Mysterious Foreign Mickey Mantle Card: ID Help / Legitimate?

[Prof]

Hi, all. I'm not a baseball collector, so I apologize if this is a flagrantly stupid thread... But, I know someone who has this card, and they have no clue what it is.

It appears to be a Mickey Mantle card with Japanese writing, but with a blank back. No manufacturer info or stats.




From my brief research, it looks to be a hastily scaled down image of the 1955 New York Yankees Tour of Japan program.



Albeit cheaper/less fancy, it appears to match design-wise with a few cards I've been able to find listed on ebay that are titled "1950 Japanese Baseball Karuta Menko Card."





Does anyone have any clue what the Mantle is? Was it a giveaway at the 1955 exhibition games? A promo item somewhere in Japan? A rare food/gum/candy issue in Japan?

Or, is it just a weird oddball fake?

I feel like anything Mantle should be documented, and I can't find anything about this... which leads me to think fake. But, why fake an irrelevant, non-desirable and unsearchable Mantle, when you could fake a high dollar one?

If it is real, is there even a value comp out there?

Any information would be appreciated. My curiosity is killing me.

[scmavl]

Is it on card stock or thin paper? It looks like something that may have been cut out of a program for the game or something. Interesting!

[Cliff Bowman]

My first guess is a recently made fantasy piece, but I have certainly been wrong on my guesses before.

[pawpawdiv9]

i think your right on mark with the scaled down version japan one.
Looks like the cropped down version to me as well.
It would likely seem a copied paper version printed on a printer.

[Bestdj777]

Doesn’t look real to me but I’m still convinced the Mascot Dog cards, despite significant evidence to the contrary, are fantasy pieces….