Monocle's editor at large and Japan's most famous footballer, Hidetoshi Nakata, takes a break from his busy schedule to join Tyler Brûlé in Frankfurt as the city hosts ISH, the world's leading bathroom fair.

The team regroups in London for this week's edition of The Monocle Weekly.

This week's edition of The Monocle Weekly is anchored out of Hong Kong.

This week Lord Mandelson, British secretary of state for business, enterprise & regulatory reform, is in the studio to share his views on how budding entrepreneurs should ride the waves of the recession. We're also joined by Ian James, co-founder of London's innovative grocery retailer Melrose & Morgan and Dr Sam Thompson of the New Economics Foundation to discuss how small scale start-ups can revitalise communities and boost local economies. Dialling in from New York is J. Crew's creative director Jenna Lyons, who reveals what happens when you have your brand backed by America's first family. Finally Monocle's own Rob Bound , Andrew Tuck and Saul Taylor share with us their culture and media findings of the week.

In the fourth edition of The Monocle Weekly we speak to Mexican ambassador to the United States, Arturo Sarukhan, and find out what was on the agenda at president-elect Barack Obama's first and only pre-inauguration meeting with a foreign president, Mexico's Felipe Calderón. Next up, we are joined in the studio by security consultant Ben Soames, fresh off the boat from a mission in the Gulf of Aden protecting freight carriers from hi-tech pirates. Lastly, aviation expert Andreas Spaeth discusses what chances Alitalia has of reinventing itself under the wings of its new partnership with Air France-KLM. As always, The Monocle Weekly is rounded off with this week's film and music picks from culture editor Robert Bound.

Welcome to the second episode of the Monocle Weekly. This week we look ahead to the impact Barack Obama will have on Washington ­ the city ­ following his inauguration. Monocle correspondent and Boston Globe writer Sasha Issenberg reveals how, having the first city dweller as president in almost 50 years, will reshape the capital (for the better). Then, in the run up to Pitti Uomo, the world¹s most important menswear shows, analyst Sagra de Rosen reveals which luxury goods groups will thrive or take a dive in 2009. And, as usual, there¹s round table conversation and Rob Bound¹s selection of cultural highs for the week ahead.