When Ryo Taniguchi, designer of the official mascots for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, was thinking about studying abroad as a teenager, his illustrator father gave him some sage advice: take the scenic route.
Taniguchi, whose winning designs of two futuristic, rooted-in-culture characters were selected by elementary school students nationwide and overseas, heeded his father's call, which set him on his career path.
It led him to head stateside to earn a four-year degree as an art major at Cabrillo College in California. Influenced by his father, Yutaka, the Fukuoka native grew up drawing, but said he had nothing more than an ordinary education in high school.