About three years ago, a lot of Japanese people were attracted by President Obama's speeches although many of them weren't able to understand English. This was because his speeches were strong enough to give hope for Japanese people who didn't understand English, which showed that they strongly expected the Japanese Prime Minister to deliver his clear messages. The magazine "The speeches of Barack Obama"(which was published for English-learners, provided in both English and Japanese and was accompanied with a CD-ROM) surprisingly hit the bestseller list. After that, many businesses jumped on the bandwagon, and then pictures of President Obama was very easy to find. The two phrases "Yes, we can" and "Change" became very popular.
Under these circumstances, Obama City, Fukui prefecture, Japan (福井県小浜市） took advantage of the Obama boom. The city tried to promote itself by appealing to the public that the name of the city is the same name as President Obama. The city showed its support for President Obama although I think that it was meaningless and rather bothersome to him.
Anyway, the youtube video "Lady Kaga (not Lady Gaga)" has been recently drawing considerable attention (Please see the youtube video). This is a promotion video made by Kaga hot spring area, Ishikawa prefecture (which is next to aforementioned Fukui prefecture). In Japan, Lady Gaga has been recently very popular not only because her worldwide popularity but also her big support for the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami like her 10 days stay in Tokyo in June. Because of this, Kaga hot spring area (加賀温泉郷） has taken notice of the fact that Kaga sounds very similar to Gaga in Japanese and takes advantage of Lady Gaga's popularity. In the promotion video, ladies in various businesses in Kaga who offer hospitality to tourists appear with the intro of the popular song "Poker face" which is being played on Japanese traditional instruments.
I'm wondering if people in the Hokuriku area (both Ishikawa and Fukui prefectures belong to the area ) like puns more than in other areas.
