Dekotora: the decorated trucks of Japan – a photo essay

Photographer Julie Glassberg has been documenting the misunderstood alternative culture based around brightly-coloured and neon-lit decorated trucks in Japan

There is often a distorted image built in people’s minds because the reality is unknown. For that reason, I have been documenting a number of subcultures, often feared or misunderstood. I like misfits, outcasts, those who don’t follow the norms.

Shirai san’s truck in Aichi prefecture’s mountains. He hand-painted his truck himself.