Tricked-Out Japanese Otaku Cars Drift Into the Bizarre
The good people over at Pink Tentacle are rapidly becoming our go-to source for information on the bright, colorful, and often completely insane world of Japanese pop culture, and this week, they've hipped us to something we were completely unaware of: Itasha.
Literally translated as "painful vehicle" (for what I'm going to go ahead and say are pretty obvious reasons), "Itasha" is the term for a fad where otaku customize their cars with paint, stickers and detailing featuring their favorite cute anime and game girls in what appears to be a contest to create the most over-the-top mobile moé nightmare.
They're so amazingly gaudy that it's hard to turn away, which is why today, I've gathered up a few of my favorites.
For more, check out the full gallery from photographer Tomoyuki Sakaguchi, which can also be bought as an iPad photo book!