Halloween

　　I hear that the Halloween festival is derived from the Celtic culture, so it ought to be unconnected to Japanese, but I often hear about the festival in Japan these days. Some people go on a spree to cause trouble to others, which I regard with contempt.
　　In general, Japanese people are tolerant toward religion. There's no conflict between religion domestically. Toward the end of the year, Japanese celebrate Christmas, then listen to Joya no Kane, bells ringing out the old year, and visit shrines in the new year. They perform the acts of Christians, Buddhists, and Shintoists one after another for only a week.
　　I had often read articles accusing Japanese of their having no principles in my younger days, and I felt sorry every time, but now, I'm proud of the tolerance seeing the ferocious clashes between different religions in the world. The concept of the foundation of Japan is to lead peaceful lives under the same roof regardless of the skin colors, nationalities, or religion since 2000 years ago.
　　The picture shows me in the regular meeting of my Lions Club. The mc of the meeting had me wear a horn which seemed to be the Celtic traditional costume. As I'm shy and embarrassed to masquerade as something, I was lucky to wear such a small ornament.