Japanese Sister City visiting Schaumburg

Visitors from Schaumburg’s Japanese Sister City of Namerikawa will be touring the village and immediate vicinity Tuesday and Wednesday before spending the rest of their upcoming U.S. stay taking in the big city sights of Chicago.

Among the visitors will be Namerikawa’s new mayor, Masataka Ueda. Others include City Council Head Isao Nakagawa, Prefectural Council Representative Masakuni Kanda and Tadashi Kitano of the Namerikawa City Planning and Policy Evaluation Section.

Namerikawa sustained no damage from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March and caused a crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. In fact, the town is far removed from the area of the country affected.

The visitors will arrive on the Fourth of July. They’ll be unable to spend their Schaumburg nights at the Renaissance Hotel as hoped, however, because it’s already fully booked. In fact, for the first time since 2008, the hotel’s convention center is 100 percent booked for the entire month, officials said.

During their two days in Schaumburg, the visitors will tour village hall, Motorola’s international headquarters, the police and fire stations, the Schaumburg Township District Library, Schaumburg Golf Club, Schaumburg Park District Sport Center, Alexian Field, Spring Valley Nature Center, Schaumburg Regional Airport, Woodfield and nearby Harper College.

At lunch on Tuesday, they’ll meet with Chicago-area Japanese organizations such as the JCCC, Sugino Corporation, The Chicago Shimpo and JETRO.

The village hosted a group from its other Sister City — Schaumburg, Germany — in May. Some Schaumburg, Ill. residents will be taking a trip there in September.