Honey Pie Character Analysis

“Honey Pie” starts with the central character, Junpei, telling a story about two bears to the daughter of his two best friends from college, Takatsuki and Sayoko. The daughter, a four-year-old named Sala, watched too many television reports on the Kobe earthquake, and now suffers from recurring nightmares about the “Earthquake Man.” He wakes Sala up, attempts to break her joints, and stuff her into a box that is “way too little for anyone to fit into.” Only the stories that Junpei tells can calm Sala down, causing him to spend increasingly more time at Sayoko and Sala’s home. Since the beginning of their friendship, Junpei had always held unrequited love for Sayoko and he begins to hold a position like that of a surrogate father to Sala because