TOKYO — Meet Japan’s Joe Biden – the mayor of a remote town who’s become an internet sensation for having a name that can be pronounced the same as that of the U.S. president-elect. ADVERTISEMENTJapan uses kanji characters from China along with phonetic Japanese script, especially for names, and the characters can sometimes be read in different ways. In Umeda’s case, his first name, Yutaka, can also be pronounced “Jo,” while his surname becomes “Baiden.”Over the last few days, Umeda has become a media and internet sensation. “I’m really surprised,” Umeda told Reuters. “But coincidentally, because our names are phonetically the same, I feel much closer to him when I watch his speeches and videos.”Read Next

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer November 11, 2020 08:15 UTC