[TOS'd]

"Ita-sha" meaning, "painful car"

Its the lastest trend in the Akihabara distict of Japan. To those who are familar with the Anime Culture, Akihabara is the goldmine for videogames, anime, manga, and electronics, becoming a city for the famous groups of Otakus. Ita-sha are literally "painful cars" with exteriors pimped out in tacky illustrations or stickers of female animation characters. The otaku groups of these trend setters seem to be very different from the street scene of Japan. From a article they naturally feel seperated compared to those who are really hardcore to the street scene. The event at the famous Formula One venue was the second-largest itasha event after the Moesha Meeting in Gifu Prefecture last July that attracted 300 to 400 itasha.

What do I like about them besides being the hardcore Closet Otaku like myself? Most of them are clean cars with a unqiue taste of style. Like I tell most tuners out there, if you want a nice looking car make sure it has a theme and story about it. It may have crazy colors in such that people may not understand, and they are do and don'ts in the scene but if you a story a behind it you should be proud to share it with others. What I like about the Ita-sha is that they are all simple people in their 20s and 30s, salaried employees and in possession of enough common sense to follow the traffic rules. They just like anime that much.

More pics: http://mainichi.jp/enta/mantan/graph/anime/20071009/