Tokyo unveils mascots for 2020 Olympics and Paralympics
Mascot-loving Japan has two new characters to get excited about as a pair of futuristic designs with pointy ears and checkered patterns were unveiled Wednesday (February 28) as the mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
Mascot-loving Japan has two new characters to get excited about as a pair of futuristic designs with pointy ears and checkered patterns were unveiled Wednesday (February 28) as the mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games.
Decided in a vote by elementary students across Japan and announced before a gymnasium of cheering pupils at a school in Tokyo, a blue-checked character will be the mascot for the Olympics and a pink cherry blossom-inspired one for the Paralympics.
The mascot selection panel will now decide on their names.
Organisers last year received more than 2,000 entries from the general public in a nationwide competition, from which they short-listed in December three pairs of designs.
Students from more than 200,000 classes at around 16,000 Japanese elementary schools took part in the selection, with each class casting a single vote.
The winning pair, created by designer and illustrator Ryo Taniguchi, received around 109,000 votes, more than half of the total and easily beating the other two finalist pairs.
The Tokyo 2020 mascots will take the torch from their cuddly Pyeongchang counterparts Soohorang, a white tiger, and Bandabi, a black bear.
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