Deko Car during Nisei Week

After seeing a minimal amount of itasha cars in Anaheim, I wasn’t sure what to expect at Deko Car. Would there be a lot of itasha cars? Or would there be a small amount of itasha cars, similar to the Anaheim event? Regardless, it didn’t matter much to me since I was going to be in Little Tokyo for not just Deko Car but for Nisei Week and Natsumatsuri.

The weather may have not been in the triple digits that day but it was still a relatively hot day. It was hot enough that my main camera would not function properly at Deko Car. I had to resort to a backup camera, only to learn a lot later that my backup camera was taking photos and video in the lowest quality possible for whatever reason. (It was on default mode where it opts for quantity over quality.) It is what it is and all I can say is that I at least have memoirs, even if the quality of the pictures and videos weren’t so hot. (Pun intended.)

I was pleasantly surprised to see a good amount of itasha cars. As expected, practically all of the vehicles present were catered to the “male” audience. I was hoping to see the “Husbando Hunter” car but it was not present. As mentioned in a prior post, that is hands down my most favorite itasha car because women should be allowed to have such a vehicle.

Anyway, they had New Jeanz’ “OMG” on loop. As much as I like the song, it got old very fast especially in the hot heat. Next to the itasha cars were the various vendors. Now I wasn’t planning on buying anything but did manage to run into something unique and went for it before I called it a day at Deko Car. I felt a little bit of buyer’s remorse afterwards because I realized that I didn’t need to buy that many stickers… But what’s been done has been done. And then a strange situation happened when I went indoors to explore additional vendors. One vendor happened to guess outright that I was a cat lover. I had to look at my outfit for a moment because I thought she was able to guess that based on what I was wearing only to realize that I wasn’t wearing anything cat-related. Lol (I felt like I was going through some twilight zone situation. lol) I thought about purchasing a sticker or two from her BUT I had a budget and wasn’t going to budge on that.

Vendors aside, the inside space was where the cosplay contest took place and where you can buy snacks as well as make use of the restroom. I have a story about the restroom. I was debating on whether to use the restroom or not because it gave a lot of “sketch” vibes. I kid you not. You had to walk down a set of stairs and it was quite dim. Looking back, I should’ve just not bothered to use the restroom there. I must add that by the time I went in, I encountered a girl vaping. Like, why? I’m not here to judge but is it that difficult to vape or smoke outdoors? I really don’t get people at times and this was a temple or a part of the temple’s grounds. I’m not sure what the temple’s “rules” are but in general, religious sites aren’t cool with that.

Talking about religious sites, I am wondering if some of the vendors should’ve even been there in the first place. We’re talking about anime related merchandise that may not just be simple anime stuff. (Translation: somewhat suggestive anime art) Is the temple open minded? Nonchalant? Unaware? Don’t care? I don’t know about you but I feel that most religious sites are not cool with having any of that stuff present on their grounds due to it being a sacred site. It may not have been inside the actual temple, but it was still on the temple’s grounds.

Anyway, people like to say that the anime community is welcoming and non-judgmental but I have to say that it’s a stereotype. I can’t tell you how many judgmental people I’ve encountered in this space time and time again. For example, I was taking pictures of merchandise at the Deko Car booth and this lady just could not stop side eyeing me. Like, why? First of all, there was no sign anywhere that you couldn’t take pictures so I’m sure that wasn’t the problem. The problem was her and unfortunately, I think she was associated with Deko Car since I saw her hanging out at the booth. That’s not cool. She was definitely the type of girl that most people in this community would “simp” for but that personality of hers was repulsive. It just shows that some people are here to make money off of a community despite possibly not really liking the community on a genuine level. To be honest with you, I’m not exactly a part of this community BUT if you’re going to open a free event to “everyone”, then everyone should feel welcomed regardless of whether they are into anime, itasha cars or not. “Normal” people as well as not so “normal” people have a right to enjoy an event that’s open to the public.

Oh, and for anyone that feels they look subpar compared to so-called “Asian baddies”, I just want you to know that a lot of these girls do not really look like that. And that also goes for a lot of the 3D “waifus” in cosplay because there’s a lot of makeup and other help (ex. wigs) going on there. But you do you on whether you want to believe me on that or not.

Rant aside, the cosplay contest was probably the highlight of the Deko Car event. It was short, simple and cute. I also enjoyed watching it indoors where the temperature was so much cooler. Once I got back outside, I felt gross because the sun was scorching down big time. It was a drag to walk to my next destination from the temple but I did get my steps in and caught sight of some cars revving and racing near me. (They knew I was hot. Haha, hot from the heat!)