The Monocle Minute

Hillary Clinton will accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Philadelphia tonight, becoming the first female member of a major political party in US history to do so. It will be the most important address of her campaign so far. Her speech will crown what has been an upbeat week for the Democrats, despite early controversies surrounding the leak of internal emails and protests in support of her former rival Bernie Sanders. The question for Clinton at the Democratic National Convention this evening will be, can she rouse a nation disillusioned in large part by a divisive campaign and negative rhetoric from her Republican opponent? “She’s created an opening [for Donald Trump] by not offering a new ideas agenda or a big ideas agenda, like her husband Bill Clinton did in 1992,” says Will Marshall, director of the Progressive Policy Institute in Washington. “That’s her challenge.” History may well be made in Philadelphia tonight but a historic and gruelling general election campaign is just getting underway.

Japan can sometimes feel very far away – both literally and metaphorically – from the troubles of terrorism. But those days could be coming to an end. This Saturday’s annual Sumidagawa Fireworks Festival in Tokyo, usually attended by more than 900,000 people, will have an anti-terrorism squad in attendance for the first time. The Emergency Response Team (ERT), which was set up in April 2015, is made up of members of the Metropolitan Police Department. The force, equipped with submachine guns, is ready to respond to attacks in Tokyo at all times and was deployed at the Tokyo marathon in February this year. Recent events in Europe and Dhaka – where seven Japanese were killed in an attack on a restaurant – have further heightened awareness of potential trouble in public places.

It’s been a painful reckoning since Argentinian president Mauricio Macri came to power last year. He promised to axe state spending and deal a reality-check to residents who had grown accustomed to the populist politics of former leader Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. With state subsidies to utility bills evaporating, now comes another painful blow: the nation’s beloved football matches will no longer be on free-to-air television. Kirchner’s government had forked out to make sure everyone could watch the national sport through a programme called Fútbol Para Todos (Football for Everyone) but the clubs weren’t prepared to accept an offer from Macri’s government because they think they’re worth more. They want a private deal that brings in more money and Turner Broadcasting is thought to be one of the frontrunners for a bid. As for those palpitating footie fans? The current state deal isn’t set to expire until 2019.

This weekend Indonesia’s capital will host the nation’s first international boutique art fair to push native artwork towards global recognition. A spin-off from Southeast Asia’s leading contemporary-art fair Art Stage Singapore, Jakarta’s rendition is the next logical step for the region’s largely isolated art market. The mix of 50 international exhibitors, from Paris’s Galerie Perrotin to Tokyo’s Mizuma and Indonesia’s prominent Nadi Gallery, seeks to diversify the domestic crowd. A major draw will be curator Enin Supriyanto’s Expose exhibition, set to showcase paintings, sculptures and installations from the treasuries of Indonesia’s six top private collectors. With its distinctive style and deep heritage, Indonesia’s world of art has much to contribute to the international scene.

Ross Bailey’s vision was to create an Airbnb-style company for vacant retail spaces and to connect them to people with good ideas. Bailey shares the progress of his company Appear Here.

A novel retail experience in a 102-year-old former train station in Tokyo. Monocle Films pays a visit to find out how old infrastructure can be repurposed to improve urban life.