Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2009

When Yomiuri Giants pitcher Seth Greisinger beat the Hanshin Tigers at Koshien Stadium early last month, the Sports Hochi newspaper reported the feat with a pun-ishing headline: “Nice Guy Gurai.” The verbal gymnastics involved a katakana rendering of “nice” (ナイス), followed by the first kanji of gaijin (外) and a shortening of “Greisenger” (グライ). But the Japanese weren’t done having fun with foreigners’ names. A few days later, in a speech marking the 64th anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, mayor Tadatoshi Akiba called for worldwide nuclear disarmament by urging listeners to form an “Obamajority,” echoing US president Barack Obama’s no-nukes plea of a few days earlier. Such a positive spin on an American leader’s name hasn’t always been the case–when Bill Clinton got into trouble for his dalliance with Monica Lewinsky, Japanese tabloids took to calling him “Furinton daitoryo” (不倫トン大統領), which can be translated as “President Adultery.”