Miraitowa and Someity

Miraitowa and Someity
Miraitowa and Someity
	Miraitowa (left), the mascot of the Olympics, and Someity (right), the mascot of the Paralympics
Mascots of the 2020 Summer Olympics and 2020 Summer Paralympics (Tokyo)
Creator	Ryo Taniguchi
Significance	Figures with chequered patterns and cherry blossom flowers

Miraitowa (Japanese: ミライトワ) is the official mascot of the 2020 Summer Olympics, and Someity (Japanese: ソメイティ) is the official mascot of the 2020 Summer Paralympics. The events were held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2021.^[a] The checkered design on both mascots was inspired by the ichimatsu moyo pattern of the Tokyo 2020 official logo, while Someity's pink design was inspired by cherry blossoms. Both fictional characters have various superpowers, such as teleportation.

Created by Japanese artist Ryo Taniguchi, the mascots were selected from a competitive process that took place in late 2017 and early 2018. A total of 2,042 candidate designs were submitted to the Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee, which then selected three pairs of unnamed mascot designs from the batch to present to Japanese elementary school students for the final decision. The results of the selection were announced on 28 February 2018, and the mascots were named on 22 July 2018. Miraitowa is named after the Japanese words for "future" (未来, mirai) and "eternity" (永久, towa), and Someity is named after someiyoshino (ソメイヨシノ), a type of cherry blossom. Someity's name also echoes the English phrase "so mighty". The mascots helped financing the Tokyo Games through merchandising and licensing deals.

^ "IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Announce New Dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020". olympic.org. 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
^ McDonald, Scott (25 March 2020). "The Reason why Olympics in 2021 will still be called the 2020 Olympic Games". newsweek.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

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[IOC_2021_Dates-1] "IOC, IPC, Tokyo 2020 Organising Committee and Tokyo Metropolitan Government Announce New Dates for the Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020". olympic.org. 30 March 2020. Archived from the original on 30 March 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

[2] McDonald, Scott (25 March 2020). "The Reason why Olympics in 2021 will still be called the 2020 Olympic Games". newsweek.com. Archived from the original on 1 April 2020. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

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