In these next 3 posts we will be looking at movies featuring shooting galleries (previously: 私刑（リンチ）/ Rinchi,) an important predecessor to all coinop arcades and a thread that continues to this day. In Japan, arcade shooting galleries go back to at least the 18th century.
We got a glimpse of an Edo arcade
as imagined in the 1928 by Crossroads. Similarly, this 1935 movie gives us their depiction of Yaba.
Yaba has a number of meanings and nuances, but in general it is arcade-style archery, featuring various styles of targets and targets that are seemingly spring-loaded. Sometimes this would involve a hostess, such as in this movie. And sometimes it was directly connected with sex work.
It is wonderful to see their imagining of a Yaba parlor, and get a sense of where arcades came from.
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| targets of various size are hung by string |
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| tiny little bows |
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| the small target is hit by the arrow |
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| these characters fall from above |
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| we can see the gallery from a distance |
