痛包tòng bāo

包 means “bag” and 痛 means “pain”. The 痛 comes from Japanese, where itai, “painful”, also means embarrassingly intense or obsessed with something. A 痛包 shows its owner’s love so loudly that it is “painful to look at”, and fans take the name with pride.

The bag is usually covered in round badges, pins and figures of anime, game or idol characters, often behind a clear front panel, with dolls on the straps.

It is current. You see 痛包 at comic fairs, in the subway and in photos on Xiaohongshu, where fans show how they arranged theirs. The word works for a bag about a game character, an anime hero or a pop star.

The word comes from Japan’s otaku culture, from the 痛车, “pain car”: a car covered in large anime art, according to Dao Insights. Sources disagree on when the bags started there. Jiemian says the “pain” culture began in 2000, and Dao Insights says itabags came to prominence in the late 2000s.

The Paper wrote in 2021 that the bags had become popular with young women in China in the previous two years. By 2024 and 2025 they were on the street, not only at fan events. Jiemian’s review of 2025 pop culture describes more and more people going out with bags so full of badges and dolls that people say their eyes “hurt”.