Itasha: Japan's Creepiest Car Fetish

There are Japanese trends we wholly approve of, like dekotora, and then there's Itasha. Literally translated to mean "painful car" this trend is incredibly creepy.

Itasha is what happens when you combine people obsessed with manga, anime and video games (referred to as otaku) with unsuspecting cars. Notice how almost all of the girls pictured are actually bizarre, full-sized dolls.

The trend has been around for a while and, recently, street festivals to celebrate the bizarre car fetish have started to occur. In this case, the festival was in Washimiya, Japan. Though typically the realm of Kei cars and tiny Japanese vans, there's at least one Lotus and one ALfa Romeo involved in this showing.

Please, American teenagers, DO NOT EMULATE!