奧巴馬國內人氣大漲，日本小城也來“攀親”

朱健全

If youre traveling through Fukui Prefecture over the coming weeks, dont be surprised if you see signs, posters or even souvenir goods that say“Obama for Obama”

US presidential candidate Barack Obama is en-joying a groundswell of enthusiasm in a small city in western Japan, which is delighted to share his name. Obama, Japan, is rooting for candidate

Obama, hoping that if he becomes the US president he will put this ancient fishing town of 32,000 people firmly on the tourist map and, just maybe, choose it for an international summit.

Supporters in Obama — which means “small shore” in Japanese — have held parties to watch election results, put up posters wishing the senator luck and plan a special batch of the towns “manju” sweets bearing his likeness.

“At first we were more low-key as Hillary Clinton looked to be ahead, but now we see he is getting more popular,” Obama Mayor Toshio Murakami said.

“I give him an 80 percent chance of becoming president,” the 75- year- old said with a proud grin.

Murakami sent a letter last year to Obama, enclosing a set of lacquer chopsticks, a famous product of this town on the Sea of Japan (East Sea) in Fukui prefectures Wakasa region.

“I will present you the chopsticks of Wakasa paint and I am glad if you use it habitually,”Murakami said in the English-language letter. “I wish you the best of health and success.”

Murakami noted that Barack Obamas birthday, August 4, happens to be “Chopsticks Day”in the city.

Murakami is now preparing another package for the candidate that will include a good-luck charm from the local Obama Shrine.

“For the first letter I found his address on the Internet, so I dont know if he got it,”Murakami said. “But this time I asked the (US) embassy for his exact address, so Im sure hell get it.”

Lest cynics find the citys efforts naive, it was Obama himself who first drew attention to the connection.

Obama, speaking to Japans TBS network in December 2006, said that when he flew once to Tokyo, an officer stamping his passport told him of the town.

“He looked up at me and said, ‘Im from Obama,” the senator said.

如果你在未來幾周去日本福井縣旅游，看見帶有“Obama for Obama”的標識、海報或紀念品，千萬不要驚訝。

美國總統競選人巴拉克·奧巴馬目前在日本西部的一個小城受到熱捧，這個小城恰好與奧巴馬（Obama）同名。

日本的Obama小城力挺奧巴馬，并希望如果奧巴馬當選美國總統，能將這個與其同名的擁有3.2萬人的古老漁鎮列入旅游地圖，并選擇其為國際會議的召開地。

Obama小城（在日語中意為“小浜”）的“吹捧者”們舉行聚會觀看選舉結果，張貼祝奧巴馬好運的海報，還打算特制一批帶有奧巴馬頭像的“麻吉”甜點。

小浜市長村上壽男說：“一開始我們比較低調，因為希拉里似乎領先，但現在我們看到奧巴馬的人氣越來越高。”

這位75歲的市長帶著自豪的笑容說：“我覺得他有80%的勝算。”

去年，村上市長致信奧巴馬，并隨信寄了一套小浜的名品“漆筷”給他。小浜瀕臨日本海，位于日本福井縣的若狹町地區。

村上在用英文撰寫的信中說：“我送一套若狹町漆筷給您，如果您能經常使用它，我將深感榮幸。祝您身體健康、馬到成功。”

村上市長注意到，奧巴馬的生日8月4日恰好是小浜的“筷子節”。

村上市長目前正在為奧巴馬準備另一份大禮——從小浜當地神廟求來的好運護身符。

村上說：“寫第一封信時，我是在網上查到了他的地址，所以不知道他有沒有收到。不過這次我向美國大使館問了他的準確地址，所以我相信這次他一定能收到。”

你可別以為小浜城做的這些事情很幼稚，這個小“秘密”可是奧巴馬自曝出來的。

2006年12月，奧巴馬在接受日本TBS有線電視網的采訪時說，有一次他前往東京，一名在護照上加蓋公章的官員向他提起了這個小鎮。

奧巴馬說：“他抬頭看了看我說，‘我的家鄉就是Obama。”