JAPAN:Four hours from Tokyo and a long, long way from Washington DC, a Japanese town has picked a candidate to win the US presidential election, and it's not Hillary Clinton. The former first lady may once have had supporters in the remote fishing town of Obama, population 32,000, on the Japan Sea coast, but the best of luck finding them.
Just two months since realising that their town shared a name with the man who may well become the first black US president, the citizens of Obama are among his most fervent supporters. Pictures of Barack Obama hang in pachinko parlours and restaurants, "I Love Obama" T-shirts have been cranked out by the hundreds and a song eulogising the dashing senator's charms is in the can.
This is the place to come in Japan for Obama burgers, sweet-bean buns and fish burgers. Even the town mayor backs the man from Illinois. A supporters club made up mainly of housewives that meets daily to plan strategy has no doubts at all that their work counts. "Ever since we started backing him he has been winning," says Satoko Udagawa. "It could be just a coincidence but we don't think so." Win or lose, she says the supporters plan a trip to see their idol in America.
Serendipity has lent a hand to the unlikely campaign. Apart from that name, supporters have noted that the senator shares a birthday - August 4th - with the town's "chopstick day", founded to commemorate its most famous product: lacquered chopsticks.
The town sent a set to Obama last year with a note in English from mayor Toshio Murakami, which said: "I am glad if you use it habitually."
Obama has at least heard about the little corner of Japan backing him for the world's most powerful job, although he has yet to stop by. He told Japanese TV in 2006 that his passport was stamped by a man who looked up and told him he was from the town. It was the start of what may become a beautiful relationship. A viewer told the town office about the coincidence and the campaign was launched, slowly. "At first we thought Mrs Clinton might win so we weren't so enthusiastic," says Murakami.
To those who would accuse him of opportunism, the mayor has the perfect answer: President Obama's policies would be good for the town. A vocal critic of Japan's hardline policies toward North Korea, which incidentally is closer to Obama than Tokyo, the mayor believes the new president will bring stability to the region.
"I heard Mr Obama say he will talk to North Korea," says the 75-year-old. "If he does, China and South Korea will also take note, and relations with Japan will improve." That means more chopstick exports to Asia and more tourists to Obama, but the mayor says something bigger is at stake. "I believe Mr Obama is a man of peace, someone who will help the world and also help save the environment. We're proud to back him."