The Empress of Japan and many of Japanese royal family speak Irish, play the harp and can recite Irish poetry off by heart,

Surprising amount of Hibernophillia within Japanese intellectual circles as well seeing Gaelic Ireland as mirror of Japan.

https://archive.is/th8ki

How strange but amusing
https://youtu.be/pMn8k5ZVj_w

This day 36 years ago – 27 October 1982 – Irish soldier Michael McAleavey shot dead three of his colleagues in South Lebanon.

McAleavey's corporal had taken him to task for using anti-Semitic slurs against Israeli soldiers. McAleavey then shot him, along with two other soldiers.

Each Samhain, ancestral spirits are said to emerge from caves surrounding the Royal Capitals of ancient Ireland - Oweynagat, Rathcroghan

In Ireland, Samhain was once a time of paying yearly rent, of selling crops & fattened animals, reaping the reward of summer's hard work.

Traditionally, Halloween was thought the best time to become pregnant, while the ring hidden inside Barmbrack indicated an early marriage.

Halloween festivities using apples likely derive from ancient Roman rituals to the goddess Pomona, who's holiday took place around 1 Nov.

Halloween, All Hallows' Eve, is a Christian holiday dedicated to remembering the dead, saints (hallows), martyrs, & the faithful departed.

Samhain survived as a holiday largely because the Irish Church/kings upheld it as important to the life cycle & rites of Gaelic society.

Traditional Irish jack-o'-lanterns are made using turnips - The fire inside represented the souls who would visit the living on Halloween

In medieval Europe, bonfires were lit at Halloween to guide the dead back to heaven, while protecting the living from evil spirits.