Japanese Itasha: Tricked-Out Anime Rides

January 10th, 2008 · 1 Comment

image via Pink Tentacle

The Japanese are fearless. Culturally, anyway. They pile on tasteless chaos as unapologetically as a fat kid burns through a box of donuts.

So it should come as no surprise that while Americans are obsessed with muscling-up our cars’ engines and equipping our rides with the loudest speakers and the shiniest rims and every other bit of pseudo-machismo that money can buy, our friends from the land of sake and honey are making their own statement with a little thing called “Itasha.”

image viaPink Tentacle

image via Senaka Blog

According to DannyChoo (who has a great blog on Japanese culture) “Itasha”:

[…] describes a car that has been plastered with anime stickers and other form of decoration. [It] literally means “pain (itai) car (sha)” and for some reason the kanji for “pain” was chosen as it sounds like the “ita” from (itasha) which means Italian Car.

image via Pink Tentacle

There’s an undeniable art quality about these vomitously cute cars that makes me want one in the worst kind of way. I can see myself now, racing down the devil’s highway in a pink Hello Kitty speedster and a .357 Magnum in the glove box, drunk on my own power.

I don’t know. Maybe it’s just me.