Most Livable City 2009

OK, Ladies and Whatchamacallits…

It’s time to dig into Monocle magazine’s “Top 25 Cities” in the world in the “Most Livable” category.

Monocle can be labeled a “Eurocentric” magazine, and 15 out of the 25 ARE in Europe. Truthfully, it isn’t the European cities I look at on this list, but the part a Eurocentric would call “All Others”. I always see SOLID GOLD in it, however. Monocle does, as well.

OCEANA

9. Melbourne, 13. Sydney, 20. Auckland

I guess Melbourne and Sydney are the usual standards for Australia, though. I am glad to see New Zealand on the list.

NORTH AMERICA (AND TERRITORIES)

11. Honolulu, 14. Vancouver, 19. Montreal

Last year, Minneapolis and Portland (Ore.) were on the list. Now, there is only one city that is part of the USA on this list, and, not surprisingly, by that matter. I am assuming the reason why Portland was on the list last year, is because it was one of the most “bicycle friendly” on the globe. Apparently, something else has gotten worse to have that fact forgotten (Here, in Arizona, I have been the victim of 6 hit and runs, where they were going out of their way to hit me on my bicycle. 5 out of six of these were in Tempe. This is why I laugh whenever I see one of Tempe’s “Bicycle Friendly” signs.) The thing that surprises me about this list, is that Vancouver rated higher than Honolulu at one time. Since I want to finally do a move to Hawaii, as part of getting the company going, I like to see this kind of complement given to Honolulu.

JAPAN

3. Tokyo, 16. Fukuoka, 22. Kyoto

Tokyo was #3 last year, so I am glad they are still in the top 3, especially since it is one of the world’s biggest cities, if not THE biggest city (If you include the TAMA region). Though, there are places in Japan, on the Kanto Plain, that are charming, and are dear to me, people in CONUS (Continental United States), probably wouldn’t know the difference. Like people outside of Los Angeles lump lots of places that are considered NOT L.A. into it, people over here tend to do that too. That’s why I just say, “Tokyo”, or just “JAPAN”, and leave it at that.

Fukuoka and Kyoto were on the list last year, and, give one or two digits, remain about the same on the list this year. Fukuoka is Japan’s “Honolulu”, if you take Honolulu’s “Gateway to the Far East” title in America (And something I hope to capitalize on, BTW.), Then Fukuoka is seen like that to the rest of the Japanese. It’s very close to Seoul, and the flight to Taipei is bearable. Fukuoka also has a very good night life (I have to confess, I always found that even most places labeled as “little towns” in Japan, seem to have a better night life than in the USA.).

Kyoto is near three important places, in my opinion: Osaka, Nara, and Kobe. Most people in the USA have heard of Osaka, while most people I have run into would have no Idea of Nara. They may know of Kobe because of an earthquake, but, like the O.J. Simpson trial, I find most people I know of have minds easily wipable, so they probably forgot about Kobe as they have O.J. Simpson.

HONORABLE MENTION

18. Singapore

I have been there. All I had to do was cut my profanity, and avoid spitting anywhere, and I did fine. Their laws are VERY strict. The people of Singapore VOTED this in. This wasn’t something put in by a tyrannical régime. An American college kid spray painted graffiti on a car and got beat up with a rattan cane as his punishment. The #1 thing Americans tend to forget when they go to another country is that the “Bill of Rights” doesn’t follow you there (Not like it does you any good anymore HERE.). However, Singapore is almost as clean as Tokyo, the food was a pleasant combination of Asian cuisines (Like Indian Curry Lo Mein, and whatnot), and the people were real nice. WARNING: If you are a GUM CHEWER, AVOID THIS PLACE LIKE THE PLAGUE. Gum is practically treated like narcotics here, by their laws.

AFTERWARD

The top two cities were ZURICH at #1, and COPENHAGEN at #2. With me avoiding discussing European cities, I still decided to mention the top 2. In fact, with the exception of Tokyo, the top 10 were European.

Here in the Phoenix area, I still hear and see all the signs that TEMPE, MESA, SCOTTSDALE, PHOENIX, GILBERT, CHANDLER and PEORIA are the most livable cities (All fighting for an imaginary #1 spot.) in their “world”.

Well, in about 90 minutes, I will be taking off to work (ugh), in 100+ temperatures again, on my bicycle, and enduring this place again…