Cities don’t just happen; assembly is required. But the inner workings of urban development are often hidden. We meet the makers and architects doing the heavy lifting.
Japan’s long-distance trains are entering a new era of luxury and innovation. Monocle visits the industrial and interior designers who are redefining train travel.
Tokyo-based company Culture Convenience Club brings together quality of life and technology in Tsutaya Electrics. The well-designed shop displays hi-tech products alongside books, plants and plenty of comfy seats.
Robert Bound reporting from Chiang Mai: Thailand’s unofficial second city is a beguiling collision of contrasts: a young university town with an ancient, storied history; a town of temples and boxing stadia; monks and go…
As a global Japanese image, Doraemon aptly combines cuteness and faith in technology. But with the blue robot cat from the future seeming increasingly rooted in the past, there’s a sense that Tokyo’s soft-power brokers want…
Hail a cab from a Tokyo taxi firm whose white-gloved drivers are drilled everyday in what to say to customers, how to clean their cars and how to take real pride in their job.
Kajima, one of Japan’s largest engineering firms, built the country’s first concrete dam and nuclear reactor. Now it’s at the forefront again, this time in the field of urban biodiversity. We meet the man who sees the…
Bree Street’s affordable rents and industrial past mean design schools stand next to car mechanics and menswear boutiques alongside panel beaters. The contrasts are beautiful.
LA’s police force is trying to improve its image by creating friendlier buildings, including a glistening new HQ. We also visit an ‘eco’ police station in Victoria, Australia, and look at how forces around the world are…
In the next two years, Spain aims to have the world’s largest high-speed network. Monocle meets the man in charge, then heads off to the Berlin rail trade fair, where the Russian market is causing all the excitement.
No sailing royals, an antipathy to ostentation and an unwillingness to take holidays has left Japan’s recreational boat market in the doldrums for years. But the ‘nation of rice farmers’ is finally finding its sea legs:…