I was trying to explain to my parents the other day about the wonderous nature of the world wide web; about how having internet access is like having a virtual library in your front room, containing answers to all the questions you'd ever wanted to ask, and many more that you'd never even thought of. About how you can communicate across tens of thousands of miles in seconds, reach out to communities of like-minded people, and even (maybe) find love.

Anyway, it didn't really work as they still don't have anything resembling a PC and probably never will, but undeterred, I rooted around to find further fuel for my argument, and came up with the heart-rending story of densha otoko, or train man. For those of you unfamiliar with the tale, it goes something like this...

A couple of years ago a visitor to a popular Japanese forum for single males known as 2Channel wrote an account of how he was sitting on a train next to a beautiful woman when a drunkard started hassling her. Summoning up reserves of courage he never knew he had, he confronted the troublemaker who was eventually expelled from the train.

But what happened next, I hear you ask? Well, in true Hollywood fashion the woman fell on her knees (sort of) in admiration and gratitude at this bemused otaku (geek), who then went home and shared his experiences in the aforementioned online forum.

Days later the woman contacted him again, sending a selection of fine cups and saucers by Hermes to show her gratitude (it's a Japanese thing), and once again the otaku, now known as "train man", turned to his only friends, his online chums, for comfort and advice. In the weeks that followed the couple met several times, densha otoko all the time harnessing the power of online collaboration by seeking counsel with the geek collective at 2channel, and eventually the two expressed their undying love for each other. The end.

The story, although it might be a load of Japanese hokum, has nonetheless been made into a Japanese TV series, manga and anime (comics and cartoons to you and me), although the identity of the train man remains a mystery. But what it shows beyond doubt is the awesome power and influence of the net, not only in that this story swept rapidly through the online grapevine to TV and other media, but also in the way our hero, Mr Train, sought solace and advice from those at 2channel (which by the way is widely regarded as the world's largest internet forum).

I suppose it also shows lonely stalkers everywhere that there's always hope.