A view of Shinjuku district in Tokyo in May.
 
Bloomberg News
After finishing runner-up last year, Tokyo has climbed to the top spot on Monocle Magazine’s list of most livable cities in 2015.
Japan’s capital was followed by Vienna in second place, with Berlin rounding out the top 3 cities. Fukuoka and Kyoto also ranked in the top 25, at 12th and 14th, respectively.
The London-based lifestyle and culture journal said that Tokyo was crowned the top city in its ninth annual Quality of Life survey “due to its defining paradox of heart-stopping size and concurrent feeling of peace and quiet.”
For this year, the magazine said that they refined some of the marking system, adding 22 new metrics. The cities are ranked based on factors including housing, cost of living, and access to outdoors, as well as crime rates, healthcare and business climate.
“We’ve given extra marks to cities that limit their nannying and we’ve tried to give value to places where there’s something else we know is vital: freedom, grit, independence, a joy with life. We’re frustrated with city councils that are too quick to say no, places where parents never let their children run free and capitals that seem opposed to the odd late night out,” the magazine’s editor in chief, Tyler Brûlé, said in the magazine’s article.
Melbourne came in 4th, followed by Sydney, Stockholm, Vancouver, Helsinki and Munich. Last year’s top city, Copenhagen, slipped to the 10th spot, tied with Zurich.
The magazine’s ranking differs from similar ones by other publications. For example, theEconomist Intelligence Unit ranked Melbourne at the top of its ‘Liveability Ranking’ list in August, which was followed by Vienna and Vancouver.  No Japanese city was included in the top 10.
Global human resources and financial services company, Mercer, placed Vienna at the top of its Quality of Living Rankings in 2015, with Zurich and Auckland rounding up the top three spots.
Monocle Magazine’s latest issue will go on sale on June 18.