With thanks to Coen Peters - NL and Tsutomu Kondo - J for their assistance.

In Japan three versions of the Monopoly games are issued, namely:

1. The American set, with streets from Atlantic City, at which the text is always (partly) bilingual, so Japanese and American.

2. The Japan - Tokyo version, in which game the streets and stations are districts and railways of the capital city of Tokyo.

3. The Japan - Cities version, in which the streets are cities in various districts of Japan and the stations are main railways of the country.

The spaces of the bilingual Atlantic City version are (in the standard issue) from GO onwards:

Mediterranean Avenue - Community Chest - Baltic Avenue - Income Tax - Reading Railroad - Oriental Avenue - Chance - Vermont Avenue - Connecticut Avenue - Just Visiting - St.Charles Place - Electric Company - States Avenue - Virginia Avenue - Pennsylvania Railroad - St.James Place - Community Chest - Tennesse Avenue - New York Avenue - Free Parking - Kentucky Avenue - Chance - Indiana Avenue - Illinois Avenue - B.& O. Railroad - Atlantic Avenue - Ventnor Avenue - Water Works - Marvin Gardens - Go to Jail - Pacific Avenue - North Carolina Avenue - Community Chest - Pennsylvania Avenue - Short Line - Park Place and Boardwalk.

In the Japan - Tokyo version the names of the spaces are from GO onwards:

Kitasenju (Northern thousand dwellings) - Community Chest - Hachiouji (Eight princes) - Income tax - Odakyu (Department store & railroad) - Kinshicho (Silk thread town) - Chance - Nakano (Middle field) - Takadanobaba (Takada horse field) - Put into Jail  - Ueno (Upfield) - Teito denryoku (Imperial capital electric power) - Asakusa (Shallow grass) - Jiyugaoka (Freedom hill) - Toubu tetsudo (Eastern part railroad) - Kichijouji (Lucky omen temple) - Community Chest - Kanda (Soul field) - Denenchoufu (Field park) - Chuushajou  (Parking) -  Ikebukuro (Pond sac) - Chance -Toranomon (Tigergate) - Harajuku (Field lodging) - Keio tetsudo (Flourishing capital railroad) - Nipponbashi (Japan bridge) - Marunouchi (Within the circle) - Tokyo suido kabushiki kaisha (Tokyo water district Co.Ltd.) - Shibuya (Reluctant valley) - Go to prison - Aoyama (Blue mountain) - Roppongi (Six trees) - Community Chest- Shinjuku  (New lodging) - Seibu tetsudo (Western railroad) - Chance - Akasaka (Red slope) - Buppinzei (Excise) and Ginza  (Silver seat).

In the Japan - Cities version the names of the spaces are from GO onwards:

Sapporo (HOKKAIDO) - Challenge - Sendai (MIYAZAKI KEN) (ken= district) - Souzokuzei  (Succession taxes) - Kitanihontetudou (North Japan railway) - Niigata (NIIAGATA KEN) - Chance - Toyama (TOYAMA KEN) - Kanazawa (ISHIGAWA KEN) - Visiting the Jail - Nagasaki  (NAGASAKI KEN) - Denryoku kaisha (Electricity company) - Naha (OKINAWA KEN) - Fukuoka (FUKUOKA KEN) - Minaminihontetudou (South Japan railway) - Matuyama  (EHIME KEN) - Challenge - Takamatu (KAGAWA KEN) - Hiroshima (HIROSHIMA KEN) - Chuushajou (Parking place) - Gifu (GIFU KEN) - Chance - Shizuoka (SHIZUOKA KEN) - Nagoya (AICHI KEN) - Nishinihontetedou (West Japan railway) - Nara (NARA KEN) - Kobe (HYOUGO KEN) - Suidoukaisha (Water works) - Kyoto (KYOTO FU) (fu= metropolitan area) - Keimusho e haire (Go to jail) - Chiba (CHIBA KEN) - Tokorozawa (SAITAMA KEN) - Challenge - Yokohama (KANAGAWA KEN) - Higashinihontetudou (East Japan railway) - Chance - Umeda (OSAKA FU) - Buppinzei (Luxury tax) and Ginza (TOKYO TO) (to= capital).

Edition: Standard, white box, without ref.nr. 
              "Parker Brothers                     
               Real Estate Trading Game Equipment"      
Publisher: Parker Bros./unknown inland manufacturer? - 1961 
Dimensions of the box: 26 x 51 cm
The game:
Under the word Monopoly in closed, black characters on the 
board it says:
        Registered in US. patent office
        Registered in Japan patent office
        Parker Brothers trade mark
        For its real estate trading game equipment
        Copy right 1935, 1946 by Parker Brothers Inc.
        Made in Japan under licence from 
        Parker Brothers, Inc.
This vague description of the rights Parker Brother claim indicates, like elswhere in the world in the sixtees (see f.e. with Germany, France and the Netherlands) a reorientation of Parker Brothers and a consolidation of their share of the market.
The first issues of this for many years going version appeared in America in 1961. Because of the very many matches with this American edition it is very likely this set was also published in 1961.

For obscure reasons 3 Atlantic City streets have been replaced by 2 (probably) New York streets and a park, viz.: 

Mediterranean Avenue became West Side Avenue
Connecticut Avenue became Central Park
North Carolina Avenue became Fifth Avenue

The back of the game board is grijs. 
The left side of the lid of the white box show the board in a green and blue square. Underneath the red Monopoly bar is a picture of Uncle Pennybags in a red square, between 2 blue locomotives. Just like with the American issues there is a green $-sign underneath the red square. At the bottom of the blue square is Monopoly written in Japanese characters. The flanks of the lid on the other hand show the red Monopoly bar again.
The innerbox contains a white cardboard tray for the banknotes as well as a red insert that show 3 of the tokens, viz. car, canon and boat. These tokens are probably made of colored plastic? (This strongly reminds of the very special colored tokens of the French edition in the "plaid pattern (1)" box of 1958.) On top the 3^rd O of Monopoly are 2 dice showing a 5 and 2.  
Thee 7 banknotes do not contain any text.

Edition: Standard, ref. 05241
              "pat.593449 - pat.pending"
Publisher: Parker Bros./Epoch Comp.Ltd. - 1982
Dimensions of the box: 50.8 x 50.8 cm
The game:
This set is owned by David Carter - California.
Because of the fact a patent number is shown next to the mention "pat. pending" this issue must be older than the next one.
However, I estimate the date of issue not earlier than 1982 because a socalled Playmaster was issued in that year as well, both in America and in a number of European countries. (However that instrument has many more functions than rolling dice only.)
It is a mystery to me why such a hotch-potch of references to America is collected on the lid like: the American flag in the shape of the country - a cowboy embracing a bundle of skyscrapers and the steamengine of the early days of the American Monopoly editions.

The game board (with blue green back) is not folded, because of the "dice machine". That is why it lies at the bottom of the box with a specially shaped, red plastic "bankers's tray" and a neutral white cardboard insert. It is also interesting this red tray containg specially shaped holes for the 7 tokens. They are resp.: hat - car - shoe - thimble - iron - dog and rider-on-horse.
Because the dice machine is fixed on the board's centre the word Monopoly is in closed black characters just above the first side of the game board. Narrow blue and red spaces next to this instrument indicate the place where the Community Chest and Chance cards must be situated.
The money consists of 7 nasty neutral banknotes of colored paper one-sided printed in black with a number only, viz.: 1 (on white) - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 - 100 and 500 dollar.
The Rules are in a little booklet with illustrations, while the text is in Japanese only.

This set  is "Made in Japan".

Edition: Standard, ref. 05242 
               "pat.593449"
Publisher: Parker Bros./Epoch Comp. Ltd. - 1982
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 51.2 cm
The game:
Because the European editions of 1982 have the same design on the lid, viz. a part of the 4^th  side on top a red bar with the word Monopoly (in this case in Japanese characters) this issue must be from about 1982. The board's midfield doesn't show any copyright year. However, there are other signs indicating  this set to be issued about 1982, viz.:

The game board's back is light blue with a black tape in the middle.
More than halfof the innerbox is filled up with a light blue cardboard insert showing Monopoly in white characters. The rest of the box contains a cardboard insert with 7 trays as "banker's tray". 
There is nothing on the bottom side of the box.
The money consists again of 7 nasty neutral banknotes of colored paper one-sided printed in black with a number only, viz.: 1 (on white) - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 - 100 and 500 dollar. They are also a bit smaller than usual (49 x 93 mm). The property cards have a circled number in the lower right corner. This numbering is absolute arbitrary because nr 1 = Marvin Gardens, nr 4 = Tennessee Ave. and nr 7 = Connecticut Ave. 
The backside of the Chance-cards is red, with Chance recurring printed in white. The Community Chest-cards have a blue back with Community Chest recurring printed in white. Also these cards are numbered. The sole "legible" text on these cards is "Epoch Company Ltd.,© 1936 Parker Brothers.Inc." They have the same funny illustrations as those of the well-known yellow and red cards from the American issues.
The 7 metal tokens are hat - car - shoe - thimble - iron - dog and rider-on-horse. The white dice have clear black pips. The green houses and red hotels do have a chimney and they are made of plastic.
The white dice have plain Black pips. 
The Rules are in a little booklet with illustrations, while the text is in Japanese only.

The price of this set amounted in 1992 to US$ 40.- at the Parker Brothers Cons.Rel.Dept. in Beverly-MA.

Edition: Monopoly - Japan - Cities
Publisher: Parker Bros./Tomy Co.Ltd. - before 1985
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 51.2 cm
The game:
This issue is a real Japanese game in all aspects: it only concerns Japanese cities, the language is Japanese and even the 
illustrations are characteristic for this set. Looking at the game 
board more closely it is not only striking that the islands of Japan on the centrefield are nicely illustrated, but also:

The back of the gameboard is yellow.
The banknotes of this set have their proper design as well. It shows "Uncle-Pennybags in-a-circle" 2x. The 10 metal tokens however are again the well-known car - boat - hat - thimble - wheel barrow - shoe - canon - dog - iron and rider-on-horse. The Chance cards are red, the Challenge cards are yellow.

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 3,000 (US$ 24.-) in 1989.

Edition: Standard, USA ref. 0009
Publisher: Parker Bros./Tomy Co.Ltd. - 1985
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 51.2 cm
The game:
This is a full American set that for one reason or the other is also brought on the Japanese market by Tomy. It maybe the cheaper counterpart of the also in 1985 issued editions "The Tin" and "The Case". (The picture is taken from the Tomy catalogue.)
The white lid of the box shows the fourth side of the gameboard with the streets of Atlantic City, including the racecar on Boardwalk. The bottom of the box has a black/white picture of the gameboard with its accessories. The box contains a narrow white plastic tray, while the other part has a blue cardboard insert with those 13 FAQ's.

The back of the board is blue. The Chance- and Community Chest cards with their funny illustrations of Uncle Pennybag are not only in "The Tin" and "The case", but also in this cheaper version. The 8 tokens are of metal. 
The green houses and red hotels are of plastic. 

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 3,800 (US$ 30.-) in 1989.

Edition: Tin "1935" (DX Monopoly)
Publisher: Parker Bros./Tomy Co.Ltd. - 1985
Dimensions of the tin: 8.4 x 27 x 27 cm
The game:
This set is "packed" in a very beautiful tin, upon which is in relief "Commemorative Edition 1935". The flanks of the tin are illustrated with houses in front of which Uncle Pennybags is active.

Also in this issue the gameboard with streets of Atlantic City (with translation into Japanese) is used. This applies also for the nice American Chance- and Community Chest cards and (not numbered) property deeds. The solid board has a black back and is folded in four to fit into the tin. Monopoly is in black characters (without frame) parallel 
to the 1^st side in the center of the blue green playfield. As in the American tin the red wooden hotels are printed in gold with the name Grand Hotel. The green houses are also of wood indeed, 
but they are not printed. The 10 bronze colored tokens are: clock - shoe - purse - thimble - rocking-horse - car - boat - canon - iron and hat. 
The banknotes are "Copyright 1935 by Parker Brothers Inc.".
In the tin is a black plastic insert with holes for as well the banknotes as the houses and hotels, the dice, tokens and property cards.

The Rules are very luxury: They also report the history of the game in short and are richly illustrated with a lot of versions of Monopoly sets.

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 6,800 (US$ 54.-) in 1989.

Edition: Case "1935"  (Master Monopoly), ref. 362715
Publisher: Parker Bros./Tomy Co.Ltd. - 1985
Dimensions of the case: 5 x 19 x 27 cm
The game:
This is again such a nice, luxury issue, this time in honour of the 50^th anniversary of Monopoly. The smart case, covered with artificial leather, fits in a colorful cardboard jacket that resembles the tin very much, i.e. showing in large figures 1935 on top and the flanks with a band of green houses. To my surprise the flank of my set shows "© 1935 and 1990" that may indicate a "re-issue"? Or does it perhaps indicate the Monopoly games having been issued in Japan not until 1940 (just before WW II?)?

Because the case is small the game board have to be folded 3 times. Its back is black. Although it is the Atlantic City version again with all texts on the streets, property deeds and cards are in English, with translation into Japanese, the rules are only in Japanese. However, it is strange that these rules with many illustrations are those of the Monopoly-Japan edition. What may be the meaning of that?
The moment the game will be played and the board and the green box with equipment are taken out, it appeared the box to be destined as bankers tray.
All attributes are exactly the same as those of "the tin", i.a. 10 bronze tokens, wooden houses and Grand Hotels, bilingual property cards and common Monopoly banknotes.

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 4,500 (US$ 36.-) in 1989.

Edition: Ya-N-Gu (young) Monopoly - Japan-Tokyo, b.c. 20107 2
Publisker: Parker Bros./Kenner Parker (Japan) Ltd. - 1988 
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 51.2 cm
The game:
Although the game board shows 1964 as latest copyright year this edition is only issued in 1990.
The game is in Japanese only and contains the streets of Tokyo. The stations show a black Parker Brothers locomotive. The blue green playside of the game board show Monopoly in Japanese characters in a frame sloping over the field. 
There is a part of the 4^th side on the lid as well, with the dice showing the 3 and 5.
More than half the innerbox is filled with a blue green cardboard  insert showing Monopoly in black characters in a frame. The rest of the box has a white plastic insert with 7 holes for the banknotes. 
The most striking of this edition is the cartoon at the bottom. It is an interesting way to explain "How to play Monopoly". 

Edition: Standard, ref. 362340
Publisher: Parker Bros./Tomy Co.Ltd. - 1989
Dimensions of the box: 25.4 x 50.7 cm
The game:
It takes some doing to determine when a certain edition has been issued. The game board of this set shows as latest ©-date 1961, on the flank of the lid it stays 1988, where as the Japanese rules from TOMY mention the year 1989.

In comparison with the standard version of about 1985 (of Epoch Comp.) the tables are turned: Now all texts on the game board are in English, with prices in dollar, provided with Japanese subtitels. Also the property cards, the Chance- and Community Chest cards are now full bilingual.
The lid shows the last part of the 4^th side of the game board with on top of it the well-known red bar with Uncle Pennybags coming out the O. The light blue midfield of the board shows in diagonal the word Monopoly in black characters and frame. The back side of the board is light yellow and has no visible ribbon in the middle.

More than half of the inner box is filled up with a light green cardboard insert showing Monopoly in a black frame. The rest of the box contains a white plastic insert with 7 holes for the attributes. The bottom shows a black/white picture of the board with accessories and explanation in 2 languages.
The money now consists of the well-known Monopoly-banknotes in the denominations 1 - 5 - 10 - 20 - 50 - 100 and 500 dollar. The property deeds are not numbered. The Chance- and Community Chest cards are the well-known yellow and red cards from the American game.
The 10 metal tokens of this set are hat - car - canon - shoe - thimble - iron - dog - rider-on-horse - wheelbarrow and boat. The dark green houses and red hotels do have a chimney and are made of plastic.
The white dice have clear black pips. 

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 3,000 (US$ 24.-) in 1989.

Edition: Free Parking
Publisher: Parker Bros./Tomy Co.Ltd. - ±1989
Dimensions of the box: 19.0 x 26.5 x 7.5 cm
The game:
If for a Monopoly games collector a game has to comply with the demand that properties can be bought with money in order so to become the richest player Free Parking certainly not belongs to them. But since this card-game so obviously refers to the Monopoly board many a collector would like to have this game in his collection. For that reason I do describe it in this catalogue.

Object of this game is to be the first player to accumulate 200 points. For this purpose each of the maximum of 4 players get a parking meter. By drawing Feed the Meter cards the parking meter can be filled with a number of minutes. This time you need to run errands with so-called Point cards. On these are a number of points (to be accumulated) as well as a same number of parking minutes (to be reduced on your parking meter). When you are or will come in possession of one of the Officer Johns cards you are allowed to play this policeman against any opponent. To protect oneself from such teasings you should try to obtain one of the Free Parking cards.
Finally you may elect one of 32 Second Chance cards any moment you wish to do so. Also these 45 x 77 mm red cards with funny illustrations of Uncle Pennybags look very familiar. However, they may be risky, but they add excitement to the game since they may help - or hurt - you or your opponents.

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 2,000 (US$ 16.-) in 1989.

Edition: Magnetic Pocket Edition - brown, no.102
Publisher: Parker Bros./Gilco Ltd./SYU creation - ±1991
Dimensions of the box: 1.5 x 10.5 x 18 cm
The game:
This is one of the games of the "Pocketable Series" of SYU Creation, who even made a handy "collectors case" for them.
The smal game board is the one with the streets of Atlantic City Japanese subtitled. It is in a brown portfolio the size of a pocket diary. This portfolio fits in a cover with a window at the front. In there appears the gold colored Monopoly bar of the portfolio by putting it away. (The picture on the back of the cover suggests that the portfolio is red.) The attributes are in a tray of transparant plastic. The shapes of all parts are very small, viz.:

Only the 8 tokens, the green houses and the red hotels are small flat squares who stick on the gameboard. There have no provisions been made for the money nor the cards so that these things have to be kept in hand?
Not a very practical game that however has to be present in a collection.

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 1,200 (US$ 10.-) in december 1992.

Edition: Magnetic Pocket Edition - blue, no.112
Publisher: Parker Bros./Gilco Ltd./SYU creation - ca.1991
Dimensions of the box: 1.5 x 10.5 x 18 cm
The game:
The small gameboard of this only Japanese set consists of the districts of Tokyo. It is in a blue portfolio the size of a pocket diary. (This portfolio is in a cover the back of which suggests that the portfolio is brown.)
It is striking that the 8 tokens (of yellowish brown or grey plastic) of this set are threedimentional and consequently cannot stick on the board but so more the chance to lose them.
The sizes of all attributes are equal to those of the former set.

The price of this set amounted to ¥ 1,200 (US$ 10.-) in december 1992.

Edition: Dai Zai Batsu (Big Money Clan), ref.BT104 380
Publisher: Konami - 1991
Dimensions of the box: 26.3 x 51.6 cm
The game:
This entire Japanese game is in all aspects sunny and cheerful, which appears immediately from the colorful cover.

Although it is a Monopoly-like game it deviates considerably on many points, viz.:

For the rest there are 16 Age-cards and 10 Match-result-cards.
The money consist of small (45 x 95 mm) bank notes of various colors, printed with the value denotation in a plain decoration. (The character after the number states that it is 10,000 times as large) There are 6 colored, plastic pawns as token. Half the inner box is filled with a white plastic insert with 7 sections. 
The rules are richly illustrated with explaining pictures.

Edition: Standard, ref. 071009
Publisher: Parker Bros./Hasbro Japan - 1996
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 51.2 cm
The game:
This edition of the standard version resembles of course the earlier issues.
To get a good impression of the differences and matches the most relevant features are placed in the table below.

This set was made in New Zealand.
The price of this set amounted to ¥ 2,300 (US$ 16.-) in 1989.

Edition: Monopoly - Japan - Cities, ref. 071016
Publisher: Parker Bros./ Hasbro Japan - 1996
Dimensions of the box: 25.6 x 51.2 cm
The game:
This is a slightly embellished re-issue of the nice 1985 game.
The back side of the gameboard is red now and the banknotes show "Uncle Pennybags-in-circle" twice.

Edition: Star Wars Limited Edition (Japanese text), ref.40786
Publisher: Parker Bros./Hasbro Japan - 1997
Dimensions of the box: 25.7 x 51.0 x 5.3 cm
The game:
Also this Japanese issue in honour of 20 years anniversary of Star Wars is a "Limited Edition", because there is a dated sticker with number on the game board. Although the box is of the same dimensions and reference number as the American set it is not manufactured in the USA but in … New Zealand. For the rest it is an exact copy of the American set, because all spaces on the board are in English with Japanese subtitle. The cards however are only in Japanese as are the richly illustrated 18 pages of the rules. The inner box as well is partly filled by a carton showing the English text "Limited Collector's Edition"! The other part contains a black plastic insert with 7 trays.

(With the detailed picture from the bottom of the box: For the translation of the Japanese text you have only to look at the American box to understand that is says "Rebels … or Imperials … Who will control the Galaxy?")

The most striking of this game are the 2 kinds of players (the Rebels and Imperials) each having their own Vehicles and Properties. The Rules are exactly the same as those of the "normal" game, however the differences are sometimes striking, viz.:

Each token represents a well-known Star Wars character. The Rebel Alliance is represented by: Luke Skywalker, Princes Leia, Han Solo, Chewbacca and R2-D2. The fighters for the Galactic Empire are: Darth Vader, Boba Fett and the Stormtrooper.
The vehicles of the Rebels are the light gray X-wing Fighters and Corellian Freighters and those of the Imperials are the dark gray Tie Fighters and Star Destroyers.
The banknotes are in various colors with the value indication on the right side. The text with the illustrations on the banknotes is in Aurebesh!?
The bottom of the box not only shows a clear picture of the game board and attributes, but also a good picture of the tokens: the "Heroes" and the "Villains".

The price of this edition amounted to  ¥ 6.200 (€ 45,-) October 1997.

Edition: Odaiba Edition, b.c. 17056 6
Publisher: Parker Bros./Hasbro - 1997
Dimensions of the box: 26.6 x 23.3 cm
The game:
The site www.tcvb.or.jp/en/infomation/2area/11rinkai.html says about this very modern district of Tokyo:

"Odaiba was a vacant stretch of reclaimed land until just a few years ago, but now an amazing selection of entertainment and exhibition facilities have made Odaiba the most popular leisure destination in Tokyo. Serving Odaiba is the Yurikamome Line, a fully computerized unmanned train service taking in Rainbow Bridge, which offers superb views of waterfront Tokyo and its ultramodern architecture. The Yurikamome Line starts from near the Shiodome Exit of JR Shimbashi Stn. 
The Odaiba Line, meanwhile, heads into Odaiba from subway Shin-kiba Stn. Odaiba Seaside Park, the Museum of Maritime Science, Palette Town, and Tokyo Big Sight can also be reached by waterbus from Hinode Pier."

The large bridge shown on the lid of this edition appears to be the Rainbow Bridge and so the properties naturally are important companies and institutes on this island. 
Also dominating in the picture on the lid is the Fuji Television building, as the picture shows. Located near Yurikamome Line Daiba Stn, this building is a  futuristic fantasy. Inside a massive spherical structure is an observation deck and a TV museum.

Steve Amato from  N.Y.C. could provide me with all property names of the game board, which are from Go on:

Rainbow Bridge - Tokyokou Tunnel - Tokyo Musen Taxi - Fune No Kagakukan - Searia Odaiba - Odaiba Kaihin Kouen - Jail - Nippon Broadcasting Systems, Inc.  - Ariake Clean Center - MX-TV - Tokyo Seaside Story - Yurikamome - Tokyo Fashion Town - Ariake Colosseum - Tokyo Big Site - Free Parking - Wanza Ariake Bay Mall - Tokyo Joypolis - Sunset Beach Resturant Row - Rinkai Fukutosin Sen - Ariake Frontier Building - Aomi Frontier Building - Tokyo Gas - Daiba Frontier Building - Go to Jail - Hotel Grand Pacific Meridian - Hotel Nikko Tokyo - Symphony Tokyo Bay Cruise - Suijo Bus - Decks Tokyo Beach and Fuji Television.