The mobile novel

While the electronic age has tried its best to kick the novel to curb, lately Japanese high school kids and commuters alike have become addicted to reading entire novels over their cellphones. Rather than being downloaded as one massive file, "mobile novels" are read in 1,600 word installments (which are emailed as they become available) and "avoid the use of difficult words". Tolstoy might turn over in his grave, but then again he never had to deal with the monotony of the daily Shinjuku-Otemachi commute. The reigning author of the new medium, who goes simply by the name of Yoshi, kicked off a guerilla-style marketing campaign for his mobile novel Deep Love (which is about a teenage girl) by passing out flyers to thousands of high school girls in the ultrahip district of Shibuya. Deep Love ended up becoming so popular that it was turned into an actual printed book and became a bestseller. Not surprisingly, a film is in the works.