The elementary school children have spoken as the results of the winning 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics mascots were revealed yesterday. Winning with 109,041 votes, here are the official mascots for the Olympics and Paralympics games! Aren’t they kawaii?
Combining the traditional and modern of Tokyo and Japan, they don’t have names yet but they both have the utmost respect for each other despite their different personalities! According to The Japan Times, the Olympic mascot that’s covered blue checkered print is athletic with a strong sense of justice, and the ability to go anywhere instantaneously while the sakura pink patterned Paralympic character has a kind heart, loves nature and can move objects by looking at them.
The winning mascots are designed by Ryo Taniguchi, a 43-year-old character designer and illustrator from Fukuoka Prefecture who was inspired by the flag handover performance at the closing ceremony of the recently held summer Olympic Games in Rio.
It is said that 205,755 classes from 16,769 elementary schools, including international schools and Japanese schools overseas, were part of the selection process and each class could cast a single vote out of the three shortlisted designs.Three designs were shortlisted in December from a total of 2,042 design submissions from the public.
These mascots will definitely appear on many merchandises and be featured throughout the events.
Here are the other two pairs of mascot design that were part of the top 3 that was shortlisted and put through the voting process from 11 December 2017 to 22nd February 2018.
According to The Japan Times, the second mascot pair feature “an Olympic character based on a traditional lucky cat and inari fox — which also symbolizes luck — and a Paralympic character resembling a guardian dog often seen at Shinto shrines.” Tokyo 2020 shared about their superpowers on its Instagram page, “The Olympics mascot is as fast as lightning, propelled by its fiery tail, and can create valleys and rivers as it traverses the land; the Paralympics mascot can use its seasonal powers to express emotions, brown the autumn leaves and make snow fall – it can even make flowers bloom from dying trees!”
While the third mascot pair is made up of two fairytale creatures from Japan where a fox covered in Magatama beads which symbolizes happiness represents the Olympics and a tanuki (raccoon dog) that uses a leaf on its head to transform its shape represents the Paralympics.
If you had a chance to pick the mascot pair to spearhead the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, which pair would you choose?
Source: The Japan Times, The Guardian, Tokyo2020 Instagram
Read also: Meet The First Group Of Anime Ambassadors Of The 2020 Tokyo Olympics
