Tokyo 2020 has revealed the designs for tickets that will be used at the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Summer Games. Each ticket features a sport and venue pictogram as well as the Tokyo 2020 emblem. They will be color-coded based on the region that is hosting the ticketed event.
In total, there will be 59 Olympic tickets and 25 Paralympic ticket designs for all competition events. Tickets for spectators will be delivered starting in May.
The design of the tickets is inspired by the three types of rectangular shapes that form the Tokyo 2020 emblems and the Japanese technique known as kasane no irome, a color pattern that was used in the creation of fabrics used for kimonos during the Heian Period (794–1185). The pattern also reflects the overlapping natural colors representative of each of Japan’s four seasons.
Olympic Games sport pictograms were first introduced at the 1964 Games in Tokyo, which arose from a need to more easily communicate events to an increasingly international group of athletes and spectators. Pictograms have been created for every edition of the Games since.
“We are very proud of the design of the Tokyo 2020 tickets, embodying as it does Japanese traditions and skills, and we hope they will please both Japanese and international spectators at the Tokyo 2020 Games,” said Tokyo 2020 Spokesperson Masa Takaya. “These tickets will not just be the door-opener to the venues for them; they will become memorabilia that they will cherish long after the Games come to an end.”