Tokyo 2020 names mascot Miraitowa
Say hello to Miraitowa, the mascot for the upcoming Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games!
Tokyo 2020 Olympic mascot “Miraitowa”, left, and Paralympic mascot “Someity”, right, appear at stage during their debut event in Tokyo Sunday, July 22, 2018. The official mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics were unveiled at a ceremony on Sunday. The two mascot designs were selected by elementary schoolchildren across Japan. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
On Sunday, the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee revealed Miraitowa (pronounced mee-rah-e-toh-wa), as the official mascot for the Tokyo 2020 Games. The name Miraitowa is a combination of the Japanese words future and eternity. Its Paralympic counterpart’s name, Someity, (pronounced soh-may-tee) originates from a popular cherry blossom variety “Someiyoshino” and is a play on the English phrase “so mighty”.
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The selection process for the Tokyo 2020 mascot began with 2,042 submissions. It was then narrowed down to a shortlist of three possible choices. A total of 109,041 elementary students in Japan voted on the three options. On February 28, organizers revealed which design received the most votes.
Pupils unveil the shortlisted three mascot design sets which each contain one mascot for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and one for the Paralympic Games at an elementary school in Tokyo Thursday, Dec. 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
After the official announcement, Miraitowa and Someity took a boat cruise through the city to meet local residents. As part of the mascot name reveal, there is a Tokyo 2020 mascot’s house in Tokyo Midtown Hibiya that the public can visit.
