This past weekend, a parking lot in Tokyo’s Odaiba glimmered with geek pride. This weekend saw the Ita G Festa expo. Gear-heads gathered and showed off more than their appreciation for automobiles. They showed off their appreciation of covering their cars in otaku decals.(new Image()).src = 'https://capi.connatix.com/tr/si?token=995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c&cid=872d12ce-453b-4870-845f-955919887e1b'; cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "995c4c7d-194f-4077-b0a0-7ad466eb737c" }).render("79703296e5134c75a2db6e1b64762017"); }); “Ita” refers to “itasha”, which literally means “painmobile”. The removable decals typically feature young female characters from popular anime or PC games. The itasha moniker ironically refers to the pain inflicted on the cars—and the owner’s wallet. They’re a show of money and a show of just how far someone is willing to go to express their affinity with their favorite game or anime. A subculture of car stickers has existed in Japan for decades, but the stickers were traditionally tuning or racing related, with the occasional right-wing sticker collection. Cosplayers do show up at Ita G Festa, but don’t block the view nearly as much as at the recent Dream Party. https://kotaku.com/when-cosplayers-get-in-the-way-of-crazy-cars-5846376 The fourth annual Ita G Festa was held earlier this year, a month after the earthquake. This fall’s Ita G Fest drew over a thousand itasha—comparable to last year’s turnout https://kotaku.com/a-thousand-cars-covered-in-otaku-stickers-5661793 Itasha are no longer h25 com เข้าสู่ระบบ​ otaku subculture. In Japan’s Super GT series, itasha racers now regularly compete—with other racers and for otaku attention. https://kotaku.com/racing-to-win-over-your-nerd-hearts-5798373 Photos courtesy of website Asagawo Blog. More photos: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 Culture Smash is a daily dose of things topical, interesting and sometimes u31 game เข้าสู่ระบบ even awesome—game related and beyond. (Top u31 เครดิตฟรี 188 photo: アサガヲBlog) You can contact Brian Ashcraft, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.