HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!

I bet many of you are partying it up! (Or eating a lot of food, like me!) A large population of Sailor Moon fans are Chinese, and this is an insanely huge holiday. The makers of Sailor Moon did not fail to notice this, and manufactured an item just for the Chinese New Year!

Some of you are thinking, “Whaaaat? Really?” Its no surprise! In Japan, there are Sailor Moon Christmas trees. In the United States, there are Sailor Moon Valentine cards. In Korea, there are Sailor Moon Birthday wrapping paper. For the Chinese, there is the Sailor Moon red envelope. And yes, its authentic.

In the Chinese culture, it is important to give away red envelopes during the Lunar New Year. People hand them out to their loved ones, because this red envelope embodies their blessing of love and happiness into a small deliverable package. The fact that a red envelope was manufactured specifically for Chinese fans, is an extremely sweet and enduring gesture from the folks behind Sailor Moon.

Some of you are wondering why you’ve never seen it. Well, it was not a product that was sold openly. The red envelopes were given away as a gift from Babe Monthly, a magazine that published the Chinese version of the Sailor Moon manga in the mid 90’s. Everything that the magazine published and produced for Sailor Moon, had to first be approved by Kodansha. For the New Years issue of 1997, the magazine gave away a pair of Sailor Moon red envelopes to all it’s readers. So everyone who received the envelopes, received a blessing of happiness from the makers of Sailor Moon.

I’ve had my Sailor Moon red envelope for 13 years now. I gave one away to a friend many years ago. My last one, I am sharing with everyone. Happy Chinese New Years everyone! May you receive limitless joy, and succeed at everything you do. Oh! And Happy Valentines Day too! <3 <3 <3

Tags: Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, Holiday, Special