Guest Column by Cordelia LeFay

Hello everyone! Cordelia LeFay here with your Sailor Moon Spot! It’s been a dry few months, so you can imagine my delight when I found this “textbook” example! I work in Japan as an English teacher and was copying the materials for a lesson for my teenagers when I found ‘Sailor Moon’ on one of the dittos.

In class, my teenagers had no idea who Sailor Moon was, so I was all prepared to whip up a drawing of our favorite lunar warrior when I used the Japanese pronunciation ‘sera muun.’ With that, they all gave me an “oh” of recognition! I was a little surprised they knew of Sailor Moon, but I suppose they would have been at the right target audience.

But that’s not all folks! When that Sailor Moon craving hits you, why not just make a spot of your own? That’s what I did—thankfully I had an educational excuse too!

In my adventures in studying Japanese, I’ve found that the Sailor Senshi has helped me remember the days of the week. For example, the word for the planet Venus is kinsei, with kin meaning gold. Friday in Japanese is kinyoubi. So guess who is my featured senshi for Friday? Sailor Venus! Moreover, it’s a great way to remember the English equivalent—Friday comes from the Norse Goddess of Love and Beauty, Freyja. Of course, that goes over the heads of my kids, but they still seem fascinated by the brightly colored senshi regardless.

Til next time! Ja ne!