November | 2007 | Project O.T.A.K.U

What is 痛車(いたしゃ)/Itasha you ask ???

It literally means “painful vehicle”, but what it really is, is the decorating of vehicles with decorative stickers (called decals) and paint jobs mostly with anime, manga or game characters/themes.

Why is it called Itasha ???

God only knows why or the person who thought up of the name would probably know, but my guess is the amount of money that goes into decorating your vehicles, as decals are not cheap and i am assuming that some of the decals in the photos are custom made which = bigger pain in the wallet department.

Well apparently the culture of Itasha has long existed in the land of the rising sun, but previously due to otakus being branded as weird and stuff not many of them were willing to show their affection for their favorite pass time openly to the public, that and also the fact that most of them were 引きこもり(hikikomori) hence they didn’t have the need for high performance vehicles to get anywhere quick.

Now if only it was more feasible for an under paid person like me to own a car, without having to sell one of my kidneys and or one of my lung to drive away with one of the world’s best inventions.

Anyways enough with my ramblings here are some pics of pimped “Itashas”

Now since this is practically unheard of in Singapore (well this is of course according to the eyes of yours truly), all pictures are taken from other sites due recognition will be given.

PS: If you want to know more about 痛車(いたしゃ)/Itashas there’s a book you can actually buy which show cases more Itashas then you can shake a stick at. The book of Itashas

The first batch of pictures are from Pink Tentacle

Second batch of pictures are from Kent446

And the third and last batch of pictures are from Jpopexpress

Thanks to the writer i am proven wrong and that there are in fact Singaporeans who have turned their cars into 痛車(いたしゃ)/Itashas, great big KUDOs to them and their fanaticism.