A webinar “How to Make the Most of the Osaka-Kansai Expo” was held on January 18, and Sachiko Yoshimura, Director General of the Public Relations and Promotion Bureau, Japan Association for the 2025 World Exposition, spoke about updates on the Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan. It will be held from April 13, 2025, to October 13, 2025, for 184 days. The webinar was organized by the Japan America Society of Chicago.

The Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago (JCCC) celebrated the 2024 New Year at the Renaissance Schaumburg Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg on January 14, featuring traditional rakugo performer Tozaburo Yanagiya as the special guest. About 530 JCCC members and guests attended the gathering and enjoyed Yanagiya’s performance, janken games, and big raffles.

The Taiko Legacy, performed by the Tsukasa Taiko, celebrated its 20th anniversary at the Edlis Neeson Theater of the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago on December 17, 2023. Now the Taiko Legacy 20 has grown to a group of professional performers, who invite national and international musicians and performers, to present a conceptually diverse and dynamic musical performance.

A Nagasaki Hibakusha Delegation led by Masao Tomonaga visited Chicago and gave a presentation “Hibakusha: Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Survivors’ Stories and Hopes for the Future” on November 14 at the Japan Information Center, Consulate General of Japan in Chicago. The delegation aimed to have first-hand dialogues with the people of the United States where many nuclear weapons were stored, and talked about the tragedy and inhumanity of the nuclear weapons and the importance of peace to the U.S. citizens, especially, young generations.

Mr. Ralph Fujimoto, a longtime Chicago resident whose efforts to promote business alliances between Japan and America made him a well-known figure in Chicago’s Japanese and Japanese American community, died on December 7, 2023, at his home in South Carolina where he lived with his second wife, Shirley.

   The Sankosha U.S.A., a leading company of commercial laundry and dry cleaning press machines, celebrated its 30th anniversary on November 15. At its office building located in the Chicago Northwest suburb of Elk Grove Village, the company had an open house to show its machines. It also invited its customers and supporters to a commemorative dinner at Shaw’s Crabhouse in Schaumburg.

The Chicago Japanese Club celebrated its 30th anniversary on November 4 at the Doubletree Hotel Arlington Heights, and about 100 people of guests, founding members, and past and present members attended. Vice President of CJC, Yuki Juretic, emceed the celebration, and its history video was presented to look back at its activities along with its mission.

The 45th Bank of America Chicago Marathon brought huge excitement both in Chicago and Japan. Everybody knows Kenia’s Kelvin Kiptum set a new world record 2:00:35 for the first time breaking 2:01 in a record-eligible marathon. From the other side of the glove, seven Elite Athletes from Japan competed in Chicago.

The World Business Chicago welcomed Masayoshi Matsumoto, Chairman of the Kansai Economic Federation, and hosted a welcome reception on October 5 at the Ivy Room, an event space right in the heart of Chicago's River North neighborhood. Many business people both from the Japanese side and the U.S. attended the networking event.

A pairing event on Japanese sake and cuisine, “Sake Gourmet, Embark on a Culinary Exploration across Japan,” was held on October 3 at the official residence of the Consul General of Japan in Chicago, Jun Yanagi. The event was hosted by the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago, and 40 industry professionals such as restauranteurs, liquor wholesalers, and liquor shop owners were invited.

Consul General Jun Yanagi and his wife Norika visited the Montrose Cemetery on September 29 to pay floral tribute to the ancestors who had pioneered to establishment of the Japanese-American community in the Chicago area.

The Montrose Cemetery on the north side of Chicago was only the cemetery that accepted burials of Japanese people amid a difficult time of severe racial discrimination in the 1900s.

The Grand Cru took place on the third day of the Chicago Gourmet at the rooftop of the Harris Theatre, where a crowd of wine and world cuisine fans gathered.

Taking advantage of the event circumstance, the Consulate General of Japan in Chicago and the Chicago Office of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) together introduced a variety of Japanese sake and matching Japanese cuisine.

A film screening of The Last Passenger was held at the Chicago Filmmakers on September 14, and its director Takashi Horie talked about the film. A full house of 85 audiences recalled the disaster, which happened on March 11, 2011, and thought about the minds of affected people both survived and dead.

Director Horie made the film to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Great Earthquake and Tsunami in the Tohoku Area, especially, around the City of Sendai in Miyagi Prefecture where Horie was born.

The Anime Central 2023, the biggest Japanese anime and manga convention in the Midwest, took place at the Donald Stevens Convention Center and Hyatt Regency O’Hare from May 19 to 21 for three days. The event, held in the Chicago area since 1998, has grown significantly over the years and become one of the top anime conventions in the U.S.

New Consul General Jun Yanagi arrived in Chicago on August 22, and the Chicago Shimpo interviewed him on September 5 at his official residence.

Q: Could you tell us what factors moved you to become a diplomat?

Yanagi: When I was a university freshman and sophomore, I traveled to Europe and China as a backpacker. During those trips, I was more inspired to see the world and wished to work in the international society.

   Takarazuka Revue O.G. concert “World of Dreams” took place at the Al Larson Prairie Center for the Arts in Schaumburg, Chicago’s northwest suburb, on August 20. Four former Takarazuka ladies, Erina Mariho, Tamaki Amo, Rei Ayaka, and Mayura Tama, attracted the audience with their strikingly beautiful song and dance, and gorgeous costumes. Their highly sophisticated performance, which pursues perfection by strict training, would be unique to Japan.

The Japan Festival Chicago 2023 took place on August 19 at the Chicago Cultural Center for the first time in four years. At the Preston Bradley Hall, a variety of Japanese cultures were exhibited and demonstrated, and popular food was offered to taste and purchase. At the Cassidy Theatre, 13 performances were played on the stage one after another.

Red, orange, yellow, blue and purple, rows of colorful Japanese paper lanterns evoke childhood memories of summer festivals. Awaited Ginza Holiday returned to the Midwest Buddhist Temple in Chicago with Japanese traditional artisans for the first time in four years after almost all the COVID-19 restrictions were lifted both in the U.S. and Japan.

Consul General Hiroshi Tajima announced his return to Tokyo and held a farewell reception on August 4 at his official residence to thank many contributors in a various field such as business, culture, and education for their hard work to make deeper Japan-U.S. relationship.

The City of Chicago and the City of Osaka marked the 50th anniversary of their sister-city relationship and together celebrated their successful relationship on August 1st at the Preston Bradley Hall in the Chicago Cultural Center. A celebratory reception was hosted by the Osaka Committee of the Chicago Sister Cities International with many supporters and volunteers.