Western Japan hit by 6.6 earthquake

A strong 6.6 magnitude earthquake hit western Japan Friday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no immediate tsunami risk.

The quake, at a relatively shallow depth of 10 kilometres (six miles), struck shortly after 2:00 pm (0500 GMT) in Tottori prefecture.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage, but television images showed severe shaking in the region.

Japan sits at the junction of four tectonic plates and experiences a number of relatively violent quakes every year, but rigid building codes and their strict enforcement mean even strong tremors often do little damage.

A massive undersea quake however that hit in March 2011 sent a tsunami barrelling into Japan’s northeast coast, leaving more than 18,000 people dead or missing, and sending three reactors into meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant.

In April this year, two strong earthquakes hit southern Japan’s Kumamoto prefecture followed by more than 1,700 aftershocks, and left at least 50 dead and caused widespread damage.

Japan fashion told to forget Paris, focus on Tokyo

Tokyo may be the style capital of Asia, but with South Korea and China snapping at its heels and Japan’s most iconic brands rooted in Europe, the city is being urged to haul its fashion week into the big leagues.

Tokyo Fashion Week kicked off its spring/summer 2017 season showcase on Monday with six days of events intended to promote 50 brands, a mixture of the established and the new.

Yet Japanese labels that are household names in the West — led by Kenzo, Yohji Yamamoto, Issey Miyake and Comme des Garcons — eschew home shores for the bright lights, prestige and visibility of Paris.

Tokyo Fashion Week attracts only 50,000 visitors — just a quarter of the total number that attend New York’s two annual fashion weeks, and also lagging behind London, Paris and Milan.

Held after the fashion merry ground exhausts the “big four”, few make the extra trip to Tokyo, and not many in Japan believe they are missing out.

According to a poll from local website Fashionsnap.com, only 20 percent of the Japanese fashion industry, including designers, stylists and editors, consider Tokyo’s events to be of interest.

The calendar, the no-show by the biggest brands, reluctance to open their doors to the wider public and sluggishness to embrace see-now, buy-now were all listed as shortcomings by the 221 people surveyed.

– ‘Focus on your own’ –

The award-winning, Milan-based Turkish designer Umit Benan, wants to change all that.

“Everyone needs to get together to make the Japanese fashion week much better,” the menswear designer told reporters after making his Tokyo debut, having announced he would ditch Paris fashion week

He called Japan’s menswear the “most sophisticated you’ll see in the streets” and said Tokyo was packed with the world’s most creative buyers and designers, along with some of the most sophisticated consumers around.

“I think you really need to focus on your own fashion week, trying to create new waves in Japan fashion,” he said, joking that he loves Japan so much, he visited 40 times in the last five years.

He called Japanese fabric second only to Italy’s. But unlike in Italy, where high fashion is governed by precision, he said the Japanese were willing to take risks, such as mix nylon with cashmere.

“The Italians don’t have the balls to mix nylon into a 200 euro fabric,” he said. “In Japan they’re very flexible and very creative, spontaneous… when you touch it you’re like my God what is this?”

While Tokyo has long been a springboard for up-and-coming designers, neighbouring Seoul, with its vibrant street style, and Shanghai, as the commercial capital of China, are attracting increased interest.

“To me, Tokyo is the Asian fashion centre with long fashion-forward history,” said Hong Kong designer Vickie Au who brought her “Urban Chill” collection to Tokyo after showing in New York.

The street look, minimal style and clean lines of her House of V label, this season inspired by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry is well suited to Japanese taste.

– ‘Beauty of the craft’ –

While she has boutiques in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan, and online, she is looking to break into the Japanese and US markets.

Au cited Yamamoto, the famed Japanese designer based in Paris, as an inspiration, praising him as a master of “modern and avant-garde tailoring”.

Christelle Kocher, creative director of up-and-coming French label Koche, also said she had learnt from Yamamoto and that it had been special to be the only French brand participating in Tokyo this season.

“Japanese culture is really refined and I think may be more than other places, they understand the beauty of the craft and the beauty of the time to make beautiful things,” she said.

US retailing giant Amazon is sponsoring Tokyo Fashion Week for the first time, and among the fashion set in Japan there are hopes that it can help rebrand the event into something brighter and larger.

The company is already the largest clothing retailer in the United States and fashion vice president for Amazon Japan, James Peters, signalled that he is determined to replicate that success in Japan.

While Tokyo still follows a six-month delay between catwalk and store, he said Amazon would be happy to help Japanese designers facilitate see-now, buy-now collections increasingly at the fore in New York.

“I think if that’s what the designers want to do, we’re ready to do it,” he told AFP at the week’s launch party.

Rio Olympics: Nigeria to play Germany in semi-finals

Mikel Obi

Team Nigeria captain Mikel Obi scored a goal and set up Aminu Umar as Nigeria’s U-23 national team on Saturday night defeated Denmark 2-0 in Salvador to reach the semi-finals of the men’s football event of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Nigeria will now play Germany, who defeated Portugal 4-0, in the semi-final on Wednesday in Sao Paulo.

The U-23 team, the 1996 football champions of the Games, set up a clash with the Europeans, who were beaten 4-0 by Brazil in their final Group A game. Group B leaders Nigeria had defeated Japan and Sweden 5-4 and 1-0 respectively, before losing their final Group B game to Colombia 2-0.

It was a revenge of sorts for the African champions, who were thrashed 6-2 by the Danes at the Suwon Invitational tournament in South Korea in June.

Coach Samson Siasia brought on Aminu Umar for the injured Oghenekaro Etebo, while South Africa-based goalkeeper, who kept in the defeat to Colombia, also returned to the bench as Emmanuel Daniel retained his place back in the starting line-up.

Denmark had rattled the Nigerians as early as the 11th minute when Kasper Nielsson’s ferocious volley crashed against the woodwork with goalkeeper Emmanuel Daniel beaten.

But the 1996 Olympic champions stunned their European counterparts just four minutes later with Mikel grabbing the opener after good work by the dangerous Imoh Ezekiel.

Nigeria’s preparations in Atlanta as well as their participation at the Games have been trailed by controversies, with the squad arriving in Manaus from just six hours before their opener against Japan, after being stranded for days in the US.

The team skipped training on Thursday and threatened to boycott the game against Denmark on unless they were paid their outstanding allowances at the Games, as well as the unpaid five months salaries and allowances of the coaches.

They were paid their allowances before the game on Saturday.

Olympics: Nigeria beat Sweden, qualify for quarterfinals

Nigeria's player Sadiq heads the ball to score his team's first goal during the football match between Sweden and Nigeria for the Olympic Games Rio 2016 in Arena Amazonia, Manaus, Brazil, August 7th, 2016. / AFP PHOTO / RAPHAEL ALVES

The Nigeria U-23 football team on Monday qualified for the quarterfinals of the Olympic Games football event after a 1-0 victory over Sweden.

Determined to dictate the pace of the match, the Dream Team VI went on an early rampage with Umar Sadiq and Mikel Obi forcing saves from Sweden’s goalkeeper, Linde Andreas, in the 9th and 10th minutes respectively.

Oghenekaro Etebo, who banged four goals past Japan’s goalkeeper in their first game of the competition,  was denied time after time by Andreas.

Sadiq finally broke the deadlock at the 39th minute when he nodded home a looping cross from Stanley Amuzie.

Both sides had chances throughout the game but could not find the back of the net.

Nigeria top the Group B table with six points  ahead of Colombia; who have a game in hand and a point, Sweden are third with one point, while Japan are bottom of the log with no point and a game in hand.