Tokyo 2020 Olympics mascots unveiled after Japanese children's vote

Two futuristic figures, inspired by anime, have been chosen as mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games after voting in thousands of schools in Japan, the organising committee announced on Wednesday.

The winning designs represent the "tradition and innovation" of Japan according to the organisers, reports Efe.

The mascots beat the other two pairs in contention by a big margin, getting 53 per cent of the votes.

The results were announced in a ceremony at Hoyonomori school in Tokyo's Shinagawa district, attended by hundreds of students and the mascot designers.

Japanese illustrator Ryo Taniguchi, whose entries won, designs characters for language teaching books and companies.

He said he was surprised and grateful to win.

Almost 17,000 primary schools in Japan - around 70 per cent of all such schools in the country - took part in the voting, along with some Japanese schools abroad.

Tokyo Olympics' organisers unveil 'significant' cut in budget

Tokyo 2020 organisers today unveiled a "significant" cut in their budget for hosting the games, as the city comes under pressure to keep a lid on spiralling costs.

The overall game's budget now stands at a total of 1.35 trillion yen ($12.6 billion), organisers said in a statement.

This represented a cut of $1.4 billion compared to the previous version of the budget unveiled last December and $0.3 billion compared to an interim figure agreed in May.

"Going forward, Tokyo 2020 will continue to seek further cost reductions, particularly in the areas of event operations, transport, accommodation and security," organisers said in a statement.

They hailed a "significant reduction in costs" resulting from "sustained efforts ... to avoid recourse to public funds."

"This will not be the end of the cost reduction efforts," vowed Hidemasa Nakamura, the chief financial officer of the Tokyo 2020 organising committee, at a press conference.

The IOC's Games coordination commission chairman John Coates said in October Tokyo should aim to cut overall costs by $1 billion from the interim figure.

"We hope to draft (budget) plans so that Coates will say 'good job' at the end," Nakamura said.

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