Hardcore Japanese texters pushing the boundaries of literature (sort of)

Wow, apparently half the bestselling works of fiction in Japan were written on mobile phones! It’s all about the "keitai shousetsu" apparently - those guys must be quicker at texting than me. They must also have seriously sore thumbs.

I think there’s something interesting in this. For me, books (and maybe newspapers) were going to be two of the last formats to go digital, mainly because accessing the digital version is so different from accessing the traditional one (unlike music where listening to an Ipod is not really any different from listening to a portable CD player).

Every time I mention ebooks I always get the same response. "But I like reading books - I hate reading screens". I don’t disagree of course, but I think that this area is going to take a huge step forward with items like Amazon’s Kindle, coming to the UK next year. It’s a portable reading device - I haven’t seen one yet but I understand that the screen is designed to mimic ink on paper and is very easy on the eye.

I can see myself using something like this. Not necessarily for novels, but the idea of having all my RSS feeds updated on it for me to read on the bus / tube / in bed is very cool.

I love books, and think I’ll always buy novels in the traditional format. But I like feeds too, and the idea of putting these together is going to be killer.