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The 1964 Tokyo Paralympic Logo: A Symbol of the Evolving Relationship Between the IPC and the IOC

My own 1964 Tokyo Paralympic pin

The 1964 Tokyo Paralympics were a landmark Games –  in fact, they were the first to be called a Paralympics.

The above picture is of an official pin for the 1964 Tokyo Paralympics, with the logo of a white dove and 5 circles interlocking in a “V” formation.

As explained to me by the records and information manager of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the dove represents “peace as well as love.” 

This logo is somewhat based on the logo for the Stoke Mandeville Games of 1960, held in Rome, which was a design of three interlocking wheelchair wheels. The 1964 version used five interlocking wheelchair wheels, but this time in a way similar to the Olympic rings, which the International Olympic Committee (IOC) objected to.

Today, the relationship between the IOC and the IPC is solid. Planning for both Tokyo2020 events are done in tandem. Official sponsors sign up to support both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. But in the past, that was not the case. And the design of the Paralympics logo is a case in point, according to the records and information manager.

The history of the Games’ logos is one that is marked by a relationship to the IOC that was not always as good as it is today. Multiple designs for logos were vetoed, as they too closely resembled the Olympic logo at a time when the IOC did not wish to be associated with the Paralympic Games.

At the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, the organizers designed a logo that featured five tear-shaped symbols which are apparently a common feature of Korean decorative art known as “Pa.” The designer arranged those five tears in a way similar to the Olympic rings.

And again, the IOC objected, resulting in a logo that contained three Pa in red, green and blue. This particular version was used by the IPC from 1994 to 2004, before morphing into a version of the IPC “Agitos” logo Paralympians are familiar with today.

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May 16, 2021 Japan, Olympics, Paralympics, Tokyo 1964, Tokyo 2020

The Tokyo 2020 Emblem Scandal: You Too Can Own the T-Shirt

2020-logo-and-tehatre-de-liege-logo-compared

It was for many weeks, a joke.

The Tokyo 2020 emblem was announced in July of 2015, the end of an international competition where over 100 designs were entered. When the black, gold, gray and red design of geometric shapes debuted, it was not only greeted with an underwhelming yawn, it was slapped with a lawsuit for plagiarism. The designer of the logo for a theater in Belgium felt that the design, sans the red circle, was essentially the same.

For weeks, the designer of the winning emblem, Kenjiro Sano, twisted in the wind as the poo poo hit the fan. In this day and age of the internet and social media, other examples of possible plagiarism by Sano’s firm popped up. Eventually, Tokyo2020 withdrew its supports of Sano’s logo, and started a second competition for a new design.

plagiarized-tokyo-2020-logo-tshirt

What I found interesting is that you can buy a T-shirt with the Sano logo on Amazon. In fact, I did, as you can see above. The quality of the shirt is so so, but for 11 bucks I have a shirt that is essentially vestimenta non grata. (You can’t find this shirt on Amazon Japan.)

What’s even funnier – you can buy a  rip off of Sano’s rip off on Amazon for eight dollars more! Check out the design below, where the red circle was moved from upper right to lower right.

tokyo-2020-emblem-rip-off-shirt

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January 9, 2017 Japan, Pop Culture, Tokyo 2020

Simple is Best: Finally, The New Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Logos

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Resolving to put its checkered past behind, a special selection committee for the local organizing committee 2020 Tokyo Olympics unveiled the new logos for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games: “Harmonized Checkered Emblem”.

In August last year, 2020 Tokyo Olympics abandoned the logo it selected after claims that the logo design had plagiarism issues. The logo design itself was also not very popular.

In November, 2020 Tokyo Olympics began a nation-wide contest to find a new logo design. Over 14,000 submissions was whittled down to four last month.

Tokyo 2020 Final Four emblem logo entries

As you can see from the above four designs, the checkered indigo pattern is perhaps the simplest of the designs, and thus will be flexible in its use as it is placed on various marketing paraphernalia and used as a backdrop in various venues. As the winning designer, Asao Tokolo said, “I was thinking of something like a coloring picture that everyone can add their own color to,” Tokolo said. “White against indigo blue — it’s a very clean-cut expression.”

Another factor that may have gone into the selection committee members’ minds was the deep connection that the color indigo has in Japanese culture.

Indigo dye in Japan is a time-consuming fermentation process in which composted polygonum leaves are fermented in a mixture of coal, water, lye, sake and wheat bran, for example. In the past, this was the only way to create the color blue and so indigo clothes were worn only by the privileged. As the process to create dye became more widespread, indigo-colored cotton or hemp clothing became the fashion of the common person in the Edo period of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Here is a picture of a mid-18th century “hanten jacket” that a company worker would commonly wear.

hanten

Here is a picture of a traditional form of Japanese hand sewing called “sashiko”, which was common in the 17th century. Seamstresses would use a white thread to create repeated, interlocking patterns on an indigo-dyed piece of cloth. People who go to the hot springs or spend a night in a ryokan might notice such patterns in the robes worn after a bath.

sashiko

Litmus is a company that still maintains the traditional art of producing indigo dye, and here is their explanation of indigo’s place in Japanese fashion history:

Cotton and indigo dye matched well together and indigo dyed material became a part of Japanese life as people believed it turned more durable through repeated dyeing. There was a saying such as “Insects hate clothes dyed with indigo.” People dyed many items such as farming clothes, hand towels, undershirts, floor cushion, and shop curtain. Famous “Ukiyoe” (trans. floating world paintings) artists like Hokusai and Hiroshige used indigo pigment and expressed that era eloquently. The blue referred to as “Hiroshige Blue” attracted worldwide praise.

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April 26, 2016 Business, Japan, Others, Pop Culture, Tokyo 2020, Tourism

Japan unveils final four candidates for Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo | The Japan Times

Tokyo 2020 Final Four emblem logo entries

Hmmmmm….if these are the four finalists out of 15,000 for the Tokyo 2020 emblem design,  my personal pick would be entry “D”.

Tokyo 2020 Olympics organizers on Friday unveiled a shortlist of four replacement logos after the original design was scrapped last September amid accusati

Source: Japan unveils final four candidates for Tokyo 2020 Olympics logo | The Japan Times

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April 8, 2016 Japan, Others, Pop Culture, Tokyo 2020

Newly designed folding fan emblem proposed for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics soars in popularity

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They’ve decided to re-do the far more costly National Stadium design. They could decide to change the Olympic 2020 logo as well. The idea in this article is gaining momentum, and for good reason. It’s better than the officially selected logo.

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August 24, 2015 Japan, Pop Culture, Tokyo 2020
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