There is something about the holiday season that brings out nostalgia. Old times are recalled. We reach out with Christmas and New Year's cards to friends we haven't seen for years. A lot of conversations begin with, Do you remember . . . It seems that although most people anticipate the opportunities and challenges that will come with the new year, there is a reluctance to let go of the old. This is especially true when we are not only readying to welcome a new year but are also adjusting to the idea of a new millennium. As one of my cards so aptly put it, Here's wishing you a very happy New Year; may it last for a thousand years.

The next few columns will be firmly based on nostalgia. Readers have asked me to reprint information or special columns that they remember. Today's choice is about a Christmas miracle that happened here in Tokyo a number of years ago, one that should not be forgotten.

Japan, land of Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines, also has chapels, cathedrals, churches and mosques. One of the most inspiring is Nicolai-do, Tokyo's Russian Orthodox cathedral. It was built more than a century ago, and people came from afar to marvel at the splendid building, so different from all that was traditionally Japanese. Some even thought the foreigners had designed the high dome, so unusual in those days, for only one purpose: to spy on the Emperor's palace and the city far below.