Few anticipated the enormous scale of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan last March. Monocle talks to Eiji Kimizuka, chief of staff for the Ground Self-Defense Force, to learn how the rescue effort continues one year…
The Japanese city of Kyoto is renowned for its ancient traditions. But a crop of young designers is making sure it’s also set to become one of the nation’s creative hubs of the future.
South Korea has created a golf culture that leaves most other nations swinging away in a sandy bunker. Monocle visits some of the country’s top clubs and meets their quirky members and attentive staff.
Having dreamt of space travel since childhood, Koichi Wakata is a seasoned astronaut and a household name in Japan. Now he is preparing for his biggest trip yet.
As South Korea’s economy continues its rapid growth, so too does its education system. And the fight to get little junior an early leg-up in life begins in the ‘hagwon’, an often expensive crammer school where hours are…
As the summer festival season approaches we visited the factories of three musical instrument makers who are world leaders for their attention to craft and superior sound quality.
Sankara Hotel & Spa is a new eco-friendly island hideaway surrounded by ancient forests and mountains off the coast of Kyushu. It offers detached villas and a cultural blend of Balinese design and impeccable Japanese hos…
Guam’s population will increase by almost half in 2014 when the US military relocates to this tropical paradise from Japan’s Okinawa. It’s a milestone
in the island’s history and a development boom is under way.
Dai Nippon Printing’s new training centre, by architect Kenya Ishihara, was designed to inspire its employees. With a spa and views of Mount Fuji, it seems more like a retreat than a place of work but with this incentive…
The almighty Master Shibatayama, a former Grand Champion sumo wrestler, chooses a traditional Japanese restaurant in Shinjuku for his Last Meal. He runs a sumo school in Tokyo and is the author of several books on regional…
It was the perfect powdery snow blown in from Siberia that attracted the Aussie skiers. And when they decided to stay put and open hotels and cafés they kickstarted a small business and development boom in Niseko, a once…
Some live in danger and need armoured protection. Some deal with deep poverty and ongoing provincial wars. Others have ‘noodle’ meetings, tend to high society and take power naps and weekly fasts. from Nagasaki to washin…
The nation that had no TV until 10 years ago and is famous for using its Gross National Happiness index as a measure of success rather than GDP, has been a democracy for just over a year. Monocle talks to its prime minister…
South Korea employs a German-born TV celebrity to give the country an image overhaul, in Shanghai everyone starts “digging for China” and in Japan, scientists have pioneered a less gory method of conducting autopsies.
A terrible accident led Bruno Contigiani to found the Art of Slow Living movement. And he practises what he preaches with a leisurely ‘last’ lunch at the Elio Locanda Italiana in Tokyo, a hangout for sumo stars and polit…
Japan has the fastest ageing population in the world, and businesses are quick to provide architect-designed care homes and grandchild robots for the elderly. Other nations need to take note of opportunities in this booming…
Fashion designer Jean Touitou enjoys good food and eating in down-to-earth settings. For his ‘last meal’ he has chosen Maisen, a tonkatsu restaurant on a quiet back street in Tokyo’s Jingumae district.
A decade ago it was rare to see a pair of Tokyo teenage boys out shopping in kimonos. But attitudes to national identity are starting to change. Genbei Yamaguchi’s new collection for United Arrows is targeting this shift…
In a city with 21,500 karaoke bars, exclusive members club Amour is in a different league. Founded by Parisian club impresario and graffiti artist André and with interiors by Marc Newson, it is luring a well-heeled inter…
Japan may not be the first country that springs to mind when you think of the best traditional mechanical watches, but the Grand Seiko series, relaunched in 1998, has found a loyal following in Asia.
