In Japanese, they’re called “ita-bag” (痛バッグ) or, rather, “painful bag.” And for the country’s female geeks, they’re one surefire way to express their fandom.
For years now, geeky car owners have shown their love for anime, manga, and video games with “ itasha” (painmobiles). It’s been said that “ita” refers to the pain inflicted on the cars as well as the owner’s wallet.
Likewise, these badges and buttons inflict a certain amount of pain on the bag and their owner’s wallet, with some geeky young women spending a large amount of cash to decorate their bags with characters from Yowamushi Pedal, Uta no Prince-sama, or any other anime or video games popular with female fans like The Basketball Which Kuroko Plays
15話がとても感動しましたが此処で問題のファン達
小ハリもやっぱりアイドルwww痛バッグ作るまでになっていたとはwwww
キャットの語りとかEDインストとかやっぱりやる事違うな〜！！！ pic.twitter.com/JQPn0puhLP— まあしん@二次アイドルに振り回され中 (@___maaayan) January 17, 2015
The trend isn’t brand-new (it started a while back), and it’s even been portrayed in the anime Shonen Hollywood. However, in late 2015, it started getting national news coverage in Japan
痛バッグ特集w #めざましテレビ pic.twitter.com/WEZ0CFMzCF
— トゥラ トゥラ トゥラ (@trapezohedoron) November 9, 2017
This article was originally published in April 2015, but has since been updated after Sega gave out ita-bags at this year’s Tokyo Game Show.
セガブース！
痛バッグほしい… pic.twitter.com/Mr6bGO7AW7— しるく@ (@sylk_4) September 21, 2018
These bags
本やっと見られました〜❣️「大好きなキャラへの愛のカタチ 痛バッグ テクニック&アイデア集」に痛バとロゼットを掲載して頂きました🤗オタマのグッドデザイン賞から声をかけていただいて、他のものやロゼットまで載せて頂いて嬉しいですっ😭💞ついでに宣伝ですがおたくいんすたがあるのでよければ→ pic.twitter.com/DWGJoxhz39
— むぎみそ (@FFD___) July 25, 2018
There is even an ita-bag idea book!
https://twitter.com/embed/status/928757076154650624
https://twitter.com/embed/status/928757831242694656
Below are photos from when the trend first hit nationwide morning TV in Japan a few years back.
This woman says that ita-bag are a way for you to show just how much you love a particular character.
Many of the buttons are limited edition and only on sale at special events. So some fans, like the one interviewed here, pay a premium for them, making it expensive to decorate these bags.
The woman says she’s spent about 80,000 yen—or US$668—on bag decoration.
https://twitter.com/embed/status/928761404001173504
Here are fans who have spent between a couple hundred dollars on their bags up to around a thousand dollars—or more
https://twitter.com/embed/status/928753220557594624
A thread popped up on 2ch, Japan’s biggest web forum, showing pics of the trend, which somewhat resembles the male geeks called Love Livers who cover their bags with Love Live merch.
Below, you can see some more ita-bags from Twitter:
そういえば俺も痛バッグを作って貰える人物になったのだ pic.twitter.com/eJonntXTIi
— カレー沢 薫 (@rosia29) September 17, 2018
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1043478917300944896
https://twitter.com/embed/status/1043504743715229697
嫁が「痛バッグ作ったから見て」って写真送ってきたんだけど pic.twitter.com/PPsASNCOwV
— てっけん🎃Hayato Ikeya (@tekken8810) August 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/embed/status/490497269368500224
https://twitter.com/embed/status/465854214296449025
https://twitter.com/embed/status/543780452478103552
https://twitter.com/embed/status/576318499200458753
And the most impressive one of all.
光る麻天狼痛バッグ完成⋯
ちょっとやりすぎた😂#ヒプマイ手芸部 pic.twitter.com/RhT4UkXnAP— スイカバー😷 (@suikagood) September 26, 2018
*applause*
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