Although cellphone novels have had quite a lot of success in Japan, they don’t seem to have caught on to such an extent in other countries. My research examines the social, cultural, and technological factors that led keitai shousetsu to become popular in Japan. Essentially, I’m curious as to why, with fairly similar technological tools available, other areas have been less receptive to this form. Through this project I hope to identify the importance of cultural context on technological practice, and thus to better understand how and why certain technological practices emerge.
Keitai Shousetsu
My main research project at the moment is looking into keitai shousetsu–Japanese novels written and read on cellphones. The first such novel, Yoshi’s Deep Love, was released in 2000, and in the following years, the number of keitai shousetsu exploded. In 2007, five of the top ten bestselling novels in Japan began as cellphone novels. In recent years, print publication of keitai shousetsu has decreased, but they are still quite popular online, though websites like Mahou no irando.