I am working to document the history of Japanese electromechanical arcade games. This includes electromechanical (EM) games, well as purely mechanical (PM) games, and modern games that have physical / electromechanical components.

https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2022/02/introduction.html

The page has a master list of the over 2000 machines I've documented, sorted by year.
There are 4 image gallery links, broken down as before 1970, 70-79, 1980+, and then machines we don't have a year reference for yet.
There are my notes on methodology, research materials, company history notes, and year research notes.
Some of the machines have links to blog entries that give further details. I have only done a few of these, but hope to do many more when my initial research phase winds down. These entries help me "show my work" and provide sources.

Hopefully this page will get to whatever collectors need it. I just want people to know it is out there, so if you have a way to share it please do.

Actively looking for:
corrections: spelling errors, contested information, anything to increase accuracy
sources: there are SO MANY sources I do not have! Especially Japanese industry papers from before 1974.
pictures: do you have better photos of any of these machines?

I am trying to design the site so it is useful for Japanese and English speakers. (I am unilingual English, sadly, but I use tools to assist me.)
I want people interested in Japanese machines to have a timeline of releases, companies, and the progression of games.
I want people who visit Japan and see cool machines to have a place they can find the names of them.
I want there to be valid search results when you do a web search for obscure titles.

To give this post a bit more eyecandy, here is a century of Japanese machines I find interesting, ~1 per decade.

~1929 岡式電氣自動球遊機 (Oka-style electric ball play machine) by 岡 (Oka)
known as the first pachinko machine, these games would pay out 1 sen coins
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~1937 Gorufu - ゴルフ(Golf) by 才田式 (Saita style)
a very early 'smart ball' table
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~1940s 「キャッチャーパチンコ」 (catcher pachinko) by Yoshimitsu Safe Works
not only can you get paid out for hitting the winning pockets, this also worked as a kicker/catcher machine and you can move the cups back and forth to catch balls.
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1958 ミニドライブ M型 (Mini Drive M type) by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki)
one of the most iconic Japanese arcade games
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1966 Periscope - ペリスコープ by 中村製作所 (Nakamura Seisakusho)
there is a LOT to unravel about the history of Periscope games, and we get into the weeds here https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2022/08/1965-periscope-torpedo-launcher-by.html
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1970 キックボクシング (Kick Boxing) by 三共 (Sankyo)
best believe that if one of these came up for auction these days it'd hit ridiculous numbers
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1976 Pass Ball - パスボール by 三共 (Sankyo)
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1980 Star V - スターファイブ by 関西精機 (Kansai Seiki - Kasco)
the myth, the legend, the STAR FIVE
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1981 山のぼりケーム (Mountain climbing game) by こまや (Komaya)
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1997 Cat Play - キャットプレイ by ユウビス & 楠野製作所 (Yubis & Kusuno Seisakusho)
MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW MEOW
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2005 スーパーマリオ 不思議のころころパーティ2 (Super Mario Fushigi Koro Party 2) by カプコン (Capcom)
like catnip for nerds
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2019 Space Invaders Pinball Jam by タイトー (Taito)
how has this not been imported into North America yet? Oh right, pandemic release...
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Thank you, I am curious about their reaction. I have only really passed this around to a small group so far, so it will be nice to get broader feedback.
I just made a change to the generated pages so that the images are now links. They link to the same image file used, but it makes it easier to open them to their proper size, or CTRL+Click to get them in a new tab. (For the sake of this project, I have limited the web images to 1200 pixels as a max dimension, which is enough for most people.)

please let me know if you stumble on ANY of the Sega payout pins. They are Sega and Williams pins that were re-named (though not re-themed, just a name change) and have a payout unit added to them.
which Taito pins are you looking for? Do you mean Universal? (my god, does anyone own ANY Universal pins??)

Taito had Apollo Ball and the bingo collectors would kill for that one. They also had that Crown Soccer Special machine (take that Gottlieb Challenger!), but I have never heard of one surviving. If any better photos exist of that one I want to see. I need a more corroborating evidence of Taito's machines in the 60s, too. Like, did their 602 Crane come out in 1965? Were there any other releases before Basketball, Periscope, and Crown Soccer in 67?

got a great shout-out from one of my favourite Japanese blogs here https://blog.goo.ne.jp/nazox2016/e/fd10be340c658873070c13e989be75c6

quick update that we've hit 2500 machines.
I gave the 90s their own page http://thetastates.com/eremeka/1990s.html
and so that makes the last page 2000+ http://thetastates.com/eremeka/2000s.html

I also put together a separate page for games we currently do not have images of, but have found mentions of http://thetastates.com/eremeka/mentiononly.html

For any Taito fans, be sure not to miss some of their early 1972+1973 massive shooting games that basically were not documented on the internet before:
https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2022/11/1972-target-bowling-by-kurita-giken.html
https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2022/10/archery-by-taito.html
https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2022/10/safari-rifle-range-by-taito.html

Sorry I don't really know, I've never been to Japan and I am unsure which places closed during the pandemic, and which places are still around but yet to reopen. I know there's at least one pinball hotspot, but you'll have to search for those. Sadly, my favourite place エレメカ研究所 did not survive the pandemic, but their twitter bio says they are looking for a new location.

some places for you to check...
New Star Smartball in Osaka is probably still around http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2021/05/smartball-in-music-video-tokiyo.html
There is the Birth of Pachinko Museum if you can make arrangements (it's out of his house) http://pinballnovice.blogspot.com/2020/07/niche-collections-mr-sugiyamas-pachinko.html
I don't think the Japan Arcade Game Museum is supposed to reopen until 2024... https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWVVCRozief9PnaWl2rwlhg
The Dagashiya Game Museum is still operating and highly recommended https://www.youtube.com/c/dgmjp/videos

just making a note that we hit the 2600 machine mark, and recently have added a number of prewar machines to help sketch out a basic history of early coinop in Japan

if you see old machines please take nice pictures of them.

little bit of an update on progress...

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can't stop won't stop

We have surpassed 3500 machines
https://earlyarcadesjapan.blogspot.com/2023/05/announcement-3500-machines-listed-3500.html

New tool for viewing and searching machines.
Still in beta. There are over 100 tags to choose from.
Give it a whirl http://thetastates.com/eremeka/eremekaDisplay.php