ABSTRACT
Especially around 2007 and 2008, the global press was filled of reports—incredulous, disparaging, mocking, and bemused—of one of the latest "fads" from Japan: novels written, predominantly with thumbs, on cellphones and circulated on specialized websites. Reports focused on the "keitai shosetsu" that took top ranks on Japan's bestseller book lists between 2004 and 2007 and were adapted into television dramas and feature films, among other media, and inspired sequels and spin-offs. Keitai shosetsu were an integral part of a larger mediascape, integrating technology and literature with subcultures and provide new modes of reader engagement. Cellphone novels, the best-known examples of which were written by amateur authors younger than thirty-five, were perceived as heralding a change of the guard in the production of popular literature. The nickname "thumb tribe" or "thumb generation", once signifying pachinko players, was applied as early as 2001 to youths adept at rapidly texting with their thumbs on their cellphones' ten-key pads.
