Niki Junpei

Niki Junpei is the main character, a schoolteacher. He leaves his city one day with insect-collecting gear, planning to take a three-day vacation and escape the boredom of his life and loneliness. He constantly devises schemes or makes up theories to escape the hole, many times using faulty logic, and most of his plans fail. In the end he succeeds by accident, as one of his experiments resulted in collected water from the sand.

The Woman

The woman is who Junpei lives with in the sand hole. She says her husband and child were killed by the sand before his arrival, but when Junpei dug for the remains he couldn’t find any. She remains very quiet when he questions or yells at her and is very submissive.

The Other Woman

The other woman is Junpei’s wife who lives in the city. They sleep apart, and...