Names of 2020 Tokyo Games Mascots to Be Announced in July

May 28, 2018

Tokyo- The names of mascots of the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games will be announced in late July, the sporting events' organizing committee said Monday.

The committee's mascot selection panel Monday picked the final candidates for the mascot names.

The panel checked to see whether 10 Olympic and 10 Paralympic name candidates, which made it through a selection meeting in April, had negative meanings in English and seven other languages. It then excluded two names from each list, also based on the results of a domestic trademark screening.

From the remaining eight Olympic and eight Paralympic mascot name candidates, 12 panel members present at the meeting chose three names from each list and gave them scores.

The panel determined the first to eighth places, based on the total points each name received.

It plans to adopt the two candidates that came first if the names clear overseas trademark inspections.

Yoshiko Ikoma, vice chair of the mascot selection panel, said the first place candidates sounded "positive and powerful." Jiji Press