Ukrainian refugee Michael Kogan established a business in Shanghai during 1944 called Taitung. The name combined the Chinese characters for Judea and East to reflect his identity as a Jew living in the Far East diaspora. This early venture dealt in floor coverings, natural hair wigs, and hog bristles before political changes forced a move. The Communist takeover of China prompted Kogan to liquidate the business in 1950 and relocate operations to Japan. Japan was suffering from significant economic decline after World War II when he arrived there. A second clothing distribution attempt named Taito Yoko struggled financially due to employee carelessness and constant product loss. On the 24th of August 1953, Taito Trading Company replaced the failed clothing distributor under Kogan's leadership. He joined forces with lawyer Akio Nakatani to launch this new entity. The company began as a vodka distillery which became the first to produce vodka in Japan. It also imported peanut vending machines and perfume machines into the country. Increasing competition led Taito to abandon the vodka business by 1955. They focused instead on successful vending machine sales and importing jukeboxes. The company lacked proper licensing so it purchased broken-down units from United States military bases. Workers refurbished these machines using working parts from defective units to make them operational. Over 1,500 machines were sold by 1960 when they started mixing Japanese records with American folk songs. A partnership with Seeburg Corporation made Taito its exclusive agent in Japan. This deal established them as one of the nation's leading jukebox companies.
Transition To Video Games
Tomohiro Nishikado graduated from Tokyo Denki University before joining the company in 1968. His bosses believed transistor-transistor logic technology would play a significant role in the arcade industry. They tasked him with investigating TTL technology because he was their only employee who knew how to work with integrated circuit chips. Nishikado spent six months dissecting Atari's Pong arcade unit to learn how the game's IC chips worked. He began modifying the game after understanding its internal mechanics. This research led to his development of the Pong-style sports video games Soccer and Davis Cup for Taito. Both titles released in November 1973 with Soccer developed first. He then created several original arcade video game hits including TV Basketball in 1974. The racing game Speed Race also arrived that same year followed by Western Gun in 1975. These three titles were localized by Midway Manufacturing in North America under different names. Taito changed its name from Taito Trading Company to Taito Corporation in August 1972. It established its American subsidiary in 1973 in downtown Chicago called Taito America. Their first video game was called Elepong which is a ping-pong arcade cabinet released in 1973 in Japan. In 1967 they had already begun manufacturing electro-mechanical games like Crown Soccer Special. That two-player sports game simulated association football using electronic components such as pinball flippers. Crown Basketball debuted in the US as the highest-earning arcade game at the 1968 Tampa Fair.