Japanese Literature discussion

The "obi" wrappers (example (although these are downright ugly)). They constantly come off when you're reading and I can't resolve to just throw them away. I usually end up putting them somewhere until they're eventually crushed under other books. And then throw them away... 😂

Do you guys like them?
/rant

No, they are a nuisance and I am not sure what purpose they serve. I take them off while reading and put them back when I'm done the book. If the book is in any way collectible the next owner will want it.

Same here - I take them off while reading and put them back afterwards. I guess the only purpose they serve is advertising?

I guess, I can't read them! They often duplicate what's underneath though.

True... Sometimes they have the synopsis on it though. Or some "click-bait" quote. As you said Scott, I've read that they are worth more with the obi still on. Not that I should care about their value, considering I mostly have bookoff's 100 yen stuff lol.

They like to put those things around the spines of CDs, too. I always stick them in the booklet, if they'll fit.

I used to try to keep them in shape, but they would easily get torn or wrinkled. At one point in frustration I threw them all away, and have kept up the habit since.

Now if I could only do the same with all those bookmarks.

Oh yeah! What's with all those randomly inserted bookmarks?

Wait. I LOVE bookmarks. Is there something odd about Japanese bookmarks that I'm missing?

They're not exactly bookmarks, they are these folded pieces of paper that are roughly bookmark-shaped that will be randomly inserted in the pages of books. I just looked in a couple books I have here and the "bookmarks" have the title of the book and a bar code, so maybe they are supposed to be removed and scanned at a store register? But some books have several...

Just found a couple more that have Japanese writing and the ISBN...so I guess they are some kind of identifier? Still, nobody else seems to use them, so they must have a specific purpose.

Scott wrote: "They're not exactly bookmarks, they are these folded pieces of paper that are roughly bookmark-shaped that will be randomly inserted in the pages of books. I just looked in a couple books I have he..."

Intriguing. I have the impression they are like the fragrance samples in my copies of Vogue magazine. The first thing I have to do when I get home with it is to shake it over my trashcan so that all the samples and postcards are removed, because they get in my way and add no value.

Scott: those are restock tags.

In Japan when you bought a book in a bookstore, they'd pull the restock tag out and throw it in a bin below the register so they'd know what they needed to buy another copy of.

Bill wrote: "Scott: those are restock tags.

In Japan when you bought a book in a bookstore, they'd pull the restock tag out and throw it in a bin below the register so they'd know what they needed to buy anoth..."

What! That does make sense... Some of mine still have them, but I just realized those are probably the ones I bought new, online. I guess if I'd bought them from a brick and mortar stone, they would have removed it. Clever!

Some also have real bookmarks too. What I'm reading right now (Pinball, 1973) has one with a lullaby on it. For fun I found the song on Youtube.

Bill wrote: "Scott: those are restock tags.

In Japan when you bought a book in a bookstore, they'd pull the restock tag out and throw it in a bin below the register so they'd know what they needed to buy anoth..."

Ohhh that makes sense! Thank you for clearing up this mystery; I have been wondering about it for years!

Scott wrote: "They like to put those things around the spines of CDs, too. I always stick them in the booklet, if they'll fit."

I've done that before. With CDs, I sometimes gently tape them to the CD, so I can still open it, but it will stay attached.

I think I may cave and just throw out all those "obi"; there's not value in keeping them, but I feel bad reducing my books to less than "mint condition".

So glad to finally know what those slips are for. I just use them as book marks while I'm reading.

Whenever I lend obi-wrapped books, they come back with the obi, so I don't really get the chance to feel guilty about throwing them away myself (which I would). Also: I haven't come across a bookmark yet! I'd keep that one!

Opening a random Cobalt book, I find an ad for other Cobalt books that's the right size and sturdiness for a bookmark. So I call them bookmarks :)