Despite being a certified Japan-nerd (I just spent 10 months in the country trying to learn the language, after all), the only thing I have ever read of Murakami is a short story I was assigned in one of my classes during the aforementioned 10 months in Japan. It was called "Firefly," (Japanese is "Hotaru"), and I liked the parts of it I understood. I dunno if it's ever been translated, though.
As for Japanese-to-English translation quality, I have yet to actually attempt one, but from first impressions, I think dialogue is probably a lot harder than description. There's a lot of nuance in various things like word choices and verb forms in Japanese that are basically impossible to get across in English. Description, on the other hand, is pretty much always written in the same style, so that would seem to be easier. Take that as you will.
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As for Japanese-to-English translation quality, I have yet to actually attempt one, but from first impressions, I think dialogue is probably a lot harder than description. There's a lot of nuance in various things like word choices and verb forms in Japanese that are basically impossible to get across in English. Description, on the other hand, is pretty much always written in the same style, so that would seem to be easier. Take that as you will.
-TealTerror