By Marcellous L. JONES



June 24, 2007

Paris, France - On Thursday, the European office of the Japanese Organisation for External Commerce - JETRO Paris - organized a press conference in order to announce its decision to make Tokyo a more fashionable and more international city through the promotion of the Japan Fashion Week Tokyo.

To effectively communicate the importance of its intentions, top officials from JETRO participated at the conference. Together with other players from Paris, they gave a full and detailed rapport on the results of the last fashion week and gave information on next fashion week.

Already 38 fashion houses and 40 brands will hit the Tokyo runways scheduled to begin on August 29th. And as many as 800 journalists (including 160 journalists from international publications) and 17,800 industry professionals attend fashion week in Japan.

France was chosen as the launch pad of this event as the two countries share much in terms of cultural and fashion exchanges. Japan has been a huge exportation destination for French luxury goods over the years. As the Japanese have an incredible thirst for French luxury products, Japan ranks as one of the top importers of French couture, fragrances and bags. Already French flagship stores and mega boutiques from Chanel, Dior, Tod’s, Hermès and Louis Vuitton decorate the shopping districts of Japan.

And France has long been the preferred destination of leading Japanese designers such as Kenzo, Yohji Yamamoto, Junko Shimada, Masatomo, Junya Watanabe, Hanae Mori and Issey Miyake.

Japan, the 7th largest trading partner to France, is also a major stepping stone for young French designers who are not yet sold domestically in France. What’s more, once the Japanese discover a brand, they wear it from head to toe in “total looks”. They want to learn everything there is to know about the designers and own ev...

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