The cities of the Asia-Pacific region dominate the list of the most expensive places in the world for expats to live, accounting for 18 of the priciest cities on the planet.

The unwanted prize for the most expensive city in the world went to Luanda, the capital of Angola, for the second straight year.

Luanda sits atop the cost tree due to its high number of oil workers and the nation’s reliance on imports, according to the annual study by Mercer.

According to local and international media, Tokyo‘s fashion business is gradually getting back to usual.

After the earthquake hit Japan on March 11, many brands including Louis Vuitton, Prada, and Cartier acted to bring some of their executive staff back to their home countries and closed local boutiques.

News outlets including WWD and Racked now confirm that on March 22, Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Dior, Chanel, and Forever 21 reopened their doors in the capital.

The Shangri-La Hotel in Tokyosaid Monday it would not accept any new bookings “until further notice”, citing the city’s uncertain power supply following Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami.

The hotel said it hoped to resume normal operations as soon as possible but the decision highlighted problems the tourism industry will be forced to confront as Japan recovers from the deadly March 11 twin disasters.

“Following the natural disasters in Japan on 11 March 2011 and the resulting logistical difficulties and hazards, Shangri-La Hotel, Tokyo will not be accepting any new guests until further notice,” the statement said.

Virgin Atlantic has become the first airline to lay on a complimentary helicopter transfer for its Upper Class passengers between Tokyo’s Narita International Airport and the center of the city.

Around 75 km to the east of Tokyo, Narita is infamous for its remoteness and poor links to the heart of the metropolis.

New bus and train links have reduced the time required to make the transfer to under an hour, but Virgin has realized there would be solid demand for a faster and more efficient method of beating the traffic.

A monster bluefin tuna sold for a record 396,000 dollars in the year’s first auction at the world’s biggest fish market in Tokyo Wednesday amid intense pre-dawn bidding.

The 342-kilogramme (752-pound) fish — caught off Japan‘s northern island of Hokkaido — fetched a winning bid of 32.49 million yen (396,000 dollars).

It was the highest such bid yet, topping the previous record of 20.02 million yen paid for a bluefin tuna in 2001, the officials said.

Tokyo is now the city with the most Michelin three-star rated restaurants in the world trumping Paris, once considered the gastronomic capital of the world.

The Tokyo metropolitan area, which unseated Paris from the No. 1 spot and this year, the number of three-star restaurants increased from 11 to 14.

The total number of restaurants rated in the Tokyo guide was 266 — with 54 two-star rated venues and 198 one-star rated venues.