The Mysterious Package ("ufo in kushiro")
In the short story "ufo in kushiro" (lowercase intentional throughout), Komura's wife left him five days after the Kobe earthquake, claiming that living with him was like living with "a chunk of air." Komura feels emotionally distant from everything and everyone, like some part of him is missing. He takes a week-long vacation, and his friend asks him to deliver a small, mysterious package to his sister. It seems like the package only contains a chunk of air, as Shimao points out at the end of the story, and when he gives it to Keiko, it represents the part of Komura that he can never get back.
The Bonfire ("landscape with flatiron")
The bonfire is a complex symbol. Junko goes down to Miyake's bonfire and sits with him, watching it. She notes that the fire “accepted all things in silence, drank them in, understood, and forgave," thinking that a real family must be like this. She also notes the intangible, constantly shifting nature of fire: when you look at it, it can look like anything depending on who's looking at it. In this sense, the fire represents the perception of tragedy: it makes all other human affairs seem connected and unified, and it can be seen in different lights by people looking on it - either destruction or an agent of purification.
Frog ("super-frog saves tokyo")
"super-frog saves tokyo" is a confusing yet highly symbolic story. After the earthquake, a giant frog appears to Katagiri at his home in Tokyo, declaring that he must go and do battle with a giant worm that threatens to destroy the city. This worm grows as it feeds on hatred, so Frog's duty is to do battle with hatred and keep it from destroying the city. This role, along with Frog's reliance on normal people like Katagiri for power, makes Frog have a strong symbolism: he represents hope and peace in the wake of tragedy, as opposed to the fostering of hatred and bitterness. As the Frog says, “I am, indeed, pure Frog, but at the same time I am a thing that stands for a world of un-Frog.” This reflects the fact that, in a world where peace has triumphed, there is no longer any such concept as peace, because its opposite has ceased to exist.
Worm ("super-frog saves tokyo")
As Frog represents hope and peace in the wake of tragedy, Worm represents the opposite reaction: fostering hatred and bitterness until they take over. Worm is the embodiment of these emotions as people become embittered after suffering a tragedy and allowing their spirits to sink into depression, and the Worm can become quite dangerous if fed enough hatred on a wide enough scale. The Worm threatens to destroy Tokyo, and it is only held off by the Frog, who represents the forces of hope.
Tonkichi ("honey pie")
In "honey pie," Junpei tells bedtime stories to Sala, his friends' daughter, about a bear named Masakichi who sells honey to make a living, and Sala suggests that Masakichi sells honey pies as well in order to boost profits. When Junpei and Sayoko take Sala to visit the zoo, Junpei points out a black bear and says that he is Tonkichi, Masakichi's friend who has been captured by traps and imprisoned in the zoo. The way Junpei takes stark reality and twists it into a pleasant fantasy story for his soon-to-be-daughter symbolizes an optimistic and hopeful view of reality: it is better to see things optimistically than pessimistically.
