Some flyers and catalogues refer to "JH" or "Jihan", a contraction of the romanization Nihon Jidô Hanbaiki. The company regularly utilized the English-facing brand Game Mate, and sometimes they would use the "Jihan" brand logo.
In this post we will be tracking the changes in the Jihan logos and addresses on the flyer.
You can the Jihan machines listed in the eremeka tool.
On the Birds Shooting flyer we see the romanized "Jihan":
Transcription:
Listed as Nihon Jido Hanbaiki K.K.
On the flyer for Derby - ダービー by ユニバーサル (1973) the Game Mate logo has been replaced with Nihon Jihan as the "brand logo".
The addresses include the Osaka sales office.
The classic game Time 80 is an odd one, since it is branded as by Universal. Taito acquired Jihan, but were they still contracting to build machines for other manufacturers? A number of the games advertised by Jihan also have the UNIVERSAL logo emblazoned on their front:
From the エレキボール (Electric Ball) flyer:
Head Office: Daido Seimei Building No. 706, Nihonbashi-dori 2, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
TEL (271) 4547-4548
Factory: 4-23-7 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
TEL (443) 5709
Electric Ball is a very early game. Another flyer with the same company information, and no logo at all, is Derby Horse Racing (ダービー Horse Racing). Because of this, I am moving Derby Horse Racing from ~1969 to ~1967 since it appears to be one of the earliest Jihan machines.
Head Office Daido Seimei Building No. 706, Nihonbashi-dori 2, Chuo-ku, Tokyo
TEL (271) 4547-4548
Factory 4-23-7 Ebisu, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo
TEL (443) 5709
From the ソロッタ (solotta, 1969) flyer, we see the JH logo
Head Office: 2-1 Nihonbashi-dori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Room 706, Daido Life Insurance Building)
Tel: (271) 4547-8
Postal Code: 103
This games' flyer also features the Game Mate logo.
King Ball (1969 or earlier) has the same details, and includes the same Game Mate logo.
The Jido Hanbaiki entry from the 1969 machine directory says that up until 1961 the company was not involved in amusement machines. They operated locations (and making and selling machines) from 1961-1965.
Only the Tokyo address is mentioned.
From the 1969 machine directory, we again see that the Game Mate logo was in use in 1969.
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| 1969 machine directory JH advertisement |
main office
2-1 Nihonbashi-dori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Daido Seimei Building No. 706)
TEL Tokyo (03) 271-4547 103
1970 advertisement, features JH logo and Game Mate logo
main office
2-1 Nihonbashi-dori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Daido Seimei Building No. 706)
TEL Tokyo (03)271-4547〒103
from the Clay Gun - クレーガン advertisement published 1970-07, we see a new address for the factory.
Head Office 2-1 Nihonbashi-dori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Room 709, Daido Seimeikan) 103 Phone (271) 4547-8
Factory 847 Ichinomiya, Samukawa-cho, Koza-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture
253~01 Tel (0467) 75~2195 2196
We see this new factory as well on the flyer for 大宇宙旅行 (big space travel), Nice Catch - ナイスキヤッチ, 打撃王 (Batting King)
Batting King (earliest appearances so far is 1971) includes a variation on the Game Mate logo with the Japanese company name included:
We eventually see an Osaka Sales Office opening up.
From the flyer for Birds Shooting - バードシューティング
Head Office 2-1 Nihonbashi-dori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Room 709/710, Daido Seimeikan) 103 Phone (03) 271-4547~9
Factory 847 Ichinomiya, Samukawa-cho, Koza-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture
253-01
Phone (0467) 75-21952196
Osaka Sales Office 3-73 Satanakacho, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture
570 Phone (06)903-5224
From the Taito 40th anniversary book, we see that Taito acquired Jihan in 1971.
1970:・大宮工場を新設、本社工場(綱島)を拡張して赤羽工場を吸収・当社のドライブゲームの元祖「スーパーロード7」開発・「スカイファイター」、「スペースドッキング」、「サイクルライダー」開発1971:・日本自動販売機㈱を買収・「ラットパトロール」、「ラビットファイヤー」、「スカイファイターⅡ」開発
Machine translation:
1970:・Established Omiya Factory, expanded head office factory (Tsunashima) and absorbed Akabane Factory・Developed "Super Road 7", the original driving game of our company・Developed "Sky Fighter", "Space Docking", and "Cycle Rider"1971:・Acquired Nihon Jidohanbaiki Co., Ltd.・Developed "Rat Patrol", "Rabbit Fire", and "Sky Fighter II"
We have two flyers for the game Pass (1972). This one is written in Japanese. It has the Osaka office.
Head Office 2-1 Nihonbashi-dori, Chuo-ku, Tokyo (Room 709/710, Daido Seimeikan) 103 Phone (03) 271-4547~9
Factory 847 Ichinomiya, Samukawa-cho, Koza-gun, Kanagawa Prefecture
253-01
Phone (0467) 75-21952196
Osaka Sales Office 3-73 Satanakacho, Moriguchi City, Osaka Prefecture
570 Phone (06)903-5224
This version is probably for export, and has Taito's info as well.
In the 1972 machine directory (printed late 1971) there is no mention of the Taito outside their list of business partners.
The Perfect Bowler (1972) manual has the Game Mate: Jihan logo, as well has the romanized company name of Nihon Jidohanbaiki. Please note that this catalogue might have been prepared for export, and so might be from after 1972.
Stop The Three (1973) has the same information as about, but with the Game Mate Jihan logo:
In the 1973 machine directory (printed late 1972) we finally see Time 80 arrive, but there is not much new information
I have not seen any advertising from 日本自動販売機 past 1973. But that does not mean the company went away. In this Taito catalogue from 1975-03 we see machines referred to as Jihan, and many are available new. I do not know for sure, but I doubt that the "new" machines listed here are just "new old stock", i.e. I doubt that they are just machines that were built in prior years but unsold.
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| 1975-03 Taito price list |
By the time New Time 80 was released (the version with the electric shooter, 1974) we have plates for Universal and Taito on the back, no Jihan reference.
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| from New Time 80 - ニュータイム８０ [electric shooter] |
The classic game Time 80 is an odd one, since it is branded as by Universal. Taito acquired Jihan, but were they still contracting to build machines for other manufacturers? A number of the games advertised by Jihan also have the UNIVERSAL logo emblazoned on their front:
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| 1972 Time 80 - タイム・エイティー by ユニバーサル (Universal) & 日本自動販売機 (Japan Vending Machine — Game Mate Jihan) |
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| 1973 Derby - ダービー by ユニバーサル (Universal) & 日本自動販売機 (Japan Vending Machine — Nihon Jihan) |
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| 1973 Stop The Three - ストップザスリー by 日本自動販売機 (Japan Vending Machine — Game Mate) & ユニバーサル (Universal) |
In the 1974/1975 machine directory (published in 1974,) Nihon Jidô Hanbaiki is listed:
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| from the 1974/75 machine directory |
所在地東京都千代田区平河町2-5-3 タイトービル 〒102TEL 03 (264) 8611資本金 2,200万円主な取引銀行 第一勧業(日本橋)・三和(日比谷)・三井(1日本橋)・太陽神戸(赤坂) 東海(新橋)・幸福相互(東京)主な取引先 タイトー、岡本製作所、全国オペレーター各社、全国ホテル、旅館、ボウ リング場社歴 昭和32年8月設立営業種目 小型娯楽機械の製造・販売・賃貸。
machine translation:
LocationTaito Building, 2-5-3 Hirakawacho, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo 102TEL 03 (264) 8611Capital 22 million yenMain banks Dai-Ichi Kangyo (Nihonbashi), Sanwa (Hibiya), Mitsui (1 Nihonbashi), Taiyo Kobe (Akasaka), Tokai (Shinbashi), Kofuku Sogo (Tokyo)Main clients Taito, Okamoto Manufacturing, various operators nationwide, hotels, inns, bowling alleys nationwideCompany history Established August 1957Business type Manufacturing, sales, and rental of small entertainment machines.
From the 1976 machine directory, they are still around and in the Taito Building:
Nihon Jidô Hanbaiki does not appear in any other documents I have seen after that point.
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