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Japan: Where being a geek can save you money

Jennifer Guevin Former Managing Editor / Reviews
Jennifer Guevin was a managing editor at CNET, overseeing the ever-helpful How To section, special packages and front-page programming. As a writer, she gravitated toward science, quirky geek culture stories, robots and food. In real life, she mostly just gravitates toward food.
Jennifer Guevin

Being a geek has been chic since the heyday of the technology boom, but a movie theater in Japan is taking the idea a step further, encouraging people to celebrate their inner nerd.

A movie theater south of Tokyo is offering discount tickets to moviegoers who proudly declare themselves "otaku," the Japanese word for "geek," when they purchase tickets, according to The Associated Press. The promotion is taking place as a movie called "Densha Otoko"--or "Train Man"--plays; the movie is apparently a love story whose main character is a geek.

Koji Nitta, sales chief of the theater, told The AP that even though most of the people who have come so far don't look like typical geeks, 70 percent of customers are claiming the title. Geez. One minute the cool kids are stuffing you in your own locker; the next, they're copping your style. It's tough to stay on top of what's in fashion when you're playing D&D.