little beach, japan

Hi! Did you know there is a small town in Japan named Obama? I had no idea! How weird is that? Why didn't anybody tell me this? The word obama means "little beach" in Japanese. The townsfolk are now hoping that this Obama win will bring up their tourism.

Could it? Maybe. They could sell t-shirts that say, "I visited Obama" and "My sister went to Obama and all I got was this lousy bumper sticker!"

They could make millions.

Anyway, I read the story and something caught my attention. The mayor of Obama, Kouji Matsuzaki, wants Obama (Barack) to visit his town. Here is the line from the AP story: "He plans to invite Obama to visit Obama, and dispatched a congratulatory telegram to the president-elect."

Do you see it? He sent a telegram. Yes. Who sends a telegram these days?! Seriously?! How do you even send a telegram? Does he think that Obama has a J-38 in his office? (A J-38 is a telegraph. There is no reason you should know that because NOBODY USES THEM!) Can somebody please put up a cell tower in Obama, Japan?!

There is another option, though. The article doesn't specify how the telegram was sent, so perhaps it was send by messenger. If that is the case, then I hope it was a singing telegram.

me me me.....

Congratulations to Obama,
You are now the winna,
Please come to the town Obama
Because that will totally give us a major boost in tourism and will bring in lots of money.

That's the English translation. I think it actually rhymes in the original Japanese. Unfortunately, the only Japanese I know is "Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto" which means "Please hold onto this large jar of cherries for me, Mr. Robot."

I'm off to work on my Japanese Morse Code.

Enjoy!

-DJ