Shining Moon Tokyo

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The Shining Moon Tokyo promotional poster, showing an actress dressed as Sailor Moon sitting on a crescent moon in front of a red curtain
Shining Moon Tokyo promotional image

Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon -Shining Moon Tokyo- (美少女戦士セーラームーン -SHINING MOON TOKYO-) was a Sailor Moon show restaurant located in Azabu-Juuban, Tokyo, Japan, the main setting of the series. Specifically, it was in the underground of Joule A, the real-life building in the location Osa-P jewellers occupied. It opened on August 15, 2019, and closed February 27, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In July 2020 the restaurant announced that the closure would be permanent.

The restaurant served Sailor Moon-themed food and drinks from both a lunch and dinner menu, as well as original merchandise. Customers could take photos at a special spot with a moon and red curtains, or view the costumes of the show cast in glass display cases.

Originally an exclusive stage show was performed three times a day during dinner hours, later changed to twice a day on weekdays and three times on weekends and holidays. The voice of Luna could be heard giving the audience directions when the show was about to start. The performance was about forty minutes long and had two actresses cast for each of the main roles, so the performing cast varied each day. Ensemble members were also double cast, with six of them performing each day, and later five more dancers were hired to join the rotation. The cast performing on a specific day could be checked online. The show was produced by Nelke Planning, the same company responsible for the new wave of Sailor Moon musicals that began in 2013, and several actors from the musicals also performed in this production.

The performance had very little dialogue, similar to the The Super Live, to reduce the language barrier for foreign guests. Some explanations of the scenes were displayed on screen, spoken by Luna and subtitled in English. The audience was only allowed to film/photograph the show during the curtain call, while the cast performed "Moonlight Densetsu." At one point during the number the main cast would get down from the stage to walk around the audience tables and wave, while guests remained seated.

Special Events[edit]

The restaurant marked holidays and its main characters' birthdays by putting up thematic balloons at the photo spot, which stayed in place for a few days. Some events also had the main cast giving out sweets during greetings and held lotteries so the winning customers would take a photo with cast members in costume.

On a character's birthday both cast members who played that character would appear, with one of them performing twice and the other performing in the last show of the day. A commemorative character portrait was given to all customers of that day, with the cast member in the photo matching the one performing on stage. On a normal day Sailor Moon was the last one to leave the stage after a final standard pose, but on a character's birthday she would share the final spotlight with that character, with different antics each time. The lottery on these days was for a picture with the birthday character.

The events held at Shining Moon Tokyo prior to its closing were:

  • Ami-chan's birthday - September 10
  • Minako-chan's birthday - October 22
  • Halloween event - October 28-31
    • Customers were allowed to attend the restaurant in costume, with a few restrictions. The main cast distributed sweets.
  • Mako-chan's birthday - December 5
  • Christmas event - December 20-25
    • The main cast distributed sweets.
  • Dress-Up event - December 26-31
    • Customers were encouraged to attend the restaurant in formal attire, particularly with a pink item of clothing. A thank you card featuring Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask were given out to all customers, and a lottery was drawn to take a picture with the two of them, with Usagi wearing her pink ballgown for the occasion and during greetings.
  • New Year event - January 2-5
    • Featured special New Year's greetings from the main cast.
  • Valentine’s Day event - February 8-14
    • The main cast distributed chocolate. At the end of the show on the 14th Sailor Moon called Tuxedo Mask back center stage to give him chocolate and they shared an embrace, then refrained from kissing after noticing the Inner Senshi watching them. Usagi then kissed Mamoru's cheek before they left holding hands. In at least one performance Sailor Mars presented Sailor Venus with chocolate as well.

A few other celebrations were announced but did not come to pass due to the restaurant's closing, namely:

Cast[edit]