Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has won the U.S. Presidential Election against incumbent President Donald Trump.
While he made headlines all around the world, thousands of miles away in Japan, Mayor of a town called Yamato also becomes famous because he shares the same name as the U.S. President-elect.
Yutaka Umeda, the Mayor of a small town of about 15,000 people in Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture, unexpectedly found internet fame as people pointed out that the characters that make up his name can also be pronounced as “Jo Baiden.”
In Japanese Kanji writing system which adopted logographic Chinese characters, the politician’s forename, “Yutaka” (穣), is more commonly read as “jo,” while his last name “Umeda” (梅田) is made up of characters meaning “plum” and “rice field.” The word "Umeda" is often pronounced as as “ume” and “da”, but can also be read as “bai” and “den.”
When the local media first approached him, the 73-year-old man said that he didn't know any about this until his family told him that his name went viral on social media.
On the internet, netizens were amused at the link between the two politicians.
“I feel very close to him. It feels as though I’ve also won the election after hearing about (Democratic nominee Joe Biden’s) projected win,” said Umeda, as reported by the Kyodo news agency.
As a Mayor of a small city, Umeda acknowledged the huge differences in responsibilities between him and Joe Biden. But Umeda believes that the he shares the same passion as Biden, which is to achieve the best for their countries.
“Although there is a huge difference between the job of the U.S. president and mine, as the Mayor of Yamato … our passion is the same,” he said.
It was since the media published this news, Umeda started receiving numerous joking messages about this coincidence which congratulated him on his success.
Umeda said that he hope his association with the U.S. President-elect would bring his small town the same recognition the Japanese fishing town of Obama enjoyed when its namesake became a Presidential candidate.
Obama has his name linked to Obama Onsen, a hot spring resort in the town of Obama in Nagasaki prefecture. The place received international interest in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected the 44th U.S. President.
If ever Umeda meets Biden, Umeda said that he would introduce himself as “Biden of Kumamoto.”
