Tokyo
Page 38
Going for old
Though the Japanese love vintage, second-hand furniture auctions are new. Now, three entrepreneurs are bringing design classics to market in the country’s first modern and contemporary furniture auction.
Love box
In a city with thousands of karaoke bars, exclusive members club Amour is in a different league. With interiors by Marc Newson, it is luring a well-heeled international crowd to its vinyl banquettes.
Dead simple
Tokyo-based design guru Kenya Hara advises companies, including Muji, on their aesthetic direction. He also runs his own design institute and collaborates with designers. Here, he describes his last meal.
Fog City News
The magazine store in San Francisco that's bucking the mainstream, a satirical Parisian paper and healthcare, manga-style.
Observation
How often do you plot what your perfect day would look and feel like, or think about what would improve the way you cross towns, country and continents? I do it all the time.
Shop flawless
In a world of disposable fashion and bad service, some stores get it right and are seeing their profits boom. We profile five retail giants that are benchmarks for other floundering businesses.
Asia
Michelin judges Tokyo a gourmet's delight, Taiwan's weapons programme, and the beautification of Seoul.
Mode in Japan
Next to the vast Tokyo International Gift Show, a smaller, edited craft and design show called For Stockists has become the hot ticket, thanks to its charismatic founder.
Observation
Many hotels bombard us with unnecessary extras when we just need the simple things done well. Isn’t it time they ditched the gimmickry and concentrated on the basics of good hospitality?
Inventory No. 7
Shopping trips to Marunouchi can be exhausting. Thankfully, there’s a new venue to rest weary heads: the glowing, 24-storey Peninsula Tokyo, the first free-standing hotel to open in the city in a decade.
