Thursday, December 10, 2020

1983 Japanese Myojo Meka メカ Trains, Planes, & Automobiles Cards

In 1983, the Japanese noodle company Myojo "明星" affixed one メカ card (Meka, or Mechanical in English) out of 9 different series to the top of a bowl of their instant noodles.  These cards depict a mechanical transportation object and each series has 30 cards in it.  Talk about odd-ball as these cards capture some pretty cool old photos.  The Star Wars Series cards are by far the most expensive and cards can be upwards of close to $30 or more depending on condition.  The other series are a lot cheaper and down around the $5 per card range or even less.  These meka cards in general are somewhat difficult to find with the Classic Car series being the easiest and the Space Machines, Jets, and Dream Cars series being the most difficult to find.  Each of the cards measures 2.25" x 3.5" and are printed on think paper stock.  I pick them up whenever I can, but as far as I can tell there is no known checklist for any of the series besides the Star War Series.  Below are some examples of the World Classic Cars and World Steam Locomotives that I recently picked up.  Does any collect any of the Star Wars cards from this series?

Series #1: World Steam Locomotives

Series #2: World Racing Cars

Series #3: World Classic Cars

Series #4: World Ships

Series #5: World Jets

Series #6: World Motorcycles

Series #7: World Space Machines

Series #8: World Dream Cars

Series #9: Star Wars




7 comments:

  1. I dig the train cards, and I bet the jet cards are even better!

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    1. All the series are pretty decent. I only have two of the jet cards though.

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  2. Oooh awesome, I've never seen these before but now am interested!

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  3. If you have any of the Star Wars cards... please show them off in a future post. Please.

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    1. You are in luck. I picked up 5 of them recently, but they are on the slow boat over from Japan. Will post them in 2021 for sure!

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    2. Sweet! Can't wait to read your post.

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