(I'm uploading two of them today as Christmas gifts. Next week will be the New Year's holiday)
Already since I was a child, the nation happily converted to Christianity from after the 20th to the 25th of December, and within five days thereafter, like a quick change of Kabuki, each family would hold a traditional Shinto Japanese event. In particular, the New Year's gift is still the most important ritual for children during the New Year, regardless of whether their parents believe in any religion or not. What would the people fighting in the Gaza Strip say if they were shown this Japanese way of life? Wouldn't they say, "I don't envy you. I feel that they would not compare us to them, or they would despise us. But our parents and grandparents were a terrible people who, after the surrender of Germany and Italy, fought in a war that even a child's eyes could not see as winnable, in order to uphold the Shinto ideology of defending the nation.
The tragedy of Gaza could happen to anyone at any time if the situation changes.
I have only human memories of Christmas. If that is the case, the only "memory of Christmas" is a short story by Truman Capote. Capote is one of the leading contemporary American writers who wrote The Great Gatsby. It is a heartwarming story about a lonely old lady and a boy who are bullied by their relatives. I won't say more because it's a spoiler. There's a paperback version, and there's also a picture book translated by Haruki Murakami, which you can read in about half a day, so there you go. After that, I bring out my favorite scene and read it and cry during this season. It's that kind of book. I read this book because someone praised it highly. That person taught me to choose American and English works from translators such as Motoyuki Shibata and Haruki Murakami (not to miswrite authors). And when we read a book by Kazuo Isiguro (before he won the Nobel Prize) together and discussed our impressions. I was impressed that there is this kind of pleasure in reading books (please let me know about more good books (infonakatani@aol.com.)
Well, I hope that many of you will have a wonderful time with family, friends, and loved ones on Holy Night. But to those who are working to support that time, thank you for your hard work. We God who is in heaven, who sees them (Christianity). May the 8,000,000 Gods of the world take over and bestow their blessings on these people (Japanese Shinto).
Translated with DeepL and edited by the author.