Icon

Your Guide to Design and Pop Culture in Tokyo

Densha Otoko

Yuko was telling me about this book a while back. Seems like it’s really the big hit.

The hero is no Tom Hanks and the movie has yet to be made but like the 1998 hit film You’ve Got Mail, a new Japanese bestseller is an old-style romance for the internet age – though with a distinctly Japanese twist.

Ostensibly a true story, “Densha Otoko” – literally, “Train Man” – began as a series of postings on Japan’s most popular internet bulletin board after the protagonist, a young Japanese man, rescued a woman from a pushy drunk on the train.

[...]

The format of the book, which strings together emails peppered with slang and emoticons over 364 pages, could well give a headache to readers accustomed to literature as flowing prose.

But the look is familiar to the many young Japanese who spend an increasing number of hours each day chatting via brief text messages on cell phones and computers.

Read the rest of the article here. I saw the book the other day and it’s entirely written like a 2-Channel thread, including all the wacky ASCII art. Really wish I could read it.

Category: Books

Tagged:

23 Responses

  1. Yuki says:

    it was originally a thread at 2channel. it was pretty fun, readable in an hour or so though..

  2. nat says:





    I really would like to read this book but it’s unavailable in Thailand now.
    Can you help me?
    How can I buy this book from abroad?
    How much will it cost?
    I want both in Japanese and English version because I would like to pratice my poor Japanese.

  3. Jean says:

    There is no English version of this book. You can probably order the Japanese version from Amazon Japan.

  4. Steve Stratton says:

    Ten years before the author of “Densha Otoko” supposedly thought of this title, I began working on a script for a movie titled, Densha Man ( “man” in katakana) based on my real life experiences in Japan and written in the spirit of the Itami Juzo genre.
    I posted excerpts of my script on the internet six years ago, stating the Title and theme of my script. It isn’t hard to see that “someone” who read those excerpts has out and out stolen my idea.

    Be assured, when the movie goes into production, my lawyers will be hunting for the Japanese clown who wrote the utter piece of crap ” Densha Otoko”.

  5. lol says:

    you think your idea is a piece of crap?

  6. Patrick says:

    Steve, the movie is out.

  7. Chris says:

    Was tired tonight and sat down with a 500 ml Asahi Super Dry for a night of Japanese TV, and was pleasantly surprised to see this show on. I caught it about 1/4 through the episode where he finally meets her. It’s quite amusing and fun to watch even though I don’t understand everything due to my lack of Japanese. Looking forward to watching it next week. It was on tonight (Thursday 7-14-05) at about 10:30PM. But I don’t know when it started. Does anyone know a good site to get Japanese TV listings in English?

  8. Chris says:

    P.S. your link to the article no longer works

  9. Patrick says:

    For TV listings, I use Yahoo! TV.

  10. Patrick says:

    Oops sorry, I don’t know one in English.

  11. cookie says:

    It is readable in Japanese, you just need a little patience. Most of the Kanji is very repetative and even if you dont understand every post you can totally follow the story. I am doing it and it is a true story. It is also a movie and drama so if you dont get it all you can check your progress.

  12. cookie says:

    Oh, and it started a week ago yesterday. Runs for 12 weeks I think on channel 8 at 10pm. It was late yesterday because of volleyball

  13. Jean Snow says:

    As far as the link goes, it dates from last year, so no big surprise that it’s no longer active.

  14. sayu says:

    i just left japan 2 days ago and i am sooo sad that i cant watch the rest of densha otoko..(>_

  15. jeimuzu says:

    drama is great!
    looking to watching the movie, once i get my hands on it XD

  16. dariru says:

    Densha Otoko is simply, one of the best Jdoramas I have ever seen. A definitely must-see!! :)

  17. www says:

    you can find it at http://www.d-addicts.com with english subs

  18. Tao Libra says:

    It must be simply awful to have one’s ideas stolen from them, like Mr. Stratton. Given that Densha Otoko is now both a movie AND a hit TV series, I’m sure his lawyers will be very busy.

    Of course, I haven’t seen a single word in the news about that lawsuit he threatened, but I’m sure that’s just because he’s busy, uh, “planning his strategy.”

    Uh huh.

    And right after that, I imagine Mr. Stratton would like to sue somebody for stealing the words “paranoid” and “delusional” from him, since they’re clearly HIS.

  19. macphisto says:

    hi everybody,

    densha is incredible.
    please feel free to download all episodes plus english subtitles at http://www.macphisto.jp.tp/viewtopic.php?t=2

    have fun,
    mac

  20. densha supporter says:

    I dunno about the stolen idea stuff, but I could sure you when those tv series and film goes hits and have large supporter(especially in japan) it just wasting a time to create a copyright issue. Just like those matrix, when fans hate you for what they like…woho. It’s just hit you back.

    Right and power of fans are much increadible than laws. just an opinion.
    It just like double edge swords, it’s sharp but mishandle it..it just slice youself back..

  21. anonymous says:

    all of you make me want to know about the people who have lifestyle like this, but in my life, i think it’s impossible, salute for this movie which make everybody cry and laugh

  22. [...] Densha Otoko (電車男) Published October 26th, 2005 in Noteworthy, Entertainment, TV, Japan and J-Things. Tags: Entertainment, J Things, Japan, Noteworthy, TV. Entertainment J Things Japan Noteworthy TVI happened to be researching some Japanese reference (I can’t recall what it was exactly), which then led me to Jean Snow’s posting who mentioned a book based on a supposed true account that came from a posting on the Japanese popular bulletin called 2ちゃんねる (2 Channel). Along with the book, it was also made into a tv drama and a movie which made it a pretty popular talked about story in Japan. [...]

Leave a Reply

PauseTalk

PauseTalk is a regular series of events that take place at Cafe Pause on the first Monday of every month, with a start time of 20:00. The idea is to create a forum where Tokyo-based creatives can get together and discuss their own projects, as well as cultural currents of the city. The next edition happens in March.

PLAY is a series of events with Jean Snow spinning some of his favorite virtual discs in a casual setting at Cafe Pause. The next edition happens in January. See the setlist for previous editions here, and subscribe to a feed of the mixes.
Game

Being a survey of recommended titles for your gaming pleasure. New games are added 2-3 times weekly, and all selections are by your host, Jean Snow, a Tokyo-based writer and gamer.

Jean Snow is a contributor to Arcade Mania, your guide to the arcade gaming scene in Japan (Amazon US/Amazon Japan). He also provided assistance on Tokyolife: Art and Design, a guide to Tokyo's cultural output of the past few years, covering the works of over 80 influential creatives.
He will be contributing to the upcoming fifth editions of The Rough Guide to Tokyo and The Rough Guide to Japan, due for release in 2011.
Jean Snow lives and breathes design, pop culture, and gaming in Tokyo -- sustained by an unhealthy addiction to magazines and frequent visits to his favorites cafes. He has reported on these obsessions for the following online/offline publications: Time, Inside (Australian Design Review), Gizmodo, Gridskipper, Kotaku, Tokyo Q, Superfuture, OK Fred, Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel, I.D. (International Design), Metropolis, Azure, MoCo Loco, Kateigaho International Edition, Wired's Game|Life, PingMag, CNNGo, and The Japan Times. He also manages the gallery space at Cafe Pause.

He writes a monthly column covering Japanese product design for The Japan Times, called "On Design." It appears on the fourth Thursday of every month, in both the print edition and online.

Pecha Kucha Night

I'm also a proud member of the Pecha Kucha Night family, working on various projects, including updating Pecha Kucha Daily, a blog that highlights the creativity coming out of PKN events worldwide.

PauseTalk

I serve as editor-at-large at Néojaponisme, a web journal covering social and cultural aspects of Japan. Read the manifesto, by founder and chief editor W. David Marx.

Colophon

The "Jean Snow" logo is made up of the Blackout open source typeface. The "M31" logo is by Ian Lynam, and is part of a series of 31 unique designs. The site's design is based on the Grid Focus WordPress theme by Derek Punsalan.

Twittering