The World

By Mure Dickie, FT Japan bureau chief

The run-up to Barack Obama’s first visit as president to Tokyo was overshadowed by the 20th anniversary of the Japanese emperor’s enthronement and the recent arrest of one of the nation’s most wanted men, but the trip should at least bring a welcome boost to his book sales.

With Obama scheduled to show off his celebrated rhetorical skills in a major policy speech on Saturday, publisher Asahi Press is hoping for renewed demand for its once-popular bi-lingual collections of his speeches.

Fans and English students sent sales soaring after Obama’s election. In a trend that mirrors Obama’s falling domestic popularity, however, all have since slipped out of the best-seller list.

The passing of Obama passion helps explain why popular attention this week has focused more on the anniversary of Emperor Akihito’s enthronement in 1989 and on the ongoing interrogation of the long-sought suspect in the 2007 killing of a UK woman.

Yet Obama remains popular in East Asia’s most influential democracy. Indeed, a banker at a major Japanese institution jokes that the US should tap the president’s personal brand to help shore up its fiscal foundations by issuing yen-denominated “Obama Bonds”.

“Even Japanese retail [investors] would buy,” the banker says.

Some of his biggest fans hail from the previously little-known city of Obama in central Fukui prefecture. A small group of Obama supporters from Obama city are in Tokyo to welcome him by wearing Hawaiian Aloha shirts and waving a welcome banner.

Inoue Koyoan, president of a food company based in Obama city, expects sales of tribute wheat crackers bearing the president’s image to jump to around 1,000 in November from the 700 to 800 recorded in recent months.

Juichi Hemmi, head of a local brewery that markets President Obama sake is grateful to the president for putting his town on Japan’s mental map – and his own enthusiasm has survived the president’s falling approval rates.

“I think he’s doing his best,” Hemmi says. “I really approve of him for taking on big challenges such as reforming healthcare.”

Lindsay Whipp, FT Tokyo markets correspondent, contributed to this blog