Despite (hilarious) horror stories of people flipping tables in anger or playing for an entire week to finish one game, Monopoly is one of the best board games on the planet. Its popularity has also spurred countless new editions of the game, from the Star Wars Editions to the Cat Lovers Edition.

Japanese Monopoly games haven’t fallen too far behind, either. And now there’s a brand new version — the Japanese Traditional Arts Crafts Edition, ZIPANGU.

ZIPANGU was created by Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten, a Japanese company that plans, manufactures, wholesales, and retails household goods. To celebrate the 300th year since their foundation, they came up with the idea for a slightly different kind of Monopoly — one in which players trade and obtain Japanese traditional crafts instead of property.

But what makes this edition even more special are the tokens that come with the game. Not the usual tokens you’d find in Monopoly games, the pieces are miniature replicas of Nara folks toys called “Shika Koro Koro” made by Nakagawa Masashichi Shoten.

And instead of creating neighborhoods, you can build workshops and department stores where guests will come and visit. By creating more traffic, you’ll be able to climb your way into becoming a professional in stimulating Japanese traditional craft businesses!

The Event Cards also have a Japanese twist, and through them you can learn a little bit about the history of Japanese traditional crafts.

Only 5000 of the ZIPANGU Japanese Traditional Art Crafts Edition are planned to be on sale. They’ll be offering pre-sales starting January 13th at the Dainippon-ichi Exhibition at Tokyo Midtown, and judging from the beauty of this new version, we expect it to sell out quickly!


By - grape Japan editorial staff.