If you happen to see cars or scooters on streets bearing images of cartoons, manga or online computer game characters, it’s quite possible that the driver is a fan of itasya (痛車).
Itasya is a Japanese term referring to cars decorated with cartoon or manga images on the outside — a subculture that has been popular in Japan for the past decade.
A fan of Japanese manga and itasya, 28-year-old Liu Chien-liang (劉建良) founded the Taiwan Itasya Culture Promotion Association in February with a few friends.
PHOTO: HSIEH WEN-HUA, TAIPEI TIMES
SEVEN EXAMPLES
At the moment, there are seven itasya in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan, including Liu’s own itasya with “Kokagami,” a character from the manga Lucky Star on the doors, hood and roof.
It took him three attempts before Liu managed to paste Kokagami’s images onto his car.
Liu said that he’s very attracted to Kokagami because she looks cold outside, but is actually just shy on the inside.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
He said it makes him proud when he drives in the car because it makes him the focus on the road.
The term itasya comes from the Japanese word ita (痛), which means “to hurt” or “painful,” while sya (車) means “car.”
As for why an itasya is called an itasya, Liu said that there are three different explanations.
The first goes that, under Japanese traffic regulations, one has to pay extra fees to put exotic decorations on the outside of a car, and thus it “hurts” to pay the extra money.
The second explanation says that itasya is how the Japanese calls Italian cars, and since they believe Italian cars to be the best decorated ones, the Japanese then chose to call cars decorated with manga characters’ pictures itasya.
The third explanation, Liu said, goes that since the rich decorations on itasya are so colorful, they would “hurt” viewers’ eyes.
TRAGEDY: An expert said that the incident was uncommon as the chance of a ground crew member being sucked into an IDF engine was ‘minuscule’ A master sergeant yesterday morning died after she was sucked into an engine during a routine inspection of a fighter jet at an air base in Taichung, the Air Force Command Headquarters said. The officer, surnamed Hu (胡), was conducting final landing checks at Ching Chuan Kang (清泉崗) Air Base when she was pulled into the jet’s engine for unknown reasons, the air force said in a news release. She was transported to a hospital for emergency treatment, but could not be revived, it said. The air force expressed its deepest sympathies over the incident, and vowed to work with authorities as they
A tourist who was struck and injured by a train in a scenic area of New Taipei City’s Pingsi District (平溪) on Monday might be fined for trespassing on the tracks, the Railway Police Bureau said yesterday. The New Taipei City Fire Department said it received a call at 4:37pm on Monday about an incident in Shifen (十分), a tourist destination on the Pingsi Railway Line. After arriving on the scene, paramedics treated a woman in her 30s for a 3cm to 5cm laceration on her head, the department said. She was taken to a hospital in Keelung, it said. Surveillance footage from a
BITTERLY COLD: The inauguration ceremony for US president-elect Donald Trump has been moved indoors due to cold weather, with the new venue lacking capacity A delegation of cross-party lawmakers from Taiwan, led by Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), for the inauguration of US president-elect Donald Trump, would not be able to attend the ceremony, as it is being moved indoors due to forecasts of intense cold weather in Washington tomorrow. The inauguration ceremony for Trump and US vice president-elect JD Vance is to be held inside the Capitol Rotunda, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. A person familiar with the issue yesterday said although the outdoor inauguration ceremony has been relocated, Taiwan’s legislative delegation has decided to head off to Washington as scheduled. The delegation
Another wave of cold air would affect Taiwan starting from Friday and could evolve into a continental cold mass, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Temperatures could drop below 10°C across Taiwan on Monday and Tuesday next week, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. Seasonal northeasterly winds could bring rain, he said. Meanwhile, due to the continental cold mass and radiative cooling, it would be cold in northern and northeastern Taiwan today and tomorrow, according to the CWA. From last night to this morning, temperatures could drop below 10°C in northern Taiwan, it said. A thin coat of snow
RSS