Tokyo - Tokyo is presenting itself as Asia's fashion capital as JFW International Fashion Fair opened at Big Sight Tokyo on Wednesday, drawing 730 companies from 15 nations and regions from around the world.

The three-day trade fair, which invites more than 30,000 visitors including buyers, provides an opportunity for the designers of fashion-related products to the global market, and also hosts a contest for up-and-coming designers.

This year's grand prize went to Chitsantisook Titipon of Thailand selected from 30 entries from Japan and overseas, according to the International Fashion Fair committee. The contest receives about 13,000 applications.

The committee provides workshops to the contestants on business aspects of establishing their own brand and chances to network with buyers.

The trade fair for the first time invited nine young designers from Asian nations to showcase their recent collections and to introduce them to the Japanese fashion industry.

"JFW (Japan Fashion Week Organization) aims to build Japan as Asia's hub of fashion," group senior director Kenji Yamazaki told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa on Wednesday.

The group in collaboration with Tokyo Metropolitan Government hopes to attract people especially from the Asian region to Tokyo to seek business opportunities and chances of success, Yamazaki said.

"We can't possibly surpass Paris and its fashion showd no matter how hard we tried," he said. "So we decided to try our best at finding and raising up-and-coming designers." (dpa)