Miraitowa

The Olympic mascot is called Miraitowa, which is derived from the Japanese words “mirai” (future) and “towa” (eternity). This name was chosen to promote a future full of eternal hope in the hearts of people all over the world.

With its traditional and futurist style, the mascot embodies both the old and the new, echoing the concept of "innovation from harmony". Its forehead bears the emblem of the Tokyo 2020 Games, whose traditional chessboard motif is composed of indigo blue rectangles of three different sizes.

Ryo Taniguchi

In August 2017, the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee received 2,042 designs submitted as part of a competition open to anyone aged 18 or over resident in Japan. Then, by means of a selection process in several stages, the number of proposals was progressively reduced to leave three finalists, which were announced at the beginning of December 2017.

The task of electing the winner from the three finalist projects was given to the children of Japanese primary schools, with each class having one vote. The voting period extended from 11 December 2017 to 22 February 2018, and 205,755 classes from 16,769 schools participated. The project of Ryo Taniguchi won with a total of 109,041 votes.