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August 13, 2026
 

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Patricia Lopez
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker is pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump¡¯s threats to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago, calling them unconstitutional and illegal, and emphasizing that policing should remain under local control.
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 28, 2025
Can Illinois¡¯ governor keep the National Guard out of Chicago?
¡°Don¡¯t come to Chicago,¡± JB Pritzker warned. ¡°You are neither wanted here nor needed here.¡± Should Trump take action, he said, ¡°we¡¯ll see you in court.¡±
A new U.S. citizen holds a U.S. flag after a naturalization ceremony in Boston on March 11.
COMMENTARY / World
May 16, 2025
U.S. citizenship could soon look very different
Trump¡¯s vision tilts heavily toward the wealthy and well-to-do, with special shortcuts for them and barriers to entry for the rest.
The then-Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump greets a Michigan Muslim community leader at a rally in Novi, Michigan, on Oct. 26.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 23, 2025
Why are pro-Palestinian activists suddenly so quiet?
Pro-Palestinian and Arab-American groups that urged voters to withhold support from Biden over Gaza now face regret as Trump embraces Israel¡¯s hard-line stance.
A U.S. Marine provides water to Afghan families during the evacuation at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul in August 2021.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 30, 2025
Abandoning Afghans who worked with us troops is shameful
The urgency is driven by a simple fact: The Afghans who helped us, along with their family members, are considered traitors by the ruling Taliban.
U.S. President Donald Trump signs executive orders including a flurry of actions on immigration in the hours after taking office.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 27, 2025
America¡¯s mass deportation clash is unprecedented
So when ICE moves from selective targets aimed at serious criminals to the mass roundups Trump promised, that is when the public may recoil.
Migrants wait to be processed on U.S. soil after crossing from Mexico in El Paso, Texas, in May 2023.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 15, 2025
Trump¡¯s immigration crackdown will be swift and ugly. Here¡¯s how.
U.S. President-elect Trump plans major immigration crackdowns, focusing on deportations, birthright citizenship, and humanitarian programs, marking a significant shift in policy.
Donald Trump, the then-Republican presidential candidate and now the president-elect, visits the U.S.-Mexico border at Eagle Pass, Texas, in February. His appointments to key positions in his new administration show he is moving aggressively on mass deportations of undocumented immigrants.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 19, 2024
Trump¡¯s mass deportation plan has its leaders in place
Even before Trump¡¯s victory, Tom Homan, the former acting director for ICE, promised to ¡°run the biggest deportation operation this country¡¯s ever seen.¡±
Tesla CEO Elon Mus joins former U.S. President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during a campaign rally at the site of the first assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 5.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 4, 2024
The growing shadow of big money in U.S. politics
Changes in federal election law have made it easier for candidates like Donald Trump to trade influence for donations.
Campaign spending in the U.S. has surged, with dark money and Super PACs dominating elections.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 13, 2024
Dark money is a cancer on U.S. lawmakers ¡ª but it¡¯s curable
Nearly three-fourths of Americans voters say lobbyists and special interests wield too much influence compared to constituents.
U.S. Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and her just-announced running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, greet supporters on Tuesday at Temple University in Philadelphia, the first day of their "Battleground State Tour."
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 7, 2024
Harris VP pick is a regular guy ¡ª exactly what she needs
Walz is the perfect counterbalance to Harris. He brings deep experience as a governor, House contacts as a former congressman and an everyman back story.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (right), the Republican's vice-presidential nominee, attend the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Monday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 17, 2024
J.D. Vance is red meat for Trump¡¯s MAGA base
It¡¯s a shrewd pick ¡ª a nod to Trump¡¯s base. More than any of the other contenders, Vance¡¯s selection shows that Trump wants to lock down the MAGA faithful.
U.S. President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden at a campaign event in North Carolina on Friday, the day following the president's disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump. Biden has brushed aside calls from some Democrats to step aside.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 1, 2024
Replacing Joe Biden is a fantasy Democrats must abandon
Those Democrats calling for a change in candidate need to keep calm and let Biden carry on. He may have had a bad performance, but he¡¯s still the man who beat Trump.
A rally in support of Ukraine outside the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Saturday, the same day the House of Representatives approved a $61 billion aid package supporting Kyiv's war effort.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 22, 2024
Ukraine aid shows MAGA hasn¡¯t cowed Johnson
The U.S. House speaker rejected the isolationism that has come to dominate his party, extending a lifeline to Kyiv by approving a long-debated aid package.
The caucus system is increasingly out of step with how modern America lives and picks its presidential candidates and how modern campaigns roll.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 17, 2024
It¡¯s time to scrap the Iowa caucus
The concept behind the Iowa Caucus was both noble and novel when it debuted in 1972. Now many people think it has no place in modern politics.
Gut bacteria may be behind many of Â鶹´«Ã½ colorectal cancer cases
A Japanese research team found that a toxin produced by certain E. coli strains, colibactin, caused genetic mutations in nearly half of colorectal cancer cases studied
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
She is Russia¡¯s richest woman. Her business empire is going up in flames.
Tatyana Kim, the head and co-founder of Wildberries, speaks about Ukrainian drone attacks on the company's warehouses in the course of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, at an unidentified location, in this still image from a handout video released on July 31.
Severe tropical storm Chan-hom makes landfall near Tokyo
Severe Tropical Storm Chan-hom made landfall around Ibaraki Prefecture, near Tokyo, on Tuesday night.
What Â鶹´«Ã½ language rules for permanent residency should look like
Potential health care workers hoping to find work in Japan take Japanese language instruction in Jakarta. Not all applicants for permanent residency should be expected to reach this level of proficiency.
Where do foreign residents in Japan want to die?
The Yokohama Foreign General Cemetery is one of the few cemeteries in Japan that allows burials, albeit with conditions for the deceased, including foreign nationality and permanent residency in Kanagawa Prefecture.
¡®Total whiplash¡¯: Foreign residents react to Â鶹´«Ã½ changing permanent residency rules
The entrance to the Tokyo Immigration Bureau in Minato Ward, Tokyo, in March. For some foreign residents of Japan, tightening measures for permanent residency have become one factor in a broader calculation over whether remaining in the country makes financial sense over the long term.
As Â鶹´«Ã½ concrete jungles sizzle, urban forestry offers an all-natural fix
People and birds find relief from the sun in Tokyo's Nakano Ward earlier this month. While experts agree that urban greening is crucial to mitigating the impact of climate change, trees are becoming even more scarce in Japanese cities.
Â鶹´«Ã½ brewers experiment with a secret ingredient: music
At Smoke Craft, a craft beer brewery in Tokorozawa, Saitama Prefecture, music isn't just a background to the brewing process ¡ª it's an ingredient.
As countries ban social media for children, Japan mulls a different approach
Data from NTT Docomo¡¯s Mobile Society Research Institute released in June found that 55% of respondents across all age groups said they fiddled with their phones when they had nothing to do, even when another person was in front of them.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Disaster relief workers Taichi Kato (left) and Seiji Yoshimura enter the collapsed living quarters at Kyuganji temple in Yatsushiro, Kumamoto Prefecture.
What Kumamoto revealed about Â鶹´«Ã½ earthquake readiness
By Alex K.T. Martin

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