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Full name: Jayson Tyler Brûlé
Area of interest: Culture, Lifestyle and Media
Journals/Organisation: Financial Times | International Herald Tribune
Email: tyler.brule@wikorp.com
Personal website: http://www.winkreative.com/about_us/company/default.aspx
Website: http://www.ft.com/life-arts/tyler-brule
Blog:
Representation: International Speakers Bureau (subjects: Branding, Consumer Trends, Corporate Culture, Creativity, Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Journalism, Marketing, Popular Culture)
Networks:
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Biography:
About:
Education: Studied journalism and political science in Canada and the US
Career: Moved to Britain in 1989 for job with BBC Manchester's youth television department, worked on style stories as well as news. Wrote for The Guardian, Sunday Times, Stern, Vanity Fair. In 1994 he was shot by a sniper while covering the Afghan war, and lost the use of his left hand. Founded Wallpaper, the style and fashion magazine, bought by Time Warner 1997, Brûlé remaining editorial director. Founded Winkmedia design agency in 1998. Hired to design the new look and rebranding of Swiss International Air Lines in 2001. Left Wallpaper to concentrate on 'Winkreative' in 2002. Hosted BBC4's TV media magazine The Desk in 2005. Also co-produced BBC4's 'Counter Culture' documentary series on the cultural aspects of shopping. Announced he would launch a new magazine, Monocle, in 2007 - first issue launched on February 15th
- update: left the FT to write a weekly column on 'urbanism & global navigation' for the International Herald Tribune (March 2007/Feb 2008)
- update: left the IHT to revive his Fast Lane column, coinciding with the FT Weekend relaunch, April 2008
Current position/role: Commentator
- also writes/has written for: The Guardian, Stern, The Sunday Times, Vanity Fair and written columns for The New York Times, Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag
Other roles/Main role:
Other activities:
Disclosures:
Viewpoints/Insight:
Broadcast media:
Video:
- Google video: VIDEO results
- "BBC recently commissioned Winkontent to produce Counter Culture, a six part series on global consumerism, in which Tyler explores how the business of buying and selling, of branding and re-branding, reveals the true culture of six very different countries – Japan, Sweden, Russia, Italy, USA and Libya" (info from Winkreative)
Controversy/Criticism:
Awards/Honours: Youngest ever person to receive the British Society of Magazine Editors Lifetime Achievement Award.
Scoops:
Other: Son of Paul Brule the Canadian football star
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Books & Debate:
Latest work:
Speaking/Appearances:
Debate:
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Financial Times: 'Fast Lane'
Column name:
Remit/Info: Observations on travel, culture trends and luxury consumer products
Section: FT Weekend / Life & Arts
Role: Commentator
Pen-name:
Email: tyler.brule@ft.com
Website: FT.com / Tyler Brûlé
Commissioning editor:
Days published: Saturday
Regularity: Weekly
Column format:
Average length: 1000 words
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Articles: 2012
- Roasted in a cultural stew - We love to talk about airlines and airports because they are a proxy – it’s safer to poke fun at them than take on a whole country - 19th May
- A new treat in Stockholm - Ett Hem combines the best elements of a smart country inn with the intimacy and intelligent design of a ‘ryokan’ - 12th May
- A sad goodbye to my little island - The house in Sweden needs to be put out of its misery and arrangements made for it to go to more loving owners - 5th May
- Blame is a high-viz business - The use of stand-out safety colours has come to mean it’s your biz to watch out for me rather than taking responsibility for myself - 28th April
- A springtime special delivery - Tips and suggestions for travel, fashion and home design that are perfect for the season - 21st April
- At home in an outpost - What Honolulu, Hawaii lacks in intimacy and scale, Okinawa’s city of Naha has in abundance - 14th April
- Rattled by fruitless rattling - A visit to the local police station to complain about neighbourhood crime yields little impact - 7th April
- On track to beat the Monday blues - A subtle shift in your routine or a random act of human kindness can set the tone for the rest of the day or week - 31st March
- Around the world in six blurred days - A marathon of a week is spent working, shopping and dining with friends between Tokyo and San Francisco - 24th March
- My ministry, my rules - A fictional diary of the first week of the UK’s new minister for transport - 17th March
- Selling the crown jewels - The UK government has made it clear that it’s not interested in maintaining the most basic of services - 10th March
- Deaf to common courtesies - The oblivious headphone wearer is among the ranks of those who annoy and slow down the rest of us - 3rd March
- Embassies with wings - A flag carrier instills a sense of national pride and transports culture, cuisine, commerce and goodwill around the world - 25th February
- Wake up calls for Waikiki - Hawaii is witnessing a drop in US visitors while arrivals from other countries around the Pacific are on the up - 18th February
- The wisdom of my accumulated air miles - Tyler Brûlé dips into the Fast Lane mailbag and answers a number of aviation-related questions from readers - 11th February
- Loco locomotion locations - A new transit link might stimulate growth, but if there isn’t a strategy for neighbourhood revitalisation, trains won’t be able to help - 4th February
- Touching the void - Never mind operating systems, apps and battery life, the most appealing thing about a BlackBerry is its keyboard - 28th January
- Screened out and isolated - Tyler Brûlé notices people are now immune to the clatter of finger nails on a keyboard but so easily disturbed by a newspaper unfurling before them - 21st January
- Best case for a new scenario - A new travel regime requires new equipment. Tyler Brûlé purchases a carry-on version of a steamer trunk - 14th January
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Articles: 2011
- If I ruled the Commonwealth ... - As the Queen’s press secretaries might be taking some time off, Tyler Brûlé has taken the liberty of jotting down his own New Year’s Day Manifesto - 31st December
- Christmas plans turned upside-down - Tyler Brûlé was all geared up for a period of extreme relaxation, but then it all changed between last week’s party and this weekend - 24th December
- Window dressing - Tyler Brûlé bemoans the fact that in much of North America and Europe the holiday retail experience smacks of miserliness and spending freezes - 17th December
- A new chapter for the bookstore - It takes a lot to get Tyler Brûlé out of bed at 5.30am but this particular shop opening was quite a special day in the world of retail - 10th December
- High anxiety and buses on stilts - Of all the routines in global travel, fighting for positions at the front of the buses at Dulles is one of the most annoying - 3rd December
- A seasonal offering - Tyler Brûlé offers a blanket briefing to assistants and middle managers to spice up Powerpoints focused on where to take business in 2012 - 26th November
- The pleasure and pain of Japan - The country’s culture of fine innkeeping works wonders; sadly it doesn’t offer a cure for its less comfortable side-effects - 19th November
- Oops, there goes the neighbourhood - Planners, developers and community leaders either lock horns or hold hands as they wrestle with the future of retail districts - 12th November
- When charm takes flight - Charmlessness is not only tolerated – it is a defining characteristic of many a company, city and nation - 5th November
- It’s time to curl up with a magazine - Weather plays an enormous part in how people consume media. A slight chill in the air can inspire more to feel cosy with their papers -29th October
- Through being cool - What governments and urban planners should be focusing on is developing spaces that are right for people starting out - 22nd October
- How to defeat treadmill-hogs - Japanese colleagues run in sync, with towels perfectly knotted around their necks, as only they seem able to manage - 15th October
- Happy countries, good business - The traffic might be irritating but the people and opportunities are what make a country a pleasant place to visit - 8th October
- Can one wear boots in the office? - Tyler Brûlé opens the Fast Lane mailbag and responds to readers’ letters and emails concerning sartorial and workspace issues - 1st October
- The ordered versus the odoured - Tyler Brûlé is convinced that research would uncover evidence for banning certain perfumes from enclosed spaces - 24th September
- Where else would you rather be? - A couple of days in Rio or São Paulo can work wonders for anyone feeling they’re about to lose their groove - 17th September
- Put this on the shopping list - Tyler Brûlé, through his mother, finds a good example of a British retailer standing by a commitment to customer service and good design - 10th September
- Don’t be shy about retiring - In a taxi to Haneda airport, Tyler Brûlé started having a small anxiety attack about his own readiness for life after 70 - 3rd September
- Trials of an Ibiza virgin - Tyler Brûlé was intrigued by the vivid mix of his fellow travellers – so much so that he forgot about his queasy stomach - 28th August
- Not too late for a summer holiday - Tyler Brûlé responds to queries from readers scrambling to organise transport and accommodation and what to pack in their holdalls - 20th August
- The symbolism of sweatpants - The garment goes from bed to street and back to bed again – a sign of giving up, of no longer making an effort in society - 13th August
- Life lessons at summer camp - The concept of a back-to-basics camp for adults gives Tyler Brûlé ideas for a proper revenue-generating venture for his island in Sweden - 6th August
- Making their own way in the world - Twenty-four hours in one country followed by 48 hours in the next is an excellent way to gauge how far trends really travel - 30th July
- Brand UK looks cheap and uninspiring - Tyler Brûlé, wonders why more is not being done to improve Britain Inc’s image in capitals and corporate boardrooms around the world - 23rd July
- My Singapore hotel fantasy - Tyler Brûlé envisions a lush retreat with simply appointed rooms, exquisitely attired cabana boys and the best lounger and towel colour combo - 16th July
- In praise of simple things - While in Lake Garda, Tyler Brûlé wonders why so many vehicles, household items and communication devices have to look like sex aids - 9th July
- Bubble-wrapped for safety - Freedoms once enjoyed by cautious people are being removed to ensure that a dopey minority don’t injure themselves - 2nd July
- Go sell it from a mountain - In our increasingly globalised, blurred world, the travel experience is largely the same on too many airline - 25th June
- The power of showers - Tyler Brûlé’s holiday regime in Tuscany has him questioning whether there should be simpler measures to judge whether a city is liveable - 19th June
- Why easy living can be so hard - For Monocle’s 2011 quality of life ranking, Tyler Brûlé takes more of the elements of scale and community alongside the usual metrics - 11th June
- A skirmish over Scandinavian skies - Tyler Brûlé flies on SAS and is more saddened than shocked by the experience. The rickety-looking MD-80 series aircraft was positively knackered and the cabin was threadbare - 4th June
- Opportunity and iDisillusionment - That many publishers are having difficulty making a go of iPad editions is not surprising, given launching a special e-edition often involves enormous development costs - 28th May
- A first-class view of ‘klinik-chic’ - Having spent a fair bit of time in hospitals on various continents, Tyler Brûlé has come to the conclusion that he is fascinated by Swiss medical staff and their choice of footwear - 21st May
- Cornwall’s future: only reconnect - Tyler Brûlé finally makes a long overdue trip to the beautiful Cornish coast on a 1970s First Great Western train, which he discovers to be neither quaint nor comfortable - 14th May
- Front row at the fashion parade - Tyler Brûlé kicks off the month with a spectacular show at the Sign Café in Tokyo, which he says is a perfect place to get a snapshot of economic, social and cultural trends - 7th May
- The oddly mean streets of Ottawa - Whoever ends up the victor at the polls might want to take a top-down approach, take a hard look at the Canadian capital and get it in order - 30th April
- A place in the sun for grandmother - Tyler Brûlé is on the hunt for the ideal summer holiday retreat for his family, which requires hassle-free logistics and a location at a town or village with a beach - 23rd April
- Still time to catch the blossom - The fastest track to rehabilitating Japan is to get the world to visit the country and sample the best food, hospitality, infrastructure, retail and scenery - 16th April
- An interruption in the BBC’s output - Tyler Brûlé misses his most important media meal of the day – his morning fix of the World Service, where today one can literally hear the cost-cutting happening ‘live’ during programmes - 9th April
- Ghost (or spy) in the machine - Elaborate anti-eavesdropping electronic devices at the Chinese and Turkish embassies think that appliances in Tyler Brûlé‘s home are potential national security threats - 2nd April
- Britain needs talent - With the new UK visa quotas in place, it seems the government isn’t that interested in helping businesses grow or encouraging its creative sector - 26th March
- Tokyo with the dimmer switch on - Tyler Brûlé finds that there is a certain camaraderie that comes with sticking together in these types of ‘should I stay or should I go’ situations - 19th March
- Not-so-prized performances - The terrible service at Heathrow – rivalled only by Frankfurt and every US airport – is reflected in the behaviour of airport screening staff and their managers - 12th March
- Questions of taste and judgment - Does he feel bad about his carbon footprint? Does he travel with his iPad? Does he like the Airbus A380? Tyler Brûlé answers frequently asked questions from reader - 5th March
- Make room for brief encounters in the sky - Pods, suites and couchettes that have been installed in Boeings and Airbuses provide improved sleep and privacy but at the cost of monotonous and claustrophobic cabins - 26th February
- Surfing new waves in Hawaii - The city’s future is not just about tourism but also dependent on getting visitors to invest in more than condos and golf courses - 19th February
- Breathing deeply on a Swiss train - A frequent question in Fast Lane’s letter bag is: when, where and how do you write this column - 12th February
- Perfectly proportioned bookshops - The bookstore that people dream about is small-scale, warm and welcoming and personal. American and British retail chains that are failing are anything but - 5th February
- Time for Japan to weigh anchors - NHK may have a muscular international news-gathering organisation, but it is throwing away billions of yen on dreadful ‘talent’ and useless films - 29th January
- Sharp suits, wise words - It looks like men’s wear is going to take a turn for the more tailored, says Tyler Brûlé, who has observed that the workwear era seems to have come to an end - 22nd January
- Happiness is a handsome new HQ - Tyler Brûlé and his colleagues have outgrown their building and perhaps the immediate neighbourhood and will soon transfer to a solid red-brick affair in Marylebone - 15th January
- The secrets of my brilliant Korea - On a post-Christmas trip to Seoul, it was so nice to cut out the holiday chit-chat and get on with business that he thought this could be a new cultural export, among other things - 8th January
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Articles: 2010
- More chat is just more chat - An optimistic view across 2011 will make for a good start, but it might be worth considering a few rules as you go about your daily routine - 31st December
- The wrong kind of airport - The state of chaos that enveloped Heathrow was a case of shoddy resources and poor planning – a running theme when it comes to transport and the UK’s infrastructure - 24th December
- My ideal countdown to the holidays - Everyone seems to enjoy the frenetic pace at Christmas that gives many offices the feel of a Korean cram school fuelled by ‘glühwein’ - 18th December
- My small but select gift guide - Tyler Brûlé may not have the biggest list of people to shop for, but the range is wide enough and the tastes demanding enough to make shopping an exercise that demands careful planning - 11th December
- All aboard the Santa Express - Tyler Brûlé thinks Santa should do Italy a favour by bundling Silvio Berlusconi into a big drawstring sack and banishing him to a workshop in the wilds of Lapland - 4th December
- Holidays: have I missed something? - Tyler Brûlé has trouble looking for the perfect vacation spot for his mother and grandmother that offers good beaches and shops, excellent coffee and nice little markets to walk to - 27th November
- Christmas without Santa - This festive season should be a time of abundant delight for retailers and shoppers, but UK stores and everything else are now framed through a lens of austerity - 20th November
- Brand Korea: soft power, hard sell - Having already created wafer-thin flat-screens, perhaps the next thing Korean companies could focus on is getting people to visit the country to enjoy its hospitality - 13th November
- Heaven scent for plane-spotters - For regular travellers to Tokyo, the opening of Haneda airport’s new international terminal is nothing short of transformational - 6th November
- Relief for the number crunchers - To help businesses speed the process of setting their 2011 budgets, Tyler Brûlé has come up with a list of areas where they need to find funds and where they can go crazy with cuts - 30th October
- A relationship rekindled - After more than four years, Tyler Brûlé flies back to Sydney and wonders whether the city would still feel familiar - 23rd October
- Cowboy building comes at a price - Most of what’s on offer in the UK property market is not only overpriced but also of incredibly poor value - 16th October
- Time for cosying up in Helsinki - Tyler Brûlé thinks Finland could also do with taking ownership of cosiness as a pillar of its national identity as it refines both its mission and messaging with a brand overhaul - 9th October
- Further room for improvement - As he tries to salvage the plumbing in his apartment building in St Moritz, Tyler Brûlé is struck by the obsession of the Swiss and the Japanese with constant renovation - 2nd October
- Around the world in 11 days - Tyler Brûlé believes there is hope for the for the flying- and train-loving public if US transport secretary Ray LaHood sticks around - 25th September
- Let’s play ‘Guess where I am?’ - After a bewildering time at an airport terminal, Tyler Brûlé considers venting to an immigration officer but decides to hold his tongue to avoid being carted off to the naughty room - 18th September
- Here today, gone tomorrow - If hoteliers want to do something truly meaningful, they need to end the constant cycle of overhauling cheaply made rooms - 11th September
- Fast-track to life on the rails, please - In the European network of Tyler Brûlé’s dreams there’d be special roll-on/roll-off ferries to accommodate carriages at all sensible sea crossing - 4th September
- Time for personal improvement - Tyler Brûlé finds himself grounded in central London for two weeks and with a bit of research and co-ordination launches a programme that combines abs, aerobics and Arabic lessons - 28th August
- Brand Brazil is good to go - In Tyler Brûlé‘s ever-evolving list of lifestyle metrics, this Bric nation’s music, fashion, hospitality and design make it a little more seductive and sexier than Russia, India and China - 21st August
- Behold brilliant Beirut - Aside from a winning sense of hospitality and an anything-goes lifestyle, the culture of craft makes Lebanon potentially interesting for a country at the cross-roads of Europe and Asia - 14th August
- Ten tips to beat the big heat - Having survived the blistering heat of Tokyo, Tyler Brûléshares his road-tested guide on how to do business without breaking into a sweat - 7th August
- London must get itself up to speed - If shopping is indeed a big draw for tourists from the Gulf, then the city will have to work fast to ensure it holds on to the substantial spend racked up on cards from Jeddah, Sharjah and Muscat - 31st July
- Why I’m sweet on Sweden again - Wasps setting up home under the dock as everyone was enjoying a bit of sun on a Baltic weekend is in direct violation of key tanning and diving real estate - 24th July
- Sunscreen yes, iPad screen no - For many men and women who bring their iPads with them to the beach or the pool, the device can attract attention for all the wrong reasons - 17th July
- Air travel needs a breath of fresh air - Saturday in Terminal Three could be quite enjoyable if Heathrow offered airside facilities to sit outdoors and take the sun, enjoy the shade and take off your shoes - 10th July
- Five stars for the right mix of guests - How does a hotel attract the right crowd? Clients are like ingredients in a dish – getting the right amount of spice, sweetness, colour and texture into the mix is key - 3rd July
- Ten tips for happy holidays - Tyler Brûlé offers a few summer pointers to get the disorganised thinking about where to go, how to get there and what to wear once they’ve settled in - 26th June
- The long and the shorts of my week - Tyler Brûlé buys a pair of khaki shorts of cotton/metal mix and almost ends up in hospital after wearing them for two hours - 19th June
- Brand Britain, not Middling England - Flying in from Beirut, Tyler Brûlé is struck by how Heathrow does not feel like an international aviation hub on the move, but rather one in steep descent - 12th June
- Why not put down roots in Beirut? - After years on the hunt for Mediterranean digs, Tyler Brûlé finally found two places in Lebanon that were so affordable and delicious - 5th June
- Out-of-office reply: got the message? - Being off-line when the livelihoods of many others depend on you keeping in touch is out of step with the ways of the modern working world - 29th May
- A decline into Swede nothings - From linen and cookware to cars and hotels, Swedish goods and services used to be a refreshing constant in Tyler Brûlé’s daily life but somehow they’ve vanished - 15th May
- What’s on my mind, readers? - The odd thing about writing a newspaper column is that you think you’re anonymous until you’re suddenly caught out at the worst possible moment - 8th May
- London: not as liveable as I’d like - Arriving back to the British capital after an Asian tour, Tyler Brûlé couldn’t help but feel he’d been dropped into a shabby chapter from ‘Oliver Twist’ - 1st May
- A little hot air, and even less service - The trouble with seamless trips around Asia is that they make Tyler Brûlé reluctant to commit to trips in North America and some pockets of Europe - 24th April
- China’s rail wizards have the answer - Having spent the better part of the past weekend in Hong Kong trying to figure out how I am going to get 12 colleagues back to London, I reckon the rail wizards in the People’s Republic are on to a winner if they can persuade other nations along the proposed line to play ball and they make the journey comfortable enough - 16th April
- A diversion due to clouded judgment - Getting off to a roaring start in Geneva, Tyler Brûlé stays for a couple of glasses of Sancerre, misses his flight to Copenhagen and boards a train for an unpleasant detour - 10th April
- That’s my kind of town -Part of the magic of Italy is that everything tends to be pretty much as you left it the year, decade or century before - 3rd April
- Aviation at its most civil - Cutting costs may have done wonders for their business, but some airlines forget that they’re in an industry that should be built on human relationships - 27th March
- Take off your clothes, this is Rio - Tyler Brûlé on the Brazilian city’s simple yet effective weapon that made it the most worthy candidate to host the 2016 Olympics - 20th March
- No room for space invaders - Whether in empty aircraft or quiet bars where there is plenty of space and privacy, people are drawn to other warm bodies in a most bizarre, needy way - 13th March
- Four wheels good, two embarrassing - Tyler Brûlé is convinced that most travellers would be better served by a sensible tote, a decent-sized duffel or a good-sized bag and a fold-over garment carrier instead of a wheely bag - 6th March
- It all comes down to the luggage - For 18 days Tyler Brûlé met Vivi for 60 to 90-minute training sessions that mixed pain with small doses of pleasure and by the time he left the clinic he was running again - 27th February
- Hawaii needs a Miami makeover - Tyler Brûlé envisions Honolulu playing a role in the Pacific – similar to Florida as regional hub – by hosting companies wanting a base on US soil but with easy access to Asia -20th February
- Flip to the future - Enjoying a bit of weekend make-believe, Tyler Brûlé pops a time travel pill, hurtles fast-forward to the year 2020 and meets a passer-by with flippers instead of hands - 13th February
- Time for Canada to set the world alight - Tyler Brûlé wonders if the Winter Olympics could offer an opportunity for the nation to embark on a new era of brand renewal - 6th February
- JAL must take the flight to quality - If Japan Airlines will make a fresh go then it needs to come out as a marketing-driven carrier up for the fight. Tyler Brûlé has a pre-flight check-list that the company might use - 30th January
- Have they got news for us? - Has Twitter bought CNN? Tyler Brûlé wonders why the network’s anchors, reporters and producers keep asking viewers to follow them on the service - 23rd January
- The Fatbook generation - Who needs to display all their details on a social networking site, ponders Tyler Brûlé, when they can cut to the chase with body-scanners that give a read on the complete package? - 16th January
- A better world for frequent fliers - Frequent travellers need to speak up against the absurd airport security proposals put forward by some governments in the wake of the recent scare over Detroit - 9th January
- The mysteries of our dying decade - As he says goodbye to 2009, Tyler Brûlé feels a lot of unfinished business needs to be settled before the world heads back to work - 2nd January
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Articles: 2009
- When brand new becomes old hat - Tyler Brûlé can’t help but think of a cadaver being picked over as he ponders the fate of Saab, which he says should have stayed in bed with Subaru - 26th December
- I’m dreaming of a light Christmas - As he looks forward to a white Christmas in the mountains, Tyler Brûlé hopes for a lighter load, faster travel and a plot of land in Tokyo - 19th December
- So green, it will fill you with envy - Tyler Brûlé senses a growing consumer fatigue and suspicion about there being too many ‘eco’ prefixes and suffixes in ads, packaging and marketing material - 12th Decmeber
- A warm glow at Christmas - Tyler Brûlé visits his favourite bookstore and is disappointed to find that it has installed harsh low-energy lighting in compliance with an EU ban on traditional bulbs - 5th December
- A Canadian in Paris - For readers that have a free day and whose Christmas shopping list still looks a tad intimidating, Tyler Brûlé recommends a whirl through France where gifts for all can be found - 28th November
- Seamless and streamlined travel - Tyler Brûlé offers a little taster of Monocle’s list of the best, the most refreshing, the truly innovative and the wholly trustworthy in the world of travel - 21st November
- Young dragons take to the skies - A group of students tackles JAL’s woes and proposes a radical solution, including pre-boarding bento boxes and an apologetic rhinoceros - 14th November
- Party all night or sleep tight? - Tyler Brûlé goes through a checklist of questions to determine if he should slip away early from a friend’s birthday celebration in order to prepare for an early morning flight - 7th November
- Little shop of horrors and joys - In a media landscape that offers limitless downloads, Tyler Brûlé remembers bundling up for a late-night walk to the neighbourhood video rental shop - 31st October
- So many readers, so little time ... - As travel requests come thick and fast to the Fast Lane Global Concierge Service, Tyler Brûlé tries to deal with the queries through a list of frequently asked questions - 24th October
- High in the sky - Catching up on office gossip with a colleague, Tyler Brûlé journeys well beyond the safe surrounds of St Moritz towards Tokyo - 17th October
- A long wait in St Moritz - While recovering from a knee operation, Tyler Brûlé settles in with his keenly anticipated copy of a new men’s magazine that is both a commercial and editorial piece of craft - 10th October
- A fine example of clinical excellence - Tyler Brûlé undergoes orthopaedic surgery and thinks that the Klinik Gut – at the centre of the action rather than hidden away – is, perhaps, the model for the future of healthcare - 3rd October
- Bliss of a Twitter-free moment - On a trip to Tokyo, Tyler Brûlé feels a sudden wave of envy upon learning that his Japanese acquaintances have never heard of the social networking service - 26th September
- Dear Diary, I’m off to a conference - Swamped with invitations to summits, fairs and expos this time of year, Tyler Brûlé and his assistant come up with a screening system - 19th September
- A city in need of some TLC - In the right hands, Genoa could get itself back in the game, attract investment and become a busy and buzzy doorstep to the Med - 12th September
- Downhill like an Alpine descent - Switzerland normally scores high in Tyler Brûlé’s service ranking, but save for unbeatable service at one clinic, he finds the mood in and around St Moritz a bit sour and grumpy - 5th September
- The future dawns with the rising sun - After catching a glimpse of how things might unfold during a monthly jaunt to Japan, Tyler Brûlé touches down at Heathrow and senses a future full of lawsuits - 29th August
- It’s common sense, just ask my Mom - Among the things Tyler Brûlé wants from an ideal Manhattan hotel are a gym on the roof, a barista in the lobby and a plug beside the bed - 22nd August
- A pass with flying colours - Tyler Brûlé’s ‘code green’ journey from Helsinki aboard Finnair turns to ‘code orange’ upon landing in New York’s shabby, worn-down terminal - 15th August
- When Sweden is sodden - Tyler Brûlé decides to give Sweden another shot and organises a weekend for friends from Japan and colleagues from London to venture out to sea and visit his house - 8th August
- Inert interns need not apply - If it’s the start of August then it must be intern season, and Tyler Brûlé finds it intriguing to hear how potential candidates view their assignments and life in the world of the working - 1st August
- An air of confidence - As English is the official language of the skies, a captain who sounds as if he used to fly Phantoms for the RAF allows Tyler Brûlé to settle back - 25th July
- I put out an SOS: save our summer - Tyler Brûlé thought he would be trapped in Sweden’s rainy weather, until his friend Olivia co-ordinated a complex rescue operation - 18th July
- A sing-along made my plans go wrong - Tyler Brûlé misses his morning flight to Sweden after going out for drinks and karaoke in Tokyo the night before - 11th July
- Keep your cool as the world heats up - Early summer is high season for the Fast Lane’s inbox, prompting Tyler Brûlé to think of having a FAQs page for responses to identical questions that pop up week after week - 4th July
- The heinous crime of hotel makeovers - Having seen countless unpleasant renovations, Tyler Brûlé wonders if it is wise to spend all that money on a villa or hotel that was perfectly fine just as it was - 27th June
- My summertime flight of fancy - Tyler Brûlé is pushing for a trans-Mediterranean airline and already has some ideas in mind, including the crew uniform, in-flight meals and music - 20th June
- Street life, it’s the only way to go - Smart mayors are starting to realise that busy, occasionally boisterous streets are good for the local economy - 14th June
- The city of your dreams - A considerable number of people are tempted to give up their current address for a place that promises a higher quality of life: better housing, weather and weekend pursuits - 13th June
- It’s time to adopt the brace position - If it turns out to be a perfect storm that brought down Air France flight 447, it will be curious to see how the industry reacts. Will airlines give storms a wider berth? - 6th June
- Selling Japanese, I really think so - five brands, business ideas, products and innovations from Japan that need to find their way into daily life in foreign markets - 23rd May
- Stranger than a flight of fantasy - On a flight to Honolulu, Tyler Brûlé didn’t know whether to stare, laugh or despair when he saw the cabin crew accessorised in little floral sprigs and swatches of Hawaiiana - 16th May
- Save us from this purple pandemic - Tyler Brûlé sees a problem with the colour purple being so widespread in Britain as an accent, highlight and dominating colour: it smacks of mediocrity and lack of courage to do something innovative and bold - 9th May
- Between Iraq and a marketplace - Tyler Brûlé wonders how much Baghdad’s travelling roadshow is costing the EU and American taxpayer, and why the companies interested in investing in Iraq aren’t out there themselves - 2nd May
- Shortfall that can’t be shrugged off - Tyler Brûlé on how ‘This Is Italy’ has become something of a universal slogan for all that’s both wonderful and shocking about the country - 25th April
- Oxford Street: the crossroad to hell - Putting a multidirectional pedestrian crossing system in London’s busy thoroughfare is a recipe for madness and emergency vehicle gridlock - 18th April
- Why Tokyo gets my Olympic vote - The city’s bid team is pitching the 2016 summer games as the most inclusive ever, with events woven into the core of the city rather than scattered out in the suburbs - 11th April
- No right to bare arms at summit - Tyler Brûlé leaves London for Switzerland as world leaders gather at the UK capital for the G20 meeting - 4th April
- Summer style, man-to-man - Nothing comes close to chinos made by Venice-based Incotex. They get the leg silhouette just right and ensure that wearers will not suffer from SAS – saggy ass syndrome - 28th March
- Can Nintendo save the ninnies? - Travelling by train and plane, Tyler Brûlé comes up with concepts for video games that would teach passengers, airports and governments to improve the experience - 21st March
- And nation shall sell unto nation - You expect nations participating in Berlin’s travel fair to sell their best assets, but it takes less than 15 minutes to realise that most countries are caught in a time - 14th March
- World-class city or grim ghost town? - With the collapse of a host of high street names, capitals in the old EU should work hard to preserve the family-owned enterprises that line their boulevards - 7th March
- Bumps and bulges in the world’s economy - Tyler Brûlé has hit most of the world’s main economic hubs over the past 21 days and has a few observations - 28th February
- Why Tokyo sets a top-flight example - Haneda Airport has an unbeatable combination: an unfussy design, good navigation, plenty of staff, and a delirious array of food and drink options - 21st February
- Living it up in latherland - Tyler Brûlé thinks that most of the week is plotted – and its outcomes determined – somewhere between 6am and 7am on Monday morning - 14th February
- Better conferences - Tyler Brûlé thinks that many seminars aren’t organised for the greater good but to simply turn a fast buck - 7th February
- Tell them I’m at a conference - Tyler Brûlé has come to the dramatic conclusion, perhaps one of Darwinian proportions, that mankind is divided into two distinct spheres: ‘homo conferencus’ and ‘homo uninterestus’ - 31st January
- Hamburg has a hold on my heart - Seeing new restaurants, interesting shops, attractive locals and inviting bars, Tyler Brûlé wonders why he let his relationship with the city drift - 24th January
- Terminal velocity: build that runway - Though he welcomes the announcement that plans to build a third runway at Heathrow would push ahead, Tyler Brûlé says government needs to go even further - 17th January
- Attention to retail - Tyler Brûlé sees a close relationship between salespeople and journalists as both have to be good at flogging things to the wary and unwitting - 10th January
- Looking forward with an open mind - Tyler Brûlé has drawn up a plan that also serves as something of a wish-list for a rounded and pleasant 2009 - 3rd January
- Great escapes in mind - Tyler Brûlé’s apartment in St Moritz and house in Sweden are not just properties, but pieces of his childhood from summers spent at his grandmother’s cottage on the Ottawa River – a memory that served as an essential, subconscious reference point for his house-hunting - 2nd January
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Articles: 2008
- Things to do, places to go - A Christmas Day family tradition of Tyler Brûlé sees the pulling out of diaries and laptops in order to decide where various holidays across the 2009 calendar should be spent - 27th December 2008
- Top tips to stay travel slick - Tyler Brûlé, along with contributors and editors from Monocle, compiles a traveller’s ‘best’ list which he says readers will have plenty to remark on - 20th December 2008
- Come on hotels, use your loaf - Tyler Brûlé has a very simple yardstick for ranking hotels: checking how well they could work up 10 everyday ingredients into a club sandwich - 13th December 2008
- What makes OilyBoy a slick magazine - In Japan, Tyler Brûlé finds a men’s magazine for the over 60s that is a simple, commonsense guide to looking and acting your age - 6th December 2008
- Why Christmas needs to make a comeback - 29th November 2008
- America Inc needs to get smart - Among Tyler Brûlé’s To Do list for Barack Obama: let America’s big three carmakers rust, allow full foreign ownership of airlines and privatise airports and craft a culture of pride - 22nd November 2008
- My search for the perfect man-bag - After requests for shopping guides and hotel suggestions, the most-asked question by readers involves finding the ideal piece of luggage for me - 15th November 2008
- Luxuriating in a lack of choice - Tyler Brûlé, who always looks forward to his biannual retreats to traditional Japanese inns, gives 10 key pointers that ‘ryokan’ culture can teach hotel managers who have lost their way -
- Hotel design that is way off-target - it's amazing how experienced architects and worldly property owners can still – after centuries of inn-keeping to draw on – get it so very, very wrong - 1st November 2008
- No excuse for terminal decline - Modern air travel not only shrinks the world but instantly reveals the emphasis that different nations place on infrastructure and how much they care about their global reputation - 25th October 2008
- Of Singapore, and what it’s good for - This city-state could position itself as a spiritual, tropical outpost with super high-speed broadband for bankers who want to find themselves and chart a new career trajectory - 18th October 2008
- A shaving-free, Palin-free day - 11th October 2008
- Men’s wear – big and small in Japan - 4th October 2008
- Capital gains and urban misses - Talking with leaders and strategists about London and its future as a centre for creativity leaves me feeling deflated and overtaken by irritation and depression - 27th September 2008
- Massage deleted - All the endless negotiation that precede and follow every treatment seems to be a stretch in the wrong direction for spas at fine hotels - 20th September 2008
- A breath of fresh air - In an age when no airline chief executive can afford to lose a single passenger, JAL offers an example of grace, professionalism and warmth, expected of service on and off the ground - 15th September 2008
- Pre-flight turbulence - ...back to the theme of customer service after a disappointing experience at BA’s check-in counter at Heathrow’s Terminal 5 - 6th September 2008
- One of those perfect days - Tyler Brûlé marvels at how he was able to cover half the length of Japan and always make it on time in spite of a crammed schedule - 30th August 2008
- Show them you care - Only companies that evaluate how they treat customers and improve services accordingly deserve to survive - 23rd August 2008
- Hot-desking in the palm of my hand - it's strange that for Japan’s obsession with clean design and premium products, Apple hasn’t quite captured its imagination - 16th August 2008
- Why Positano is positively perfect - Italy offers a complete summer of endless days on the sea, new culinary experiences, and many bottles of wine - 9th August 2008
- We're in for a bumpy ride - Does better technology encourage the cockpit crew to take on hostile weather conditions? - 2nd August 2008
- My blueprint for a better Britain - 26th July 2008
- Band-aids won't save Britain - The general disorder suffocating the UK is ripe for an exposé showing how one of the most respected nations in the world bludgeoned its own brand - 19th July 2008
- What the G8 summit lacked - The world is not short on summits that pull together the great, good and greedy, but lacks a headline-grabbing event that puts simplicity at its core - 12th July 2008
- A moment of boat envy in the Baltic - dreaming of a self-sufficient live/work compound under Nordic skies and a pair of special-edition Minor to shuttle staff from island outpost to mainland - 5th July 2008
- A facelift for men's fashion - Should the industry should adopt new marketing plans for the seasons to come - 28th June 2008
- Offline on the edge of Europe - in Pantelleria the internet is something used by people up in northern Italy and mobiles are more accessory than necessity - 18th June 2008
- A league table of livable cities - This might look like a rather straightforward column published by a powerful global media group, but it’s far more than that - 13th June 2008
- Above it all. away from it all - Do you ever have out-of-body experiences? Those odd, slightly disturbing, moments when you’re fully engaged with everything that’s going on around you, haven’t had a drink, but you’re somehow floating above and beside above it all? - 6th June 2008
- Welcome to the jet set - Peek into bedroom windows in Ingolstadt, Munich and Stuttgart in the wee hours of the morning and you’ll find that there’s one brand that keeps executives at Audi, BMW and Mercedes twitching in their sleep: Lexus - 2nd June 2008
- Flights, drama, inaction - There’s nothing like a miserable weekend in May (high winds, unseasonably low temperatures and even lower cloud cover) to dampen your spirits. Then again you could just try flying across the Atlantic - 24th May 2008
- Carry out at your convenience - Retailers are finally grasping the economics of time and space and learning to do more with less - 17th May 2008
- A city under the surgeon's knife - Reinvention is a dangerous business. For many people the solution comes in an overpriced bottle or at the end of a sharp surgical instrument - 10th May 2008
- All over for all-business? - There’s nothing like a short, sharp jab to the lower chest and a crotch-numbing dip in frigid waters to start the week. The jab came in the form of an early Sunday morning text from my friend Bruce in Moscow who sent word that the all-premium carrier Eos Airlines has just gone into Chapter 11 - 3rd May 2008
- Charge of the flight brigade - A little over a year ago, the Fast Lane went on an extended sabbatical. Having penned the column for three years I decided to take a little break to get a dream project off the ground (Monocle magazine), spend more time in Japan, find a new flat in London and have a brief affair with another media outlet - 25th April 2008
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International Herald Tribune:
Column name:
Remit/Info: Urbanism and global navigation
Section: Travel
Role: Commentator
Pen-name:
Email: tb@monocle.com
Personal website:
Website: International Herald Tribune / Travel & Dining
Commissioning editor:
Days published: Saturday
Regularity: Weekly
Column format:
Average length: 850
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Articles:
- Lessons for Heathrow on getting into shape - As London's Heathrow airport prepares to open its new Terminal Five, British officials might do well to survey other global airport hubs to look for tips on overall improvements - 1st February 2008
- Rediscovering Brazil's secret assets - With greater attention focused on Russia, India and China, Brazil often feels like it's something of an understudy to the other three. But they country has a pair of secret weapons in its arsenal of boom economy assets - warmth and multilingualism - 25th January 2008
- An upside to airline alliances - Does your particular relationship with an airline's mileage program make you feel like you're in an abusive relationship that you hate every second of but know there's too much at stake to get out? - 18th January 2008
- Consumer boredom and the holiday retail slump - A cooling economy was not entirely to blame for the chill that hit in the run up to Christmas. Little mentioned is the fact that shopping in European cities has become a disheartening experience - 12th January 2008
- St. Moritz by plane, train and SUV - Urs Schwarzenbach and the operators of the region's grand hotels are looking to build St. Moritz and the greater Engadine Valley, Switzerland, into a year-round playground rather than one that is only open from Christmas to Easter and again from late June to the end of September - 5th January 2008
- Tyler Brûlé's plea to the Swiss: Don't renovate, restore! - A government-sponsored roadshow that would explain the merits of restoration rather than renovation would not only save owners hundreds of millions, it would also help preserve essential elements of Switzerland's unique mid-century design heritage - 29th December 2007
- Shopping for gifts from unlikely places - Shopping this season means a decision to stick to small, local firms - 22nd December 2007
- An action plan for clueless air travelers - ... the best airports can teeter close to implosion. Here is Tyler Brûlé's 10-point plan for clueless passengers - 15th December 2007
- Let's bring back some Christmas spirit - Ten years ago my mom, grandmother, friends and colleagues used to complain that Christmas came too early. Today they're wondering whether Christmas will ever come - 8th December 2007
- The hazards of flying for magazine junkies - People with in-flight information deficiency can usually be spotted by their overstuffed tote bags. At the core of the syndrome is a very simple fear: that you'll be stuck in an aircraft without anything to read - 1st December 2007
- Haneda Airport leads top 50 travel poll - Tyler Brûlé's year-end, top 50 list focusing on the best - 23rd November 2007
- One bad week for commuters in Europe - A transport strike in France, a work slowdown in Germany and the inefficiency of Heathrow, all made travel difficult last week in Europe - 17th November 2007
- A hotel that knows details do matter - Having discovered that the Arcana retreat is currently booked solid for most weekends and holidays, I've decided there's little point in keeping it a secret and will tell you a bit more - 10th November 2007
- Cruise ships need to take cues from glory days of... - In the '50s and '60s the Italians had some of the most admired ships at sea - Cristoforo Columbo, the Andrea Doria, the Michelangelo and the Raffaello - with some of the most respected architects and artists working on the interiors - 3rd November 2007
- Taking a few lessons from Swiss craftsmen - From a business perspective, there's also an enormous opportunity for Swiss builders, plumbers and electricians to take their skills to countries that have forgotten how to achieve right angles when building houses or constructing wardrobes - 27th October 2007
- Japan carmakers need to bet more on luxury - The Tokyo Motor Show opens on Oct. 26 and Japanese automakers have all the right ingredients to become serious challengers in the luxury arena - 20th October 2007
- The best and worst in meeting venues - While you'd think there'd be a global corporate standard for receiving and hosting guests, it seems that a few countries need to enroll in finishing school. The writer presents his list of the most and least hospitable countries in which to conduct a meeting - 12th October 2007
- Flying around Japan gives a taste of travel as it... - In Japan, it's still possible to persuade a check-in agent to reopen a closed flight and produce a boarding pass. Just about everywhere else, electronic ticket kiosks, heavy-handed security measures and a general lack of human contact in the travel chain make it nearly impossible to break through - 6th October 2007
- A new lure to Tokyo, its hotel extravaganza' - Tokyo has arguably become the world's most competitive market for premium hotel brands. For the tricky-to-please guest, Tokyo has gone from being an efficient yet awkward place to do business to a city that now has hotels that encourage travelers to come back and look for more business - 29th September 2007
- Wishing on Eurostar - a makeover is due - Part of the challenge for Eurostar is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. In many ways Eurostar launched as a land-hugging airline but failed to embrace more of the positive aspects offered by rail travel - 22nd September 2007
- Weather obsessions and closed horizons - Despite the EU's open borders, most TV channels still treat their viewers as if they are house-bound. There's still no sense, at least as far as weather bulletins are concerned, that there is this bigger entity called Europe - 15th September 2007
- Ikea catalogue season and how to survive it - The promise of a hot dog and an ice cream has long been the payback for surviving an afternoon out at Ikea. A big yellow and blue mobile counseling bus might also be a worthy brand extension, too - 8th September 2007
- Back-to-school tips for the travel sector - The biggest brands in the travel industry should key a cue from the fashion industry and roll out all kinds of concepts and services to get the world's working classes excited about traveling at this time of year - 1st September 2007
- At hotels, longing for service with a (genuine) smile - At many North American hotel groups the all-too-transparent profile system has come to govern a property's every move. But the service industry is ultimately about people dealing with other people - politely and humanely - 25th August 2007
- Unruly Britannia as a nation unraveled - Britain faces a massive assignment that demands that it restore a positive image both at home and abroad - 18th August 2007
- Avoiding summer meltdowns, dressing ‘business cool’ - In Tokyo, stifling heat and soaring humidity requires a new fashion strategy: "business cool." - 11th August 2007
- Heathrow criticized over shoddy service - The director general of the International Air Transport Association, Giovanni Bisignani, took the rare step of going out of his way to publicly scold the airport for its crumbling infrastructure, shoddy services and out-of-sync security procedures - 4th August 2007
- Verbal plays a concert in Japan and pop redeems itself - After a wild experience watching Madonna in 1990, a visit to a Verbal concert in Tokyo was a precision exercise that could only be pulled off in Japan. Working the stage with his colleague DJ Taku, the frontman Verbal danced, duetted and chatted with a dizzying array of Japanese and Korean - 28th July 2007
- The ordeal of getting through security - With fondling, public stripping and general rudeness passing for acceptable behavior at airports across Europe and North America, what next? - 21st July 2007
- Digging out of the great summer CV glut - Summer is the time of a steady stream of letters and e-mails from prospective interns hoping to add to their experiences - 14th July 2007
- Japanese car design supplanting a once-Nordic niche - Once upon a time Saab and Volvo owned the "small and interesting" automotive territory with a community of drivers who responded to the cars' high safety standards, slightly quirky designs and Swedish values. Now it is Subaru - withe the Forester - that is winning those markets - 7th July 2007
- Food retail wars rend a London neighborhood - In London, as in much of Europe, a food retail war is under way, with the upscale chain, Waitrose, positioning itself as a leader of mass-retail fine foods. Also engaged are the local retailers and the mass-market food giants like Tesco - 30th June 2007
- Pilotless flight's brand new buzz - There's little question that the aerospace industry is slowly warming us up to the concept of cockpit-free, civilian flight - 23rd June 2007
- Factors that make a city great - What do you really want out of a city? And what can you do without? With the environment top of the agenda in mayors' offices around the world, Monocle looks beyond the recycling bins and congestion charges to see what makes for a liveable city. Tolerance, punctual transit, plenty of sunshine - 21st June 2007
- At Forte dei Marmi, a seaside resort that's cozy... - Forte dei Marmi, on the Tuscany coast and similar towns offer up a simplicity and quality of life that too often simply doesn't exist. Life here is lived on a very human scale - 16th June 2007
- London's Olympic logo meets with derision - You didn't have to be a resident of London, a U.K. taxpayer or even a member of the International Olympic Committee to get caught up in the controversy surrounding the inauguration of London's Olympic logo, a lurid affair widely ridiculed for poor design execution - 9th June 2007
- A Nordic source of pride disappoints - The focus of a new book I've been writing in my mind on that catastrophic moment when consumers, in an instant, move from being brand supporters to brand saboteurs. I'm considering using this week's strike by SAS Scandinavian Airlines's Swedish cabin crew as a starting point - 2nd June 2007
- A spring makeover gone terribly awry - The move to more informal attire at one of Switzerland's better hotels may seem like the appropriate move to keep staff happy and present a more modern face, but it's exactly what the hospitality industry in Switzerland, and elsewhere, shouldn't be doing - 26th May 2007
- In a city? Tyler Brûlé recommends taking to the street and wandering - To become a real official resident of a city or truly fall for a place you've got to let the city push, pull, divert and distract you till you're either worn down from over-stimulation or you reach the point where you decide that you and the city are - 19th May 2007
- UN needs to speak up for world's travelers - For a world that is more mobile than ever before, there is still no secretary, no goodwill ambassador to stand up and speak for the traveler who has been detained, denied, delayed or worse - 12th May 07
- Dreaming of stations that entice commuters - Tyler Brûlé writes that while he is all for preserving buildings that... - 5th May 07
- Tyler Brûlé on trade shows: A glance behind all that glitter - People have been congregating for centuries to peddle and display their wares. So why is it that even our brightest minds still haven't figured out how to put tens of thousands of people into large steel and concrete boxes - your average trade-show grounds - and make them happy? - 27th April 2007
- Notes of high camp at Eurovision Song Contest - On May 12, performers from 24 European countries will take to the stage to belt out their tunes. It's important to stress the word performers, because anyone who has seen the Eurovision broadcast can confidently claim that singing is not necessarily key to the whole extravaganza - 21st April 07
- Tokyo urbanism project is hard to top - The Midtown development is in the same leagues or bigger than developments like Singapore's Raffles City and New York's World Financial Center. Its architecture, retail mix and range of food outlets help to make it the new international benchmark for mixed-use developments - 14th April 07
- Tyler Brûlé on the unthinkable: A seamless flight - Airlines flight from London's Heathrow airport leaves the writer Tyler Brûlé in awe of just how good travel can be - 7th April 07
- Tyler Brûlé with advice for Alitalia: Look to luxury - While Alitalia has continued to stumble, Italy's luxury goods sector has continued to steam ahead. With its rich luxury heritage, the country could create a unique transport brand that no other airline in Europe or the world could pull off - 30th March 2007
- My time as a hostage at Miami International Airport - In the immigration hall of what has to rank as the worst port in the United States, I couldn't resist asking why I had to go through the trouble of entering the United States when I was simply connecting - 24th March 2007
- The world will envy Tokyo Midtown - The project boasts Tokyo's tallest building, a new art museum, a five-star hotel, a sizable park and a Starbucks complete with radio studio, as well as offices and a retail area featuring a lineup of "Japanese premieres" and "world firsts." - 17th March 2007
- So many channels, but nothing to watch - Do you remember those evenings when you didn't have to consult myriad TV listings guides to cross-reference what was on and could simply let a single channel own your entire viewing schedule from 7 p.m. to midnight? Are you exhausted by the amount of choice and frustrated by... - 10th March 2007
- A new yardstick for judging quality of life - the airport - Tyler Brûlé has come up with a new formula for judging quality of life... - 3rd March 2007
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