This artist image released from Japan's airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) on April 17, 2015 shows ANA's Boeing 787-9 aircraft into the colors of R2-D2 robot of Star Wars. Japanese air carrier ANA will place the special colored jetliner in service in this autumn. (Photo by AFP Photo/All Nippon Airways)

Photographer and editor with Reuters for 22 years, Andrew Winning has died of brain cancer at the age of 49. Here: Elite special police run for cover after gunfire was heard from inside the Japanese ambassador's residence in Lima, Peru, January 27, 1997. At the moment the shots were fired, police were parading past the residence in a show of force, and helicopters were flying above. Earlier, several armored personnel carriers rolled past the compound. Tupac Amaru rebels had seized the diplomatic compound December 17 and held 72 hostages. (Photo by Andrew Winning/Reuters)

Dancers perform at the Harajuku Omotesando Super Yosakoi Dance festival in Shibuya, Tokyo on August 27, 2022. Super Yosakoi festival, is a two day festival that sees thousands of dancers, in hundreds of teams, energetically perform this unique Japanese dance style that combines traditional and more modern elements of movement and costume. (Photo by Damon Coulter/SOPA Images/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

“Itasha (痛車), literally “painmobile”, is a Japanese term for an otaku fad of individuals decorating the bodies of their cars with fictional characters of anime, manga, or video games (especially bishōjo game or eroge). These characters are predominately “cute” female. The decorations usually involve paint schemes and stickers. Automobiles are called Itasha, while similar motorcycles and bicycles are called itansha (痛単車) and itachari (痛チャリ), respectively”. – Wikipedia


Photo: A visitor takes pictures of an anime-decorated «Itasha» car displayed during the “Moe Fes in Washimiya” at Washimiya Town Hall on July 18, 2009 in Washimiya, Saitama, Japan. Itasha, a word derived from “itai” (painful) and “sha” (car), are vehicles decorated with mostly female characters from Japanese manga, anime and video games. (Photo by Kiyoshi Ota/Getty Images)

Winton Elementary fifth graders Juliana Ragan, from left, Chloe Windsor and Paisley Ganske wait backstage for their turn to perform as the Andrew Sisters during the Pearl Harbor/Veterans assembly at the school on Monday, December 7, 2015, in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Dec. 7 is the 74th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. (Photo by Kathy Plonka/The Spokesman-Review via AP Photo)

A sushi restaurant staff member holds the cut tail of the auctioned 212-kilogram Bluefin tuna after the New Year's first auction of the Toyosu Market, at the Kaiten Sushi Ginza Onodera in Tokyo, Japan, 05 January 2023. Yukitaka Yamaguchi, president of wholesaler Yamayuki, and the company operating the Sushi Ginza Onodera restaurants, secured the first tuna auction of the New Year with a bid of almost 257,000 euros (36.04 million Japanese Yen). (Photo by Franck Robichon/EPA/EFE)

Minoru Suzuki and Sanshiro Takagi, wrestlers from Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling, fight inside Tokaido Shinkansen bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya during a wrestling show in Japan on September 18, 2023, in this handout photo released by JR Tokai (The Central Japan Railway Company). (Photo by JR Tokai/Handout via Reuters)

In this Tuesday, June 4, 2019, photo, a Yamanote Line train travels above commuters walking across the crossing during evening rush hours in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo. Operated by the East Japan Railway Co., the Yamanote Line in Tokyo makes a loop around the center of the city, connecting 29 stations that include key stops such as Shinjuku, Shibuya and Ikebukuro. A complete loop of about an hour offers scenes of Japanese daily lives. (Photo by Jae C. Hong/AP Photo)