Saturday, November 15

Itasha / 痛車, Supercars and Otaku Blend.



Japan Manga Girls, Loved by Aso, Adorn Nerd Ferraris

Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Masaya Taniguchi has a ``heartache'' plastered across the hood of his flaming red Audi AG TT Roadster.

Her name is Mashiro Mito, a teenage character from his favorite computer game with melancholic eyes and pink ribbons in chestnut hair. Taniguchi, 28, is an ``otaku,'' a Japanese term for nerd, who combines a passion for cars with affection for cartoon girls in ``manga'' comic books, movies and video games.


Source

For some reason, this part made me laugh very hard, " Maurizio Raffone, a director at Dresdner Kleinwort (Japan) Ltd., feels the pain. ``As an Italian, and a car guy, living in Japan, I have to say, I almost cried when I saw the photos'' of manga-adorned cars, he said"

I think the artwork were beautiful but some people will consider this is as criminal as shitting on some holy book. Worse of all sacrilege on the Italian supercars. I waiting one day for someone to paste Initial D character on the car. It will be ironic as hell.

This article also speaks of Taro Aso, current Premier of Japan and known for his avid following of Rozen Maiden manga. He was featured earlier in this blog as Foreign Minister, trying to promote "Japan Cool" image as part of marketing campaign to the international market.

He even featured in one of fan made manga/doujinshi.

Earlier entry on Premier Aso

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