A throng of Harry Potter fans flocked to book stores on early Wednesday, eagerly awaiting the release of the Japanese translation of J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final book in the Harry Potter series.

About 1.8 million first editions of the new book that is divided into two parts will go on sale at bookstores around the country.

Bookstore Kumazawa in Tokyo's Hachioji drew 168 fans standing in a long line before its opening at 5 a.m. on Wednesday, the same time of the book launch. The book's translator, Yuko Matsuoka, visited the bookstore before the opening wearing a witch's costume.

"You're going to get the most interesting book you've ever read. Be careful not to read it all in one day," she said to the fans. After counting down to the release time with fans, Matsuoka handed out the new book to each of them.

A 29-year-old woman from Tokyo's Katsushika-ku who waited from around noon on Tuesday, said she wanted to read the book as soon as possible.

"I love the Harry Potter books that take me to a magical world in a second. I stood in line to get the new book because I wanted to read it as soon as possible. It's sad that there will be no more Harry Potter stories in the future," she said.

The first six volumes of the series, which have sold a total of over 400 million copies around the world, have sold 22.47 million copies in Japan since 1999. Many fans are highly interested in the seventh volume, in which Harry's destiny is finally unveiled.

Tsutaya Co. Ltd., which is expected to sell the largest number of the new book in Japan, stocked about 140,000 copies -- the highest in the company's history -- after receiving about double the number of reservations compared with past volumes.

The Japanese version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," published by Say-zan-sha is priced at 3,990 yen for a set containing the first and second parts.

Copyright 2005-2006 THE MAINICHI NEWSPAPERS. All rights reserved. Mainichi features the best news in Japan, current news in Japan, Japan news in English, Japan business news, Tokyo Japan news, and Japan entertainment news. Mainichi News is syndicated in accordance with editorial regulations: personal and noncommercial purposes.