Sunday, January 20, 2008

"Cellphone Novels" Huge Hit in Japan

On the trains in Tokyo I often see young women absorbed in their cell phones, now I know one thing they are doing is writing and/or reading novels! Amazing...

"Thumbs Race as Japan’s Best Sellers Go Cellular" The New York Times


TOKYO — Until recently, cellphone novels — composed on phone keypads by young women wielding dexterous thumbs and read by fans on their tiny screens — had been dismissed in Japan as a sub-genre unworthy of the country that gave the world its first novel, “The Tale of Genji,” a millennium ago. Then last month, the year-end best-seller tally showed that cellphone novels, republished in book form, have not only infiltrated the mainstream but have come to dominate it.

Read the full article on the NY Times Site

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