Humans like to mark special events by commemorating them on their calendars, and Japan is no different. February 9 is “meat day” here because ‘2/9’ can be pronounced as 肉 niku (meat) in Japanese, and this is always the busiest day to visit a Korean BBQ restaurant. Today (May 23) happens to be キスの日 kisu no hi or “kiss day,” because this is the day the first film featuring a kiss scene was shown in Japan back in 1946…so if you have someone special to kiss, today is a great day for it. This Sunday is a special day for many of the followers of J-List: International Geek Pride Day, which marks the opening of Star Wars 37 years ago and has become a general day to celebrate the nerdier side of life. Geeks have certainly come a long way over the past few decades, from hiding our hobbies from others lest we be subject to social ostracization to being able to openly enjoy most any nerdy pursuit we like, whether it involves Star Wars or paper-and-dice gaming or My Little Pony. Considering that every server operating the web is administered by someone who probably considers themselves geeks, it kind of seems like geekdom has effectively “won.”
There’s never been a better time to be a geek.