Events

People to People
Strengthening the ties between
     U.S                 Japan
Midwest     &       Kansai
Chicago                Osaka
through the 35th year celebration of the sister city relationship
between the Cities of Chicago and Osaka

2008 is the 35th anniversary of the Osaka & Chicago partnership. 

The Chicago Sister Cities International Program’s Osaka Committee and the City of Osaka, Chicago Office will pursue a mission to foster and strengthen relationships between the two cities.  This will involve a collaborative effort between businesses, local government, civic organizations, and the people of both cities.

Why Celebrate?

The City of Chicago and the City of Osaka are separated by both ocean and land and are practically on the other side of the earth from each other. Yet the two cities have much in common, from their importance as business centers to their love for comedy. 

For over 35 years, the people of Chicago and Osaka have brought regions and countries together.  People share about life in their cities and create grassroots connection that begin at the personal level.  2008 commemorates the 35th year of official city to city friendship, and it also represents the 50th year of the City of Osaka, Chicago office.  We have much to celebrate.

Platinum Sponsors:

Mrs. Joyce Chelberg
Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Chicago Foundation
Motorola, Inc.
OMRON Management Center of America Inc.
Takeda Pharmaceutical North America Inc.

 
 Gold Sponsor:

Yanmar America Corporation

Silver Sponsor:
The Revere Group, an NTT DATA Company
Kikkoman Foods Foundation
All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.

Organizers:
Osaka Committee, Chicago Sister Cities International Program
City of Osaka, Chicago Office

Supporting Organizations:　　　　　　　　　　
City of Chicago         
City of Osaka          
Consulate General of Japan at Chicago    
Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce              
Japan America Society of Chicago 

                   
----- Commemorative Events -----

1.  Jan   Osaka Half Marathon
A Chicago runner, Mr. Greg Costello (27years old), was invited to Osaka to compete in the Osaka Half Marathon and won second place with a time of 1:07:37.
[Link to news about the Chicago representative]

2.  Feb 11- end of 2008  Jazz Mondays
Osaka Committee and Japan America Society hosted a weekly social event at 11 E. Hubbard St., Andy’s Jazz Club.  Committee Co-chair Yoko Noge and the Jazz Me Blues Band performed on Mondays at 9pm.
[Link to read the latest article of Yoko Noge on the Chicago Tribune]

[Link to Yoko Noge and the Jazz Me Blues Band]

3. Jun 6 Osaka At The Sister City Festival

Osaka was represented in the Sister City Festival at Daley Plaza to celebrate Chicago and its Sister City relationships. 

4. Jun 16-Jun 26    Sister School Exchange Trip

Students from the Walter Payton College Prep. visited their sister school, Osaka Ichiritsui High School, for the 2nd time in 3 years.  In 2007, the students from Osaka visited Chicago. 
[Link to read about past exchanges and about the schools]

5.  Jun  20, 21    Chicago Hanjotei
Katsura Kaishi, a rakugo comedian, brought 3 other performers from Osaka to share the international language of laughter.  The performances took place on 6/20 (Fri) in downtown Chicago and 6/21 (Sat) at the Japan Festival in Arlington Heights. 
[Link to Chicago Hanjotei page]

6.  Jun 21, 22.   Photo Exhibits

See Osaka in Chicago: Over 50 city-scapes of the City of Osaka were exhibited at the Japan Festival in June. The exhibited photos included shots of the city center, tourist highlights, city landscapes, photos of Osaka daily life, etc.

See Chicago in Osaka: Over 30 city-scape photos of Chicago were displayed at Osaka City Hall during the months of August and September.

7.  Jul    Chicago's Social Service Delegation to Osaka
In July, four Chicago representatives visited Osaka to re-energize Chicago’s economic relations through grassroots interactions in the social service field. The Chicago delegation met with Osaka City representatives and Osaka University representatives to discuss social policies regarding Japan's youth, elderly, and the disabled, and also visited city sights and attended social events with the people of Osaka.  For more information, please contact tim.hill@writegoal.com

8.  Jul and Aug    Speech contest winners' visitation to Chicago and Osaka 
Annual speech contests take place both in Japanese and English, and the winners visit each other’s sister city that summer.  Chicago will host the English speech contest winner from Osaka, and Osaka will host the Japanese speech contest winner from Chicago.

The Osaka award winner of 2008 in Chicago's Japanese Speech Contest is Mr. Collin Stecker, and the English Speech Contest winner to visit Chicago is Ms. Ryoko Omine.[Link to news from  2008 Japanese Speech Contest]

9. Jul - Sep  Clean Up and Maintenance of the Osaka Japanese Garden
During the summer, the Osaka Japanese Garden in Jackson Park (Hyde Park) was rejuvenated through the City of Chicago Park District's dedicated work.  The damaged gate, roofed structure, fence, bridge and waterfall pump were repaired or replaced, dead branches and planting were removed, and trees and shrubs were pruned as part of the preparation for the rededication ceremony in October.  [Link to find out more about the Osaka Japanese Garden]

10. Sep.  Osaka Gourmet Night

"Sister Cities International Dine Around" Chef Luke Elder and Sous Chef Koji Kamakura from the Osaka Hyatt Regency visited Chicago and prepared a four-course original meal for a VIP gathering at Trump International Hotel and Tower's restaurant Sixteen. Host Chef was Frank Brunacci.

11.  Sep.   Chicago's Business Delegation to Osaka

In September, Mr. Leo Melamed, Chairman Emeritus of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and long time executive in the field of global derivatives, and his delegation  visited Osaka to celebrate the 35th Sister City Anniversary and the 20th year Anniversary of the Nikkei 225 futures contract.  [Link to Remarks by Leo Melamed presented at the 20th Anniversary of the Nikkei 225 Futures Market Symposium in Osaka September 2, 2008]

12.  Sep. 6    Osaka Garden Anime Night

A large screen was set up near the Osaka Garden of Jackson Park as one of Chicago's movies in the park events.  The screening opened with a short documentary called "Film is Alive" to introduce the life and works of Osaka born Tezuka Osamu, the father of Japanese Animation.  As a rich example of Tezuka's early works, episodes of Kimba the White Lion was screened.  This event was made possible by the generous support from The Rightstuf International Inc. and Tezuka Productions.
[Link to Kimba at Rightstuf]

Image courtesy of Rightstuf. Inc. © Tezuka Production Co., Ltd./Mushi Production Co.,