The organising committee of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games announced on February 28, 2018 that two futuristic figures, inspired by anime, have been chosen as mascots following voting by thousands of Japanese children.
The voting to choose the mascot was conducted across thousands of schools in Japan. The mascots are aimed at boosting children's participation in the Games.
Key Highlights
• The three final designs were chosen from among 2,042 entries submitted from all over Japan.
• The winning mascots beat the other two competing pairs by a huge margin, getting 53 per cent of the votes.
• The mascots were designed by Japanese illustrator Ryo Taniguchi, who designs characters for language teaching books and companies
• The results were announced in a ceremony at Hoyonomori school in Tokyo's Shinagawa district, which was attended by hundreds of students and the mascot designers.
• Almost 17,000 primary schools in Japan, around 70 per cent of all such schools in the country, took part in the voting, along with some Japanese schools abroad.
• The selection panel would be announcing the names of the mascots during the summer.
Background
The organising committee in April 2016 unveiled the official emblems for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Mascots are an important and popular element of Japanese modern culture, with both private and public enterprises using them to promote their products.
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