While WhatsApp wins over the West and WeChat conquers China, messaging app LINE has taken Japan by storm. With 400 million users worldwide, and 52 million in Japan alone, LINE's bright and vibrant customisable stickers are hugely popular – but can they really replace text?

For a long time, Japan has been behind on embracing plus-sized chic. In fact, it's the norm to weigh just 8 ½ stone. But the country is beginning to celebrate its larger girls, namely with the launch of a new magazine calledLa Farfa, aimed at plus-sized women.

With international fashion brands making competition on the Australian high street even more intense, a new generation of home-grown brands are building fiercely loyal style tribes both online and off. But can these emerging fashion cults fend off global competition?

With an estimated value of $12 billion, Japan’s luxury market is one of the largest in the world. But until recently there was a lack of a trusted online portal for the resale of authentic luxury goods. The RealReal wants to position itself as that trusted platform.