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. The Fukuoka native grew up drawing, influenced by his fath…READ FULL ARTICLE
