Chicago is one of the major centers of the American manufacturing industry.
Sodick Inc. is Sodick’s base in North America. It is located in Schaumburg in the northwestern part of Chicago, surrounded by many other Japanese companies.

Chicago boasts not only two baseball teams — the Cubs and the White Sox — but is a major center for many other professional teams, including those for basketball, soccer, and American football. It’s truly one of the great sports cities of the U.S.

The city has a thriving music scene of jazz and blues too. We headed to a live jazz bar to listen to a swing performance while enjoying dinner.

As a main event of our trip, we went to the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS), one of the world’s three major machine tool trade fairs which is held every two years. We visited IMTS 2014 and Sodick Inc., which had a display there.