~1937 日本大競馬場 (Japan big racecourse) [卓上競馬機 (tabletop horse racing machine)] by 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)

Name: 日本大競馬場 (Japan big racecourse) / 卓上競馬機 (tabletop horse racing machine)

Year: ~1937

Company: 日本娯楽機製作所 (Japan Amusement Machine Manufacturing)

While the marquee on this machine reads 日本大競馬場 (Japan big racecourse) the catalogue lists it as 卓上競馬機 (tabletop horse racing machine).

This machine appears to not be an import, but a copy of 2 (very similar) Chas. Ahrens machines from the UK.

entry from the ~1937 catalogue

Transcription:

甲乙二人が一錢、入れてワン、ツー、スリーで同時にハンドルを廻せば腕の強きもの程早く決勝點へ着きます一種の競技機です

Machine translation:

It is a type of competition machine where two people put in one seat and turn the handle at the same time in one, two, three, and the stronger the arm, the faster it will reach the final spot.

There are two machines that this game is similar too, and both are built by Chas. Ahrens of the UK, both of which are very similar to each other: Huntsmans Derby and Greyhoud Racer.

1930 Huntsmans Derby by Chas. Ahrens
from Automatic Pleasures by Nic Costa

 

The 3 panel cabinet of the above machine is reflected in the cabinet design of the Japanese machine.  If we look at the playfields of each game, they all share the same spindly white gates, and are all played by two players competing by rapidly spinning their own.

The following pictures are taken from this thread on pennymachines.co.uk:

1925 Greyhound Racer by Ahrens

While Huntsmans Derby seems wider, the above Greyhound Racer model appears to have proportions similar to the Japanese machine.  But Greyhound Racer was also made in a larger cabinet, which is the same design as their Football game.

1925 Greyhound Racer by Ahrens

Details from the above machine give us a taste of what the Japanese game would look like:

Note the positions of the white gates in the Ahrens machine to the white gates on the Japanese machine: