's short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes. In this novel, the 
We learn that before he was married, the parents of the main character's wife insisted that they see Lieutenant Mamiya. An earlier version of the first chapter appears in the author's short story collection, The Elephant Vanishes. In this novel, the narrator-protagonist consults a pair of psychics Malta and Creta, in order to help him find something, and notably they end up visiting him in his dreams as often as he runs into them in reality.  Other characters that help him on his search include the mother/son pair Nutmeg and Cinnamon. Beginning when Toru Okada goes looking for his wife's missing cat, for 10 points, identify this novel the title of which refers to an unseen mechanical creature whose cry is a harbinger of evil, by Haruki Murakami.
We learn that before he was married, the parents of the main character's wife insisted that they see Lieutenant Mamiya.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle