通っている読書教室で、登場人物3人のうち誰だったら友達になれそうかについて書くという宿題が出ましたので、日本語・英語版それぞれこんな感じに仕上げてみました。

蜂蜜パイの登場人物3人の中から友達を選んでね、という厄介なオーダーが編集長から入り、僕は途方にくれた。まるで夏休み最後の日の晩に、ほぼ白紙の絵日記の宿題を眺めている小学生みたいに。

高槻はクラスに必ず一人はいそうな快活な男で、友達になったら楽しそうだ。新聞記者だから話題もきっと豊富だろう。でも、僕にとってはアグレッシブ過ぎて、一緒にいたら疲れてしまうかもしれない。それに淳平に、「お前なんかまだ学生生活の続きみたいなもんだ。」と言い放ったりしたのには呆れた。僕だったら、言い返して口論になってる。冷静に考えると友達どころか、結構ひどいやつなのではあるまいか？

小夜子は知的でユーモアのある女性だから、読書や映画について語りあったら楽しいだろうな。母親に似て利発な4歳の1人娘の沙羅とも友達になれるかもしれないし。でも、「男女間の友情は成立しない」と言ったのはチャンドラーだったか？ いや違うな。ともかく一旦保留。

やはり友達になれそうなのは淳平かもしれない。僕はどちらかと言えば、にぎやかな男だと自認しているけれど、親友になるのは逆にもの静かな人が少なくない。自分にはない要素、つまりユングが言うところの元型のひとつである「影」（これまでにぎやかな男として生きてこなかった自分）を深層心理で友達に求めているのかもしれない。きっとうまが合うということになんらか関係しているのだ。それに何といっても小説家の友人がいるなんて、こんな素敵なことはない。

ふむ、こう考えてみると僕は高槻なんだろうか？ 物静かな人とうまが合う男。そして、人柄ではなく職業で友達を選ぶ利己的な男。なんてこった! 僕は叫んだ。猿の惑星のラストシーンで、不時着した惑星が地球だったのに気がついたときのチャールトン・ヘストンみたいに。

編集長、僕はそんなにひどいやつなんでしょうか？

Who do you choose as your friend out of three characters in Murakami Haruki’s Honey Pie?

My editor again posed another inquiry. I have to choose one person as my friend out of three characters in Murakami Haruki’s Honey Pie. Because the question is so difficult, I almost give up this task just like an elementary school kid who gazes steadily at an almost blank journal assigned as homework in the evening of the last day of summer vacation.

Takatsuki is a cheerful guy, so I am sure I will be able to have a fun time with him. There is at least one student like him in your class, I suppose. As a newspaper journalist, he has a wide variety of knowledge, so you can enjoy talking with him, and he would tell you interesting stories. However, he seems a bit aggressive to me, and I may be tired if we spend extensive time together. Furthermore, frankly speaking, I am weary of his selfish behaviors toward the other two. Observing and thinking about him, I am beginning to feel that he is a mean guy, isn't he?

Sayoko is an intelligent woman with a sense of humor. I assume it's fun to talk with her about books and movies. Perhaps I could also become a friend with her daughter, Sara. However, someone said- maybe it was Raymond Chandler, I don't remember well -that friendships between men and women are unattainable. Anyway, let me think of another possibility, the final option.

After all, Jyumpei is likely to become my friend. I think I am a relatively lively guy, whereas some of my close friends, with whom I have good chemistry, are rather quiet people, just like the relationship between Takatsuki and Jyupei. According to Carl Jung’s theory, his/her opposite personality called “shadow,” which is one of the archetypes, is deeply pushed into the unconscious zone. In my opinion, that’s why we want a friend possessing personalities opposing our own in order to fulfill our missing part. In other words, that’s why we can find good chemistry between us.　Anyway, it is nice if you have a novelist as a friend, isn't it?

Thinking about the factors above, I am beginning to think that I might be a kind of man like Takatsuki, someone who has good chemistry with quiet people. Also, I choose Jyumpei based on his profession, rather than his personality!

"That can't be true!" I shouted like Charleston Heston who yelled when he realized the planet he had landed on in the last scene of the movie "Planet of the Apes" was, in fact, Earth.

Dear my editor, do you think I am such a mean guy?