olympics

Tokyo 2020 mascots make public debut at naming ceremony

36 Comments

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36 Comments
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Î'm glad they went with these characters... My daughter wants a stuffed pink one. I will say though the names are hard to pronounce but hey.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

What’s the name of the mascot in the gray suit? Nemuioyaji?

11 ( +12 / -1 )

Jeez, I'm usually the first one to mock Mori but this picture actually makes me feel sorry for him.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

The one I picked too : kawaï

°

They should correct eyes' color and wicked smile of paralympic doll. Japan does not carry a good reputation with weakness. It does have the good habit of loving truth and art. But sometimes, it lack understanding.

It is important to give hope. Invalidy is not a devil or a woman. Olympic Symbols are for hope. Only ideals or utopy is shared.

This is not bad to give de girl doll to paralympic, but she should be equal to the male doll. The true nature of woman is toward compassion. It is a strength more than a weakness. The two dolls working together are beautiful.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Someity may be a good or bad name, but the link to "so mighty" is tenuous and would not occur to an ordinary English speaker. It's pronounced "So-matey".

I wish Japanese people would consult with English speakers before declaring anything about English. The name itself is fine but this forced justification of it is lame, bordering on embarrassing.

12 ( +14 / -2 )

seriously is this the face of Japan you want to lead the Olympics, and 81yr old geriatric. Olympics is meant to be about youth, vitality, sportsmanship and International friendship. Mori is none of those, has no experience in sports administration and cant even have a basic conversation in English

10 ( +12 / -2 )

Uchujin, dont let these mess in other areas.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Pink one looks a bit evil. Menacing eyes...

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Dont you have (and pay) desingers any more?

1 ( +2 / -1 )

We are in 2018 and the world is becoming just plain stupid. And apparently Japan is not going to make it better, quite the contrary.

What makes it even worse are the people comments reported in the article, I mean do they prepare to say so silly things or is it natural? How can grown up adult pay any importance to such silly things? The one trying a hazardous link between the mascots and the heat is just plain pathetic. In any case, someone should explain them that the Olympics are supposedly an event where adults compete against each other. This is not a a kindergartner gathering....

2 ( +5 / -3 )

There were better mascot choices available.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

kinder mascots please

0 ( +1 / -1 )

They look stupid.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Give Mori credit, he can sleep through anything! He was notorious for his daily naps in the Diet but now on stage, standing - wow! As for the mascots - pathetic and boring, another nod to Mori!

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Ah! Art designed by a committee.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Mori reminded the crowd that the Olympics are not only about individuals and that their success requires a group effort.

Though Mori has taken a couple hits from JT comments section, the culture requires someone older to render these words.

If a younger person, an athlete who knows even more about team work said this, people would think who the hell does he think he is.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Yeah, so, let me see, they are anime characters with a kind of super hero theme and look very childish. Um, where is the connection to the Olympic Games? Oh, I see it! It's that little checkered logo on their heads, that also has no connection with the Olympics. They should have saved everybody a lot of time and money and just put the Olympic logo on Kumamon. At least everybody knows Kumamon.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

would ninjas or something resembling Japan been better? in the end who cares, its not like anyone cares today what the mascots were in the past

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Terrible and uninspired design.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Few non-Japanese are going to be able to deal with those names......DOH!

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Billionaire and he can’t buy a suit that fits.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

Very ordinary looking mascots. I guess clear foreheads would’ve made it less atrocious.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Seto said. "I want to win a gold medal so I can get a Miraitowa doll."

Wouldn't it be easier just to buy one on Amazon?

I understand this design was chosen by 6.5 million kids, but were all the choices drawn by kids as well? I did a web search for other country's Olympic mascots from previous years and the Japanese mascots definitely standout - as utterly childish. If the international image they are trying to promote is a nation of 12 year olds addicted to Ultraman and Power Puff Girls, they have achieved their goal.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

Really think it was a lost opportunity to showcase all the mascots in Japan and have had a national mascot Olympics runoff

1 ( +1 / -0 )

"So 'meh'-ty"

3 ( +3 / -0 )

seriously is this the face of Japan you want to lead the Olympics, and 81yr old geriatric. 

Despite the nations ubiquitous emphasis on youth culture, an 81 year old geriatric is actually an apt representation of modern Japan.

Olympics is meant to be about youth, vitality, sportsmanship and International friendship. 

Mori isn’t competing and why can’t older people support the Olympics, sports, and international friendship? People may not like him personally but Mori is representative of a huge and growing segment of the Japanese population. If I am lucky enough to live to old age I hope society will not treat me as an afterthought. I think the Japanese generally have a better respect for the elderly than people from many Western countries.

-5 ( +0 / -5 )

So, I blue male mascot and a pink female mascot. Is it any wonder Japan ranks at the bottom of world gender equality stats?

And leave it to Japan as well to not only mangle the Japanese words for something, but try and twist in some mangled English as well. NO ONE is going to know that "Someity" is supposed to mean, "A combination of the famous cherry blossoms -- did you know about our world-famous blossoms Sumeyoshi? You didn't? Well, they are. And 'sumeyoshi' is cleverly mixed in with the excellent and very non-regrettable English 'so mighty', like power rangers. So, it's our world-renowned now you know about sumeyoshi cherry blossoms which bloom here every year and were planted after the war, and also the English 'so mighty' because women can be blossoms and mighty, too, and hence the name: Someity. Brilliant, isn't it?"

Man, it's going to be a laughing stock watching them try to explain it. It took more than a paragraph in this story alone. And now the nation for the next 10 years won't be able to pronounce 'mighty' correctly, either.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Gender specified color coded characters. Only in Japan? What a load of absolute garbage. Patriarchal garbage.

(Eye-roll). Differences in sex and gender are a reflection of biology - it’s a load of absolute reality. I guess they don’t teach about reality in gender studies class.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

Seems the budget cuts affected the mascots too. Croatia needn't bother making their own mascot with Someity there.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Few non-Japanese are going to be able to deal with those names......DOH!

Don't speak for others when you're not able to deal with it. Just showed them to two 5 year olds and they could pronounce it well without accents :)

-8 ( +0 / -8 )

Wolfpack: "Eye-roll). Differences in sex and gender are a reflection of biology - it’s a load of absolute reality. I guess they don’t teach about reality in gender studies class."

Where in that biological fact and reality does it say pink is for girls, and blue is for boys? It is 100% old-fashioned, societal teaching.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

wow, they are so meh, is that the best 125 million people can come up with? No wonder Mori is suffering through this yawn fest.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

They are just like the kinds of simplistically 3D mapped computer game characters that illicit no emotional involvement nor meaningful interaction, like ugi-go, that ball thing from star-wars, pokemon go, power ranger, kirby, and so on.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Brutal.

I like the pink and blue, though.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

seriously is this the face of Japan you want to lead the Olympics, and 81yr old geriatric.Olympics is meant to be about youth, vitality, sportsmanship and International friendship

Seriously, due to his vitality he reached 81 years still accomplishing an active role.

Negativity on the other hand has influence on longevity :)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

wow, they are so meh, is that the best 125 million people can come up with? No wonder Mori is suffering through this yawn fest.

That's at least more than that some small boys can come up with :)

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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