Itasha Atsumari Part II

Lets take a look back at the second part of the Itasha meet in Odaiba.

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As previously mentioned Itasha used to be a contraction for the words Italian and Sha, or car. Whilst  the meaning has somewhat changed, this has not limited the scope of this very colorful modification. Whilst most Itasha are Japanese cars, or Nihon-sha, the trend has spread to other makes and mediums as well. One popular way of getting around in Japan is by bicycle and in this case, the traditional two wheeler gets the sticker treatment and is lent the name Ita-chari.

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The bicycle versions are as good or if not better than some of the vehicles. It’s not uncommon to see some of these Ita-charis being ridden around in the Electric City, Akihabara too. The garden variety are the usual “Mommies Bikes” that mothers all around Japan use to ferry children to school and back, but recently thanks to a cycling boom in Japan, other more sportier bikes are also getting the change.

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Back to the four wheeled vehicular variety though, looking around there were more than just the usual Toyota and Nissan makes. Here this Porsche…

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and Corvette have also been stickered up.

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I don’t know what Germans would say about this, but these two BMW’s also looked like they were having some fun!

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Check out the custom wheels too!

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One car that really stood out and grabbed my attention though was this crazy looking new GTR! It was covered in vinyl from front to back and actually looked damn cool! Some people maybe misunderstood what I wrote in the previous article about the cars being painful for the drivers, but what was said was actually from the owners themselves. I think I could get around in a GTR like that though!

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I’ll finish this post off with a very cool car that you don’t often get to see much anymore.  This is actually a  Honda Beat, a 660cc rear mid engined Kei car. It was really looking the part sitting on some Volk TE37′s, cool graphics and race number on the side.

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Hope you enjoyed this quirky look into Japanese Itasha.

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Words: Peter Horniak
Images: Mainichi News