JAPAN GAME MUSEUM

Location: Inuyama City, Japan.

The latest report from our roving reporter, John, takes him back to Japan where he reports on the country's game museum which contains an impressive collection of pinballs as well as many other curiosities.

Japan Game Museum (日本ゲーム博物館) located in the Inuyama City. It is part of the One-More-Time Museum & Live House, and opened in April 2011.

The sign for One More Time
The sign for One More Time

The One More Time museum
The One More Time museum

The entrance
The entrance

The museum owns 150+ pinball machines and is the biggest pinball museum in Asia.  In addition, there are other valuable collections such as electro-mechanical games, video games, jukeboxes, music boxes, and antique clocks.

Inside the museum on the lower level
Inside the museum on the lower level

The upper level
The upper level

In April 2012, I visited the JGM as part of my first trip to Inuyama City. After I entered the museum, I instantly had a feeling of having turned back the clock when I saw 50+ playable pinball machines.

Some of the dot-matrix pinballs
Some of the dot-matrix pinballs

...and more!
...and more!

During the day, I tried many pinballs including; The Addams Family, Big Hit (E-M), Doctor Who, Fish Tales, The Flintstones, Funhouse, Guns N’ Roses, Monster Bush, Quick Draw (E-M), Sapporo (E-M), Star Wars, Star Wars Episode 1,Tales of the Arabian Nights, Theatre of Magic, Twilight Zone, etc. 

Electro-mechanical machines made by Sega Japan
Electro-mechanical machines made by Sega Japan

These domestic E-M pinball machines shown above were made by Sega Japan from 1971-1973 and are now very rare. A collection such as this one would not be found anywhere else in the world apart from the Japan Game Museum.

More E-M machines
More E-M machines

...and more!
...and more!

A Gottlieb Challenger
A Gottlieb Challenger

All of them were kept in very good working condition and therefore I could completely enjoy playing pinball.

A Gottlieb Challenger head-to-head pinball

E-M arcade games
E-M arcade games

A Japanese driving game
A Japanese driving game

Baseball and bowling games
Baseball and bowling games

Apart from pinball machines and mechanical games on the ground floor, there were a number of music boxes (circa 1900), jukeboxes (1950-1980) and antique clocks on the upper floor. Surprisingly, most of them were still functional.

Movie posters line the stair walls
Movie posters line the stair walls

Jukeboxes upstairs
Jukeboxes upstairs

Music boxes
Music boxes

Pipe organ
Pipe organ

Assorted appliances
Assorted appliances

Assorted clocks
Assorted clocks

Clocks and music boxes
Clocks and music boxes

Pianos
Pianos

After playing pinball for a few hours, I moved to the Music Café (a coffee shop inside the museum) to have my late lunch. I found that the Music Café was also a small library of pinball books and a centre for cocktail video games. 

The music cafe
The Music café

Cocktail video games to play in the Music Café
Cocktail video games to play in the Music Café

Jukebox and books
Jukebox and books

Pinball books in the cafe
Pinball books in the café

It was very enjoyable for me to have my meal and coffee there.

It's lunchtime
It's lunchtime

The director of the JGM, Mr Bruce Tsuji, proactively approached me to share the pinball experience and knowledge with me in a friendly manner. Surprisingly, he could speak English well.

According to him, his family has taken over 50 years to accumulate all of the collections of the JGM. He wanted to make friends with pinball lovers from different parts of the world. I was touched beyond words by his passion for pinball. 

Apart from Bruce, I also made friends with the museum manager (Mr. Yokoi) and some local volunteers (Mr. Nakamura, Takeda, and Yamanaka) who came from different regions of Japan. 

Bruce (center) & volunteers at the museum
Bruce (center) & volunteers at the museum

The museum's managers, Mr & Mrs Yokoi
The museum's managers, Mr & Mrs Yokoi

In addition, we competed in some mini-tournaments among ourselves.

Although the museum was supposed to close at 5pm, I was exceptionally allowed to stay there until 8pm. Finally, I left the museum with pleasant memories and a warm heart, even though it was very cold outside.

Collections on the ground floor:

  • 150+ Pinball machines (1960-2000). Around 50 are playable (This number changes from time to time).  Refer to www.pinballowners.com/onemoretime for updated information.
  • 20+ units of old mechanical game machines (1960-1970). All are playable.
  • 10 cocktail video games (1980). All are playable.

Collections on upper floor:

  • ~50 Japanese & foreign-made jukeboxes (1950-1980).
  • 10 large vintage music boxes from around 1900 and made in USA, Switzerland, Netherlands and Germany.
  • 300 antique clocks. Made in Japan and overseas. (since 1596)
  • 300,000 local & overseas Movie posters/pamphlet/magazines: 1200 on display
  • 50 Showa(昭和) appliances: record player, vacuum tube radio, television 
A pipe organ music box at the Japan Game Museum


Information:

Transportation:

  • By taxi from JR Inuyama station (~15 minutes), or
  • By Meitetsu bus (Route 3: Kani Shako(可児車庫)) at the Nagoya Meitetsu Bus Center and drop off at the bus stop Mouth of Little World (成沢リトルワールド口).

Meitetsu Bus Center
Meitetsu Bus Center

The bus to the Japan Game Museum
The bus to the Japan Game Museum

The whole journey will take around 60 minutes.


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© Pinball News 2012