Highway Patrol Broderick Crawford menko card 1950's
Vintage Uncut sheet Japanese antique old game cards toy

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■Description :

Qty : Uncut containing 24pcs menko cards
Made in Japan in late 1950's
Made of cardboard
Approx size  : 25.0cm x 18.0cm / 9.9"x 7.1"
Condition : Dead stock at a toy store. Slight stains on the back.
No large damages. In beautiful condition for its age. Please see the pictures.

Highway Patrol / Broderick Crawford , design
The 50s was when many of US TV shows came to Japan,
people got to
have contacts with American cultures and, a lot of related toys were made like
tin toys and paper stuff.

On the front , there are Japanese characters written as
"ハイウェイパトロール" =  Highway Patrol
"テレビ放送中" = On the air
Highway Patrol series came on TV in Japan in 1956. (on NHK).

On the back, some military terms are written like "機関銃" (Kikanju) = Machine gun,
"ロケット砲" (Rocket hou) = Rocket artillery, etc..
Menko cards sometimes traditionally have such military words for menko
battle games on the backs, which have nothing to do with design on the fronts.
Also, there are marks for rock-scissors-paper.
These words and marks are for a sort of optional menko games, yet, not many
children played like this. Mostly they did flipping. (Pls see the below ■About menko)

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■About Menko:
"Menko" history goes back to the "Edo" period : 17th century.
It is a piece of **cardboard with a picture for children game in which
; they throw their menko to their opponent's one placed on the ground ; if they can f lip it, they can get it.
(** In the Edo period, when menko appeared , it was made of clay, not paper.)

Children, who got & kept many menko through menko battles, were a kind of hero and got admired.
Sometimes children traded their menko with others without battles.
Through menko games or trading, they could make new friends easily.
Thus, menko was like a tool for living in children's society.
Also, a variety of pictures were printed on menko cards, from sports players, movie stars to political incidents.
Seeing menko,we get to know of social situation of the time.
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