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Obama Appears in Tonari no Tarō-kun Erotic Manga
posted on by Egan Loo
Not-So-Daily Link of the Day II: The April issue of Wani Magazine's Kairakuten magazine published Makoto Hachiya's one-shot Tonari no Tarō-kun erotic manga with an alter-ego of Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō and his new neighbor "Obama" on February 29. Appearing alongside Obama are lookalikes of American Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain.
The manga's title is an apparent reference to both Asō and Houhokekyo Tonari no Yamada-kun (My Neighbors the Yamadas), the four-panel manga that inspired Studio Ghibli's film of the same name. The Tonari no Tarō-kun manga takes advantage of a Japanese name (小浜) which is pronounced and spelled the same way as American President Barack Obama's family name. A Japanese city by the same name gained worldwide attention last year when Obama, then a senator and a presidential candidate, related a story from a 2006 congressional visit to Japan. A Japanese customs official saw Senator Obama's passport, and the official said that he was from Obama, the city. Long before he was chosen to be Japan's leader last September, Asō has described himself as an avid manga reader. Asō half-joked that he was better known for his manga and Akihabara otaku culture ties than for being the prime minister.
Source: Sankaku Complex (Not safe for the workplace)
Update: John Omaha, "a candidate for the next United States President," has appeared more than once in the Air Gear manga by creator Oh! great since last summer. Thanks, dormcat.
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