Performers act out one of the Olympic event pictograms at the Tokyo 2020 Games opening ceremony on July 23, 2021, at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward. (Mainichi/Toshiki Miyama)

       TOKYO -- Japan has already seen some big moments at the Tokyo Olympics, a teen skateboarding sensation, a golden harvest in judo, and podium-topping finishes in boxing, softball and fencing among them. But another side of the games is also getting some world-beating attention: its 50 kinetic event pictograms.

       The pictograms' popularity has been fueled by a four-minute, 54-second clip from the Tokyo Olympics' July 23 opening ceremony, featuring performers clad in the icons' blue-and-white acting out each event represented, jumping from one to the next at staccato speed. The clip has been viewed over 12 million times since it was posted to public broadcaster NHK's official YouTube channel.

       On the still yet lighter side, a parody video of the performance by popular comedy duo Chocolate Planet titled "Pictgudagudam" had some 2.25 million YouTube views as of the afternoon of Aug. 3. Meanwhile, manga artist "Epo" who creates works on the theme of raising children, tweeted a set of icons for what they called the "Mamalympics (Papalympics)," combining the Olympic pictograms' aesthetic with some of the trials of parenting, including "diaper-changing" and "baby-lifting." The pictogram-inspired tweet has garnered more than 120,000 likes and 41,000-plus retweets.

       "I thought about how to communicate the meanings to people, so I'm glad that viewers recognized (the pictograms) during (the opening ceremony) performance," 66-year-old graphic designer Masaaki Hiromura, who was tapped to create the icons, told an Aug. 2 press conference with a smile. The designs are intended as successors to those used for the 1964 Tokyo Games, the first Olympics where event pictograms were used. Hiromura said that he sought to honor the "simple and pure shapes" of the 1964 set, but gave them energy and movement, such as with basketball's jump-and-dunk kinetic pictogram, which was originally depicted in a dribbling movement.

       In this March 12, 2019 file photo, graphic designer Masaaki Hiromura speaks at an event to unveil the Tokyo 2020 Games event pictograms, in Tokyo's Koto Ward. (Mainichi/Koichiro Tezuka)

       Pictograms are all around us, from emergency exit signs to the door markers for public restrooms. Hiromura said of pictograms, "People involved knew about them, but I wondered what regular folks called them." Their popular reception should put his mind at ease.

       But what will happen to the pictograms after the Tokyo Games award their last medal? According to Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics organizing committee spokesperson Masanori Takaya, the Olympic pictograms "are in principal the property of the International Olympic Committee." However, the icons will be available for the Japanese Olympic Committee to use in its events and other purposes. Takaya stated, "I hope the works created (for the games) will continue to fall under the gaze of many throughout generations to come."

       Going ahead with the Tokyo Olympics in the middle of the pandemic has generated a maelstrom of opinion for and against. But the event pictograms look to become one of the unblemished bright spots of the games' legacy.

       (Japanese original by Shun Iwakabe, Sports News Department)

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