Recently, it has come to my attention that one of my Taiwanese imports is, in fact, not exactly what I thought it was – though not in a bad way. I am talking about the ever-popular Miracle Tarot – otherwise known as the Fantasy Tarot. The two versions have mere subtle differences, but differences nonetheless. The Miracle Tarot (which I thought I had purchased) has titles in English and a typical cardboard shelfbox. However, it seems I have purchased the original Taiwan edition, which (like most of my Asian imports) arrives in a velcro-flip-top-folding style box covered in Kanji, with the only English word in sight being “Fantasy” in large letters.
How I missed this distinction, I can’t say – interesting, though, that a reliable source states the original Taiwanese import was of a lower quality card stock and contained an additional 15 cards whose images seemed to duplicate those of the first 15 cards in the popular Clamp X Tarot, based on the Japanese manga ‘X’. However, though my deck contains the same images and titles in both English and Chinese, it is of superb quality (sturdy and glossy) and no additional cards are to be found. Strange, no? My guess is that it is indeed the Taiwanese version, and simply evolved over time. In any case, I’d say I got the better end of the deal.
Awww. I ask you, what has Asia not improved upon?
