Despite several high-profile gaffes in their Olympic preparations, Tokyo 2020 organisers reckon choosing the Games mascots will be child's play - so much so they're leaving the decision to school kids
Despite several high-profile gaffes in their Olympic preparations, Tokyo 2020 organisers reckon choosing the Games mascots will be child's play - so much so they're leaving the decision to school kids.
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Japanese organisers announced yesterday that the official 2020 mascots would be decided by a nationwide competition, in which members of the public will submit designs before elementary schoolchildren across the country select winners from a shortlist.
Budding designers have a two-week window from August 1-14 to submit entries, after which a mascot panel will compile a shortlist in December.
Japanese schoolchildren, who could have a better handle on the squidgy mascots than organisers who have hitherto bungled the rollout of the Olympic stadium and official logo, will finish voting on the shortlist in January.
The winning designs will be announced in March, with the mascots to be given official names by August 2018.
Mascots - often referred to in Japanese as 'yuru-kyara' (soft characters) - are a big business in Japan and have become part of the cultural landscape. Tokyo organisers are battling to rein in runaway costs for the Olympics .
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