There is a town in Japan named Obama. And the citizens of that town have decided to throw their support behind Barack Obama. The other day the mayor of Obama announced to the media that he received a reply from Mr. Obama thanking the town and mayor for their support and gift.

MSNBC: Obama thanks namesake Japanese town
OBAMA, Japan – Obama has finally thanked Obama.

The fishing town of Obama in central Japan recently won worldwide fame for its fervent support for U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. The town’s citizens have made headbands, T-shirts and sweet bean cakes decorated with his portrait. The town’s mayor even sent gifts.

Now, on the eve of crucial primaries in Texas and Ohio, the mayor of Obama the town is all smiles after hearing from Obama the man.

To read the rest…

And the town of Obama made more headlines on the news last night as people gathered together to take part in a “Support Obama” function for Mini-Tuesday. Also on the scene were a number of media crews from various countries to see how this little town called Obama is making waves in Japan.

Incidentally, what is the deal on copyright policy for images of people? Has Mr. Obama agreed to allow the town of Obama to use his image and name to sell t-shirts, sweet bean cakes, chopsticks, and hamburgers?

I guess he must be alright with it.

And here is the gift they sent Mr. Obama (the little wooden sculpture, not the woman of course):

On it, are inscribed the Chinese characters 必勝, or “hishyou”, which loosely translates into “certain victory.”

Oh, and Hillary gets some love from Japan as well.

Canycom (a distributor of carriers, cutters and utility vehicles) decided to re-name their crawler carrier from “hillari” to “Hillary.”  You can see an image of it to the right.

I don’t think Canycom distributes this particular crawler carrier in the US, but I’m sure they’d be more than happy to accommodate.

NOTE: originally posted to my SC blog and then re-published here.