OBAMA: By Stephan Phelan

THE sun had risen in the east well before the outcome of the US election was known for certain.

It was a beautiful Wednesday morning in the fishing port of Obama, with blue skies stretching out over the Sea of Japan towards North Korea, but the streets seemed almost boringly quiet, given this town's vociferous recent endorsement of the American presidential candidate who shares the same name. (The word "obama", in Japanese, means "little beach".)

History, of course, is not necessarily made on weekends or public holidays, and the majority of Obama's 33,000 strong population were at school or work, although some had special dispensation to join the tourists and TV crews down at the waterfront community centre, where a small, vocal, musical crowd watched the votes being counted on big screens tuned to CNN.

With the possible exception of Barack Obama's campaign headquarters in Chicago, this might have been the most cheerfully partisan room on the planet.

Members of the Obama For Obama support group had turned out in force to sing their theme song, Obama Is A Beautiful World. The local Obama Girls were doing the hula dance they had been practicing for the last six months, in honour of the US senator's part-Hawaiian heritage.

A merchandise stall was selling souvenir t-shirts, chopsticks, meju bean cakes and bottles of sake, emblazoned with an "I HEART Obama" logo and a mock-presidential seal based around a crude but affectionate sketch of the man himself, replete with characteristic sticky-out ears.

By noon, Japan Standard Time, the latest reports from the far side of the Pacific suggested that this race was all over bar the concession speech.

Across town at City Hall, however, the newly-appointed mayor of Obama, Kouji Matsuzaki, was not yet ready to presume a victory for his town's adoptive hero. "If Mr McCain wins," he said, with the circumspection of a young but practiced politician, "it won't change the good relationship between Japan and the US. But I will keep supporting Mr Obama, whatever the result. The name of Obama has now spread all over the world, and every time that name is spoken, it will remind people of our town."

In the glory days of Japan's Edo period, Obama was the country's first port of call for traders from mainland Asia. More recently, it regained a strange taste of fame as one of several coastal towns from which North Korean agents abducted Japanese citizens for interrogation and indoctrination in the late 1970s.

There is a mild concern in Japan that a Barack Obama presidency might take a soft diplomatic line on Kim Jong Il, while domestic businessmen seem a little worried that he might push US exports in the Far East, like Clinton did, and further pressurise a weak economy.

The mayor believes that the immediate benefits of Obama (the man) to Obama (the town) must be put before any such speculation. "He is already helping to develop the tourist industry here." Earlier this year, Matsuzaki's predecessor Toshiro Murakami sent Senator Obama a lacquered daruma doll for good luck, inscribed with the words "you should win", and received a letter of thanks in return, which has subsequently been posted up on streetlights and windows all over town.

"I look forward to a future marked by the continued friendship of our two great nations," wrote Barack Obama, "and a shared commitment to a better, freer world."

Matsuzaki said he would go one better if, or when, Obama was confirmed as the winner. "I will send him a congratulatory telegram with an open invitation to visit Obama any time, to visit the temples, which are considered national treasures, and to sample the local seafood. I will also send some traditional crafts, which I hope he will put in the oval office."

When asked if the townsfolk would have taken such a pro-active interest in a foreign politician if Barack Obama happened to have a different surname, Matsuzaki was forthright, statesmanlike, and maybe a little reminiscent of the man under discussion.

"At first, it was just the name," he admitted. "I don't think we would have supported Obama so passionately otherwise. But then we became familiar with his policies, and we aspired to learn more about him and his dream." Matsuzaki may even owe his own election victory to Obama - noting how well people were responding to the word "change", he was sure to use it profusely in his mayoral campaign. "My supporters are also supporters of Mr Obama," he said.

It was a five-minute drive back to the community centre, and we were two seconds away from the entrance when the profoundest imaginable cheer came up from inside, followed by chants of "Obama! Obama!" and the mantra "Yes We Can!". CNN had just called the election for the senator from Illinois.

A group of young Americans in "I Love Obama" headbands were making the most noise, screaming down their phones to their parents in the US. Jason Howard, who teaches English in Nagasaki, told me he couldn't call his, because they were both McCain supporters, and his home state of Indiana hadn't finished counting ballots yet (Obama was later declared the winner there too, albeit narrowly).

His friend Eric Franz from Oregon said: "This is the great thing about the American system. It's slow-moving, but it's self-correcting." Then they resumed their celebrations for the benefit of the news cameras.

Standing to one side in her hula outfit, Obama Girl Yuko Shirayama looked almost sad, but insisted that she wasn't. "I had a dream that Obama would win, and he did. I also had a dream that he came to this town, and I met him, so now I'm thinking maybe that will happen too." Keisuke Kida, a 22-year-old barman from the neighbouring prefecture of Ishikawa, admitted that he has never taken much interest in politics in Japan or anywhere else.

He had never been to Obama before, and he was mystified by his own ecstatic reaction to the success of a foreigner he knows very little about in an election he couldn't have voted in if he wanted to. "I am from Japan, not America" said Kida. "So why do I feel this chicken skin, like at a concert?" He meant goose-bumps.

And I didn't know what to tell him, because I was asking myself the same question, with the hairs standing up on my arms.