'United by Emotion' chosen as Tokyo 2020 motto

[February 17, 2020]  By Jack Tarrant

TOKYO (Reuters) - 'United by Emotion' was revealed as the motto for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics on Monday as organizers look to hammer home the message of diversity and inclusion.

Tennis player Naomi Osaka, who was born in Japan to a Haitian father and Japanese mother but raised in the United States, narrated the motto's promotional video.

"We are each different, and all so much the same," Osaka says in the video, which showed her entering the newly-built National Stadium surrounded by a diverse group of supporters.

"And in these moments we experience and these emotions we share, we change what we can imagine together."

Japan, which has long prided itself on being homogeneous, is becoming more ethnically diverse and Osaka, currently 10th in the world rankings, is often held up as the face of these changing times.

"Diverse groups of people, by sharing their emotions, will become one," Tokyo 2020 CEO Toshiro Muto said during the announcement.

"That is the kind of Games we want the Tokyo 2020 Games to be."

Fireworks light up the sky near the illuminated Olympic rings at a ceremony to mark six months before the start of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan in this photo taken by Kyodo January 24, 2020. Mandatory credit Kyodo/via REUTERS/File Photo

The motto will be displayed on the iconic Tokyo Skytree, the Japanese capital's tallest landmark, from Monday until March 25, the day before the torch relay begins.

Some 10,000 athletes from over 200 countries will gather in Tokyo for the Olympics, which run from July 24 to Aug. 9.

(Editing by Peter Rutherford)

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