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© KYODOTokyo 2020 mascots make public debut at naming ceremony
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savethegaijin
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.
blvtzpk
What’s the name of the mascot in the gray suit? Nemuioyaji?
jcapan
Jeez, I'm usually the first one to mock Mori but this picture actually makes me feel sorry for him.
Nadège
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.
kohakuebisu
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.
wtfjapan
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
Jandworld
Uchujin, dont let these mess in other areas.
mmwkdw
Pink one looks a bit evil. Menacing eyes...
Jandworld
Dont you have (and pay) desingers any more?
daito_hak
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....
M3M3M3
There were better mascot choices available.
Jandworld
kinder mascots please
factchecker
They look stupid.
Ken Fridley
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!
BertieWooster
Ah! Art designed by a committee.
quercetum
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.
Disillusioned
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.
Dango bong
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
oldman_13
Terrible and uninspired design.
GW
Few non-Japanese are going to be able to deal with those names......DOH!
GanbatteJapan!
Billionaire and he can’t buy a suit that fits.
puregaijin
Very ordinary looking mascots. I guess clear foreheads would’ve made it less atrocious.
Disillusioned
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.
sf2k
Really think it was a lost opportunity to showcase all the mascots in Japan and have had a national mascot Olympics runoff
Ascissor
"So 'meh'-ty"
Wolfpack
Despite the nations ubiquitous emphasis on youth culture, an 81 year old geriatric is actually an apt representation of modern Japan.
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.
smithinjapan
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.
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.
ClippetyClop
Seems the budget cuts affected the mascots too. Croatia needn't bother making their own mascot with Someity there.
Netgrump
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 :)
smithinjapan
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.
simon g
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.
Fendy
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.
sourpuss
Brutal.
I like the pink and blue, though.
Netgrump
Seriously, due to his vitality he reached 81 years still accomplishing an active role.
Negativity on the other hand has influence on longevity :)
Netgrump
That's at least more than that some small boys can come up with :)