Obama a Hit in Japanese Town

[mwb970]

Obama a Hit in Japanese Town
(AP, February 14, 2008)

Barack Obama has never been to this port town on Japan's snowy west coast, and residents only know him from news reports on his faraway campaign for the U.S. presidency. No matter, Obama the town is nuts about Obama the man.

Obama's name graces posters hung in the main hotel. Headbands and T-shirts with drawings of the candidate's face will be available soon. Local confectioners are designing Japanese-style sweet bean cakes with Obama's portrait on them. Policy doesn't seem to matter much either to this Obama, which is well-known in Japan for its lacquerware. Instead, the overriding issue is simple: Obama's name.

"Obama gives good speeches and has a good voice, so I want him to do well. And, of course, we share the same name," said Seiji Fujiwara, a hotel executive and leader of a local support group established earlier this month for the Illinois senator. As fanciful as it may seem, leaders in Obama — which means "Little Beach" in Japanese — are serious about forging a relationship with the candidate.

The mayor, Toshio Murakami, sent Obama a letter a year ago with a gift of lacquerware chopsticks, a DVD introducing the city, and a guidebook, but no one knows if the package arrived because they never received a response. The town 250 miles west of Tokyo is undaunted. Murakami plans to send Obama another care-package, this one with a fist-sized lacquerware good-luck "daruma" doll with the word "victory" written across the chest in Japanese calligraphy. "We want to ask him to stop by Obama as president if he visits Japan," Sadakazu Tsubouchi, an official at city hall.

[YOY]

1. That son of a beach!

Sorry, it was just there...and I had to...

[bunkerbuster1]

2. uh oh--I feel a scandal arising

from the article:

The mayor, Toshio Murakami, sent Obama a letter a year ago with a gift of lacquerware chopsticks, a DVD introducing the city, and a guidebook, but no one knows if the package arrived because they never received a response.

That rude son of a little beach! I think I'll start a new GD-P thread! this is HUGH!!!1!!