Japan’s ‘cringeworthy’ cars make image U-turn

Seeing double: A woman dressed up as anime character Daiwa Scarlet posing next to Takahata’s car with the same design, during the Itasha Tengoku show in Tokyo. — AFP

TOKYO: Yosuke Takahata doesn’t care what people think of his “itasha” car, which has his favourite anime character – a sexy, red-eyed horse-woman – emblazoned across both sides.

For him and other owners around Japan, plastering cartoon pictures all over their vehicles is just another way of paying homage to their two-dimensional true loves.