Japan is weird. The Times keeps running random stories on their culture–like how when platform boots were in, the kids would wear one-foot high boots and their shoes became wedged in the accelerators, leading to major car accidents. Or how the thumb-dextrous teens can text on cell phones at lightning speed. And now this trend has actually led to a new movement called cellphone literature. In Japan, their top ten bestsellers of 2007 include an actual novel composed on the cell. These novels have like four word sentences with the lexicon of 🙂 etc. included, weak character development, no description, and fragmentary sentences. And they’re riotiously popular. They’re downloaded like crazy and when published in book form, fly off the shelf in a way only Oprah could otherwise produce.
“Indeed, many cellphone novelists had never written fiction before, and many of their readers had never read novels before, according to publishers.”
What the hell. That made me laugh outloud. But now I’m moving to Japan. I see gold there people.
Here’s the article:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/20/world/asia/20japan.html?scp=1&sq=thumbs+race+in+japan
I just read that article this morning on the train this morning! Does the NYTimes really have a series of these random stories on Japanese culture? Japan really is weird, though, isn’t it? I want to visit!
The times on occasion writes these random cultural observations about Japan, and I think the most out-there stuff is from the teen popular, b/c that’s really where this “cellphone genre” came from too. Did you read the quote from the writer who said other novels have too many words and the sentences were too long and that’s why her cellphone novel works? It totally makes me want to go visit.
Kello Kitty Klub trip to Japan!
The Times usually has at least one interesting article, somewhere in the front section, about how in Algeria they’re nuts about Twinkies, or the biggest craze in Latvia is gin rummy. Love that.
i know, right? just to add to the other messes floating in my memory