Japanese design liberated fashion from the Westem style of cutting and need to finish everything ‘just so’. Over time the designers, while not quite compromising their visionary approach, have met the European design markets halfway with collections in softer colours and fabrications or diffusion ranges, such as Miyake’s ‘Pleats Please’ label, which are more flattering to the body. The highly regarded Japanese designers now choose to show in Paris as the prêt-a-porter collections. They maintain large workforces, showrooms and shops in the city (the fashion pack is reluctant to fly as far as Tokyo and back every season). However, the Japanese have put Tokyo on the map as the fifth capital city for fashion. Rather than import Wastem fashions, many large Japanese corporations continue to finance avant-garde and developing fashion lifestyle lines, and negotiate worldwide licensing agreements for branded products.