Meet Miraitowa and Someity – the smiling, waving mascots charged with building excitement for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics.
The names were revealed as the pair stepped out to a cheering crowd in the Japanese capital for the first time on Sunday, just over two years before the Games begin. In a country which doesn’t take half measures when it comes to cuddly promotional mascots, the two characters attempted to make a splash by hopping on a boat cruise to meet locals.
The name of the Olympics mascot, Miraitowa, fuses the Japanese words for future and eternity. Someity, the Paralympics mascot, is derived from Somei-yoshino, a type of cherry blossom, and is a play on words with the English phrase “So mighty”.
“We have 733 days to go to the Tokyo 2020 Games,” the city’s governor, Yuriko Koike, said as she joined with the Tokyo 2020 organising committee president, Yoshiro Mori, to introduce the mascots. Schoolchildren posed for photos with the costumed characters.
Monika Seryu, a para-canoe competitor in the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, said it was “such a lovely moment to have the two mascots here” and she was inspired to do her best in Tokyo.
