Happy Xmas (War is Over)

While walking around my home neighborhood of Ningyōchō this evening, and pretty much every evening since October 1, I keep thinking of John Lennon’s old song “Happy Xmas (War is Over),” a song that was originally meant to be a protest of America’s war against Vietnam but evolved into more of a song to celebrate Christmas. I do not think of the song in a Christmas context, not here in Ningyōchō, especially in early October. Instead, it’s just a recognition that the war-like conditions we have been living under caused by the corona pandemic have mostly come to an end, and now it is time to celebrate. People are out and about again and the local restaurants are once more filled with people happy to be able to go out at night again. So, in a sense, Merry Christmas to all, and to all a happy night out once again.