Shipon displays his stealthy cameraphone skillz and shows off some itasha he snapped at Comiket 72 and discovers that it’s not just hardened street racers who moe up their cars. There’s some soccer mums too…
Itasha is written in Japanese as 痛車 or イタ車, which basically reads as ‘hurt car’ (although the second can also mean ‘Italian car’, but anyone who would do this to a Lamborghini…). It’s the Otakuisation of a car by adding decals, stickers, shades & even cramming the car full of character goods and such. In the past I’ve seen such mods as sailor uniform seat covers and the entire cast of To Heart 2 immortalised in gachapon figures across the hood of the car. Here are some photos I snapped off on Day 3 of Comiket 72 this year.
BLATANT PLUG : If you missed out on Comiket 72 but want some of the spoils, I bought some doubles of some of the more popular/limited items. They’re up for auction here and contain a number of Lucky Star items (including ‘Bu~bu~Kagabu~’ with pencil board) & the infamous Ero Crown.
Shipon lives in Northern Japan where he is enjoying the withdrawal of summer. He is hunting for a haori with which to fortify himself for winter.
where can i get some of those decal? so cool.
I’m kinda out of touch with the Itasha scene, but can someone explain a bit why it’s frowned upon to take photos of them?
>>fake
I know absolutely nothing about the scene, but I’m guessing you’d have to go to a Japanese body shop that specializes in them.
>>icie
Photos of people or their personally identifiable possessions (such as cars with license plates) in potentially compromising locations (such as Akihabara or Comiket) are avoided here as the status quo; probably out of a “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” philosophy. That doesn’t explain why itasha photography in particular is frowned upon, perhaps Shipon can speak more to the facts on the ground in this particular instance.
If you took a picture to a sign shop they could print it out in vinyl sticker form and put it on your car. Not cheaply, of course.
fake>>
Get your graphic designer friend to do up your artwork then go to a store that does sign writing/car graphics. They’ll use a vinyl printer to cut out the decals then apply them to the car.
icie>>
Notice there are no number plates? Or I have blanked them out? It’s partially that, it’s also just plain bloody politeness. I asked before I took photos.
vinyl stickers huh. i see some care at my school that has like mashimaro on the door to the gas think so i thought they would sell stuff like that around.
i don’t know any car graphic shop but thanks for the info.
can vinyl stickers be taken off and reuse?
Guess; these “stickers” are non adhesive, the vinyl will “cling” to a smooth surface, this is why they are applied to the glass in most cases.
These instructions should help you understand. They can’t be reused.
There are a number of circles that sell pre-made transfers for cars, and even a few shops around akiba(in fact I bought a neat one that I thought was a normal sticker like this by accident… Now I just need a car).
How does Shipon know if a car’s owned by a soccer mum? (I am assuming of course that there are such things as soccer mums in Japan.)
Sydney2K>>
We have sports cars and little yellow-plate runarounds in the photos above. In Japan your typical mum drives a Daihatsu move or other such yellow plate box because the registration is cheaper and the fuel cost is less, which is fine for a little about-town runabout.
It’s a joke, Joyce.
Shipon>>
Thanks for the explanation- Now I Get It!