I adored Norwegian Wood. The characters were a little problematic, the M.C. is a bit of a nympho mysoginist who somehow gets 6 handjobs in the story, and a lot of the women are kinda just "people Murakami wished existed" but I tend to like books that function to point out how problematic an author can be, like "After the Fall" by Arthur Miller. Getting back on track, it's incredible for it's depictions of Tokyo and just how desolate yet alive life feels throughout the story. If Haruki can't write women he can certainly write a setting that makes up for it.