Obama (Japanese: 小浜市, Hepburn: Obama-shi) is a city located in Fukui Prefecture, Japan.

Obama has a Humid Subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) characterized by warm, wet summers and cold winters with heavy snowfall.

Obama developed as a seaport with connections to the Asian continent even before the start of written history in Japan, and artefacts from China have been found in local tombs from the Kofun period.

There are many buildings and houses in the Sancho-machi area of the city whose design was influenced by trade with the Chinese mainland.

The town remained an important port for the kitamaebune coastal trade, and was the starting point of the Saba-kaidō ("Mackerel highway") connecting the Sea of Japan to Kyoto.

[8][9] Obama has a mayor-council form of government with a directly elected mayor and a unicameral city legislature of 18 members.

A hula group began in the town in honor of Senator Obama's home state of Hawaii.

[16] Obama has since thanked the town for their gifts and support, saying: "I look forward to a future marked by the continued friendship of our two great nations and a shared commitment to a better, freer world".

Though the former American President is of Kenyan Luo heritage, it is not uncommon for Japanese and East African names to sound alike.