Japanese Names 1

Some of my favorite Japanese names. Basically these posts are to keep track of new Japanese names I see that interest me.
Note: Order of Japanese spellings go Hiragana, Katakana and then are followed by three Kanji spellings. The names under the names are romanized variants (like Ryuu becomes Ryu or Ryū).

Boys
1. Hiroshi: ひろし, ヒロシ, 博, 弘, 宏
2. Tatsuya: たつや, タツヤ, 竜也, 達也, 龍哉
3. Ryuu: りゅう, リュウ, 龍, 竜, 流
-Ryu, Ryū
4. Masahito: まさひと, マサヒト, 正仁, 雅人, 政人
5. Tomohisa: ともひさ, トモヒサ, 智久, 友久, 朋久
6. Takanori: たかのり, タカノリ, 孝則, 高徳, 隆典
7. Arashi: あらし, アラシ, 嵐, 新志, 新氏
8. Tsuyoshi: つよし, ツヨシ, 強, 剛, 毅
9. Haruto: はると, ハルト, 晴人, 春人, 治登
10. Kazunobu: かずのぶ, カズノブ, 和信, 一信, 和伸

Girls
1. Kaori: かおり, カオリ, 香, 薫, 香央里
2. Seiko: せいこ, セイコ, 聖子, せい子, セイ子
3. Noriko: のりこ, ノリコ, 紀子, 典子, のり子
4. Hikari: ひかり, ヒカリ, 光, 暉, 日香里
5. Sakurako: さくらこ, サクラコ, 桜子, 櫻子, さくら子
6. Ami: あみ, アミ, 亜美, 亜実, 亜未
7. Masami: まさみ, マサミ,正美, まさ美, 雅美
8. Saki: さき, サキ, 咲, 沙紀, 紗希
9. Chiyoko: ちよこ, チヨコ, 千代子, 千世子, チヨ子
10. Junka: じゅんか, ジュンカ, 絢香, 順花, 淳華

Obama: The First Black President

Headlines are popping up all over about America's first black president. I'm not an ethnicity expert but in order to be black, don't you have to be uh... black? Can you be black without having two black parents? It leads me to think Obama is biased on race. Race isn't the same as it was fifty or even ten years ago. People now call themselves mixed with no problem. You're practically expected to. There's no law or social stigma that says "You MUST pick a side" and if there is to some people, Obama should have broken it. Calling yourself anything but mixed is disrespectful. It's like saying one side of your family doesn't exist. I find it sickening in Obama's case considering his mother went through so much to raise him while I believe he said that he's met his father twice and doesn't care for him. Obama claims he relates better to black people. That's entirely impossible to say you could relate better to someone who has ancestors from South Africa than you would with someone with ancestors from England. Also what about mixed people? Can he relate to them less than black people but more than white people? I also don't like his stance on the "black" church. There's no such thing as a black church. There's the Church of God and it accepts everyone. So a black church has to be one of the ultimate oxymorons. If you're half black, are you allowed in or are you too white? Is there a blood quantum requirement to worship God? So I believe Obama believes he has more of a fan base if he calls himself black. The sad thing is that he does. It's completely ridiculous. Obama had the chance to blur racial lines forever by calling himself mixed and all he did was further define them. Also why are so many people saying that Obama is giving hope to black people by proving they really can become president? All Obama proved was that a half-black man from a rich family with a Harvard education could become president. If you ask me, I think Bush proved anyone could do anything. I mean look at Bush. If it wasn't enough of a breakthrough to prove that America would elect a man of lesser-than-average intelligence, we turned around and proved we would elect him again! If that's not proving everyone has an equal oppertunity, I don't know what is. Also I can't help but think that when America gets a full black president (and eventually we will), that the history books will quickly change Obama from the honor of first black president to that of the first mixed president.