local papers are some of the most rewarding archives to thumb through if you enjoy this kind of thing because they have (had, increasingly) almost free reign to run with all the goofy interest stories. the beautiful thing about syndication is that you might find an article about princess maker in the times herald, a daily that has been serving port huron, michigan for over 150 years. the other beautiful thing about syndication is that the framing and intent might change entirely with a tweaked headline and lead image, like the run it had in the tribune in southern california. google has digitized a lot of what’s out there and the library of congress has aggregated collections up until 1963, but a lot of gems like this are locked up behind ancestry’s offering. at least online you don’t have to deal with the vinegar smell.

if you’re wondering why the actual article is fairly knowledgable and even-keeled, joseph coleman was the then tokyo bureau chief for the AP, so I suspect he probably overlooked a lot like this knowing who’d be picking it up off the wire. maybe he just had a flash of inspiration after hearing that sweet PM2 soundtrack.