lifestyle

'Japan’s USA' town catches flak for celebrating Trump inauguration

9 Comments
By Master Blaster, RocketNews24

One quaint little town calling themselves “Japan’s USA” unexpectedly found themselves in hot water for celebrating the new American president.

Nestled along the coast of the Suonada Sea in Oita Prefecture, you’ll find the charming rural city of Usa. Although, immediately obvious in English, the coincidental spelling to the United States of America’s acronym is a little more novel to Japanese people who normally see the name in kanji or hiragana.

It’s a coincidence that the locals are hoping to capitalize on in an effort to bolster tourism and make Usa great again. Calling the city “Japan’s USA,” citizen groups are hoping people will come for the charming play on words, and stay for their famous “Usa Candy” made from rice and malt.

Meanwhile, in the actual USA, big things are afoot as Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th President. While we all intently watched his Twitter feed to see what policies he will announce over the coming weeks in between his thoughts on the latest episode of "Saturday Night Live," Usa City decided to mark the occasion with a special event.

Creating a name so grandiose it would make Trump himself blush, the “Extravagantly Celebrate the American Presidential Inauguration in Japan’s USA Association” was formed. Their mission was to decorate JR Usa Station on Jan 21 with American style decorations including plentiful stars and stripes and a cardboard cutout of President Trump in that peculiar stance he sometimes has where he looks like he’s kind of holding the front of his jacket but also kind of giving a thumbs up.

The display was successful at creating a buzz for Usa, but unfortunately almost all of the feedback was unexpectedly negative. Emails and phone calls came into the Usa tourist association asking “Are you celebrating someone who doesn’t seem to support Japan?” and suggesting “Maybe you should take another look at the things this guy says.”

It all came as a shock to the tiny city who just wanted to promote their coincidentally funny name. Although a little downtrodden by the backlash, organizers such as 55-year-old Yuko Yoshitake remain steadfast in their mission, pleading that people consider their actions with a kind heart and hoping that “people from home and abroad come to visit Japan’s USA!”

It’s unfortunate how this small-town gesture of hospitality got politicized, but then again basing your event on a major political event does run that risk.

Source: Sankei News

Read more stories from RocketNews24. -- Japanese comedian parodies Trump, instructs noodle-loving Kyotoites to “Get out of here!”【Video】 -- Is Life Accordion to Trump the best video on the Internet? Japanese Twitter seems to think so! -- Visiting Asagaya Tanabata Festival, known for its spectacular displays that never fail to surprise

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9 Comments
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Ignore the violent left. Let's see what President Trump can do. Hopefully things go well - things DID NOT go well over the past 8 years, that is now a known historical fact.

-6 ( +5 / -11 )

Hopefully things go well - things DID NOT go well over the past 8 years, that is now a known historical fact.

Only in the bubble. The rest of the world knows they did go well over the past eight years.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Amen, 2Strangerland !

-2 ( +5 / -7 )

Things did not go well at all under Obama, even though he had a town name.

Give Trump a chance. So far he has an "A" by cancelling TPP.

-4 ( +5 / -9 )

It's very cute......thanks for celebrating the USA....! There are homeless all over the West coast of the US. The liberals ignore them....the Christians feed and clothe them. And then the libs bash Christians and all conservatives. Trump has a good spirit and more passion than anyone.

-8 ( +4 / -12 )

Americans living/working in Japan are a special group of people. People with degrees working for less than 1/2 of what their degrees are worth in America, all in the name of Japan. Trump has been in the office 5 days and has many more to go to get the country back in order and getting rid of common cores is on the agenda, you people remember the program most of you were educated with, the one the Communist Progressive Liberals indoctrinate students with, for 25 years or so. Hoping to come soon also, stop paying for people to study in other countries with taxpayer dollars.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Communist Progressive Liberals

Liberism isn't communist.

Drop the pejoratives, it will make your argument more believable.

-2 ( +0 / -2 )

TRUMP IS NOT CELEBRATING JAPAN OR JAPANESE, pls have some normal way of thinking.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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