Asia-Pacific News
In Japan, only die-hard fans remain under Harry Potter's spell
Jul 20, 2007, 8:43 GMT
Tokyo - Harry Potter fans are counting down the minutes in Japan to open the last chapter of the best-selling fantasy.
Fans eager to get their hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were expected to flock to the storefront when a radio deejay starts the official countdown Saturday morning before the Maruzen bookstore opens at 8:01 am (2300 GMT) near Tokyo station.
More than 180 people have already reserved their long-awaited adventure novel written in its original language. The Japanese translation is to be published later, but the date has not been announced yet.
Despite his popularity, Harry Potter has gotten a bit lost in translation.
According to Say-zan-sha Publications Ltd, which puts out Japanese versions of the books, the number of prints have decreased each time since the first installment, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, hit 5.06 million copies.
The sixth volume, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, has had total press runs of only about 2 million copies, the company said.
© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-AgenturCOMMENT
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Joey SmallwoodJul 20th, 2007 - 13:48:45
First!
I don't understand what all this hubbub about Harry Potter is anyway. Aside from that, translations never turn out the same as the originals.
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