Obama for Obama

I've had this for a little while, but I keep forgetting to write about it. The post the other night about Japan's appointment of Doraemon as an ambassador reminded me, though, so here we are.

Barack Obama has been getting attention in Japan for more than just being a U.S. presidential candidate. He shares a name with a city in Fukui prefecture, and needless to say, Japanese Obamites (Obamanians? Obamaers?) are firmly in his corner. The New York Times offers some information, including a map that features the name of this city of 32,000 in a larger font than that for Tokyo. The mayor of Obama has been trying to get in touch with the candidate, and Barack Obama sent his appreciation back a couple of weeks ago. But to get an idea of the lengths to which the city of Obama has gone in its Obama fever, you've got to go to the source. You'll have to be able to read Japanese (and have a Japanese browser) to fully understand The Japanese site ZAKZAK has some pics of a new, delicious-looking kind of dessert, or manjuu--red bean paste cakes with Obama's picture on it. Elsewhere on the page is a display of Barack Obama banners at a pachinko palace. A polite letter from the mayor is nice, but these are the kinds of developments that demonstrate how deeply interest in and support for Barack Obama have filtered into daily life.

(Thanks to ST and MS for the ZAKZAK page.)