Book Cover of Densha Otoko

An unlikely Japanese bestseller will soon be translated into English. The supposedly true story of the Densha Otoko (Train Man), which first appeared on an Internet message board in early 2004, has already spawned a novel as well as manga, stage, TV and movie versions.
  Densha Otoko follows the first-love anxieties of a reclusive die-hard anime and manga fan who one day summons the courage to defend an attractive young woman from a drunk on the train. Two days later, the 22 year-old receives a set of expensive Hermes tea cups as a thank-you gift from the woman. Utterly inexperienced in love, he logs onto the world's largest Internet forum, 2Channel, to seek advice on how to pursue the girl of his dreams, whom he calls Hermes. Finally, after much hesitation, he calls her and transforms into a self-confident young man enjoying a stable relationship.
  Densha Otoko is truly a love story for the Internet age. The book, which tells its story through a 364-page string of e-mails littered with abbreviations, slang and emoticons, vividly reflects the way today's constantly text-messaging Japanese youths communicate. Traditionalists, who like their prose flowing and eloquent, may find this format difficult to accept (and decipher), but clearly it works for the younger, Internet-savvy audience. In its first three weeks, the book sold no less than 260,000 copies.
  Translating Densha Otoko into English, while keeping its Japaneseness, will be a daunting task. Some expressions and emoticons might be easy, such as “w” (meaning warai—laughing) into “LOL” (Laugh Out Loud). Others, such as “_|–|O” (body collapsing on the floor, depressed or confused), might be trickier.
  As for Densha Otoko and his lady, were they ever real? Well, according to the Japanese editor, who claims to have met the mystery man several times, the two are still happily dating.