The Tokyo Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Tokyo 2020) on Monday announced its plan to decide the Games’ official mascots by means of a national competition.
Members of the public in Japan will be invited to submit mascot design proposals, following which there will be an innovative judging process whereby elementary schoolchildren across the country will select the winning set of designs from a shortlist.
The Olympic and Paralympic mascots have become a much-loved feature of the Games, garnering attention from fans all over the world. They add to the excitement surrounding the Games, while also communicating the values of the Olympic and Paralympic movements and reflecting the culture of the host country.
The mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Games will therefore play a key role in introducing Japanese culture to the world. Mascots are also a popular element of modern Japanese culture, usually created to promote a particular region, event or business. They are often deployed by local governments or other organisations to stimulate tourism and economic development, or by companies to build on their corporate identity.
Anticipating public interest in the choice of mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Games, Tokyo 2020 set up a special panel last year to decide the process by which the mascots would be chosen. The panel met on numerous occasions and earlier this month submitted its recommendations, which have now been approved by Tokyo 2020. In addition to professional illustrators and designers, members of the public in Japan – including nonJapanese residing in the country – will be invited to submit their personal mascot designs through Japanese- and English-language websites.
A “creative brief” with a comprehensive set of design guidelines and criteria is being made available for applicants, who will be required to submit designs for both Olympic and Paralympic mascots. The Tokyo 2020 mascot review panel will select a shortlist from the submitted design sets.
In a unique twist to customary procedures, the shortlisted designs will be reviewed by elementary school classes across Japan, including those in international schools. Pupils in individual classes will vote, with each class choosing their single preferred set of designs. Tokyo 2020 will select the design set which attracts the largest number of classroom votes.
Yoshiko Ikoma, vice chairperson of the selection process panel, said: “Given the importance of mascots in modern Japanese culture, we always knew there would be huge public interest in the selection of the Tokyo 2020 mascot. We think this process gives the public – and especially schoolchildren – a unique opportunity to participate in the design and selection process.”
The timeline for the design and selection process is as follows:
August 1 to 14, 2017 – design submission period (submission via a special website)
December 2017 – mascot panel selects shortlist of design sets
December 2017 to January 2018 – elementary school children vote on the shortlist
March 2018 – design set with the largest number of votes is announced as the winner
July to August 2018 – mascot panel decides names for the winning mascots
The creative brief for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020 Mascots is available for download here.
© Japan Today
15 Comments
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towingtheline
So we need a childish mascot that promotes: 'institutionalized bullying' and 'Lolita fascination'...
theeastisred
Amazing how they make Mori look as if he's still breathing.
Wakarimasen
Some version of the sakura..... Or of an underage athlete........ Or hot springs.......
Alistair Carnell
here's my entry; a giant smiley stuffed brown envelope, named Korrup-chan.
Disillusioned
I thought Abe in his Super Mario suit was already the mascot.
goldorak
I like it. Always good to bring in a fresh pair of eyes (or, in this case, thousands). Good idea.
plasticmonkey
Says who?
Values such as what? Athletic competition that is independent from commercial gain from purveyors of junk like McDonalds and Coca Cola? International athletic advantage completely unrelated to monetary investment? Host city bidding that is completely above board and untainted by bribery?
Hope to see a cute character that captures those values and makes everyone smile and forget about trivial issues like Fukushima, the devaluation of workers and their families, and rebranding citizens as "subjects" in in the constitution by 2020.
Toasted Heretic
As much as I look fwd to the games, I have equal anticipation over the protests which will be seen by the world. Every games has it's protests and causes. And rightly so.
I thought Doraemon was the mascot? Or did I get that completely wrong?
M3M3M3
The cynic in me say this is just a clever way to shift the blame if the mascot is a flop. Who would ever dream of blaming the schoolchildren for their choice, right? They got burned last time with choosing the logo and they've learned their lesson.
philly1
Korup-chan!!! Brilliant. Thanks for that, Alistair.
David L Reinke
The mascot should be Godzilla, simple as that. ;-)
Dandy Nong
2020 olympics.... you gotta be joking... i bet there are no olympics by than...
few more rockets from the north korean nut and i bet nobody will come to tokyo...
englisc aspyrgend
Oh what a cynical lot you are :)
Go with the flow, enjoy it, naff all you can do to stop it so you might as well, anyway elementary school kids will make less of a screw up than the corrupt/decrepit officials!
sf2k
In the land of a million mascots, you don't need new ones. Have an Olympic tournament trial across the nation for the most favoured mascots. Make it a weighed percentage so population alone doesn't sway. It would drive up interest locally and match similar events during the Olympics themselves.