"Three Million Yen" and "The Hitchhiking Game"

"Three Million Yen" and "The Hitchhiking Game" were both written in third person omniscient point of view. Both stories the setting is Media res, and appear to start in the middle of things, Kenzo and Kiyoke are on the way to meet someone but stop at mall and amusement park to kill time. The other couple are on their way to Banska Bystritsa on vacation. Both sets of characters are young couples beginning their lives together, in the first story "Three Million Yen" the author gives us the names of the two young people, but suspiciously the names are not given in the "The Hitchhiking Game".

The other of "Three Million Yen" has given us elaborate imagery and incredible details. The mood in the beginning of the story is bright and cheerful, the reader gets caught up in the story of the young couple having fun at the mall and the amusement park but then as they get on the amusement ride it starts to become "dark". Kenzo appeared to relish the fact that Kiyoke was frightened by the ride, her fright makes him aroused. What I thought was curious in this story is when they meet the woman and sneak off in the night that the author implies what they did, the author doesn't tell the reader outright that they have performed sexual acts if front of rich old woman. When he picks back up with Kenzo and Kiyoke walking home the details are back, what was once bright and welcoming is now dark with despair.

"The Hitchhiking Game" is also about a young couple, the games they play are of a different nature. The "game" Kenzo and Kiyoke played they were trying to better themselves for the future and they were playing the game united this was not the case with the young couple in "The Hitchhiking Game". The game the couple in this story played preyed on their insecurities and weaknesses that ultimately destroy the relationship.