Yesterday at Odaiba there was a car show that featured the odd combination of American muscle cars and itasha. Itasha is the latest Japanese fad, in which fans of anime and manga plaster their cars with large images of their favorite characters.
The term “itasha” means literally “painful car,” painful for both the wallet and the ego because the itasha know full well that real car guys look upon their rides with disdain. It can also be a pun for “Italian car” although itasha fans often use BMWs or otherwise desireable 180SXs, Soarers and Evos as a canvas.
I didn’t go to the show, but got the above photo from Mooneyes, which says (thankfully) there were many empty spaces and the show was kind of a dud.
Cool… I didn’t know it already had its own name. 😀
I did find an amazing video from the Dreamcar Club visiting an “Itasha” meeting. Lots and lots of otaku there, and especially the GX81 Mark II is really looking like the room of Densha Otoko:
http://www.banpei.net/blog/hilarious-dorifuto-otoko
And indeed that meeting was also packed with exotics like the S15, Skylines and a few European sportscars. 😉
“The terim “otasha” means literally “painful car,” ”
I think you mean term… and how does it go from itasha to ‘otasha’?
C’mon guys….. 😛
I’ve heard of those cars with the anime stickers being called “Akiba Spec” in Japan too.
The Moehaku 2010 has lots of itasha
http://www.japansugoi.com/wordpress/moehaku-2010-full-of-itasha-itansha-and-itachari/