In case you've ever wondered why Japanese cds come with OBI's, here's the answer.

Space is limited for everything in Tokyo, and shops have to cram everything in sideways to get it all to fit on the shelves.  Since the text on the Obi is written *VERTICALLY*, it allows Japanese to read the titles of the CD without having to keep their head Tilted Sideways, which is of course very awkward. 

See the pic below for example.
Typical VGM selection of a shop in Tokyo

There you have it, today's little nugget of knowledge is: Vertical Text!

OBi's save people from strained neck muscles and from the social inconvenience of looking ridiculous with your head stuck sideways while you're trying to read what's on the shelf.

That's pretty much what Book-off in NYC is like, it's a pain too when you can't read Japanese because I sit there and have to pull out every single CD to look at the cover.  The only thing I can read is "DRAMA" and "TOKIMEKI" since there's about 4,000 of those cds throughout the entire rack. =/

Dude, seriously. Book Off looks so cool until you start looking at the CDs and realize that 99% of the VGM there is "Shiori Fujisaki ~ My Sweet Valentine". Crapola.

EDIT: Ironically enough, if you look at the lower right side of the picture, you'll see the Konami OBI all over the place; white on the side, big blue bar at the top. You know that's all Tokimeki drama crap.

That's the first thing I noticed when I looked at that picture.

And what isn't Tokimeki drama crap will likely be Twinbee drama crap.

I've been to the Book-Off in NYC twice. I love that shop (Kinokuniya used to be good, but they only stock popular stuff...and overpriced...these days).

I know enough Katakana to recognize what I'm reading on the obis. But yeah, waaaay too much Tokimeki crap.

Ramza

However, the text is usually also printed vertically on the spine of the tray card (the part that is covered up by the obi), so in most cases, the obi could be omitted and they still wouldn't have to tilt their head sideways to read the album title.  Also, before CDs were invented, obis were used on LPs, in which case the obi was usually wrapped around the front and back of the LP jacket over the top and bottom without covering the side of the album at all.   That would explain why it was unnecessary for the obi to wrap around the spine of an LP, and why the obi design was altered for CDs (because people generally browse LPs by looking at the covers, not the spines, and vice versa with CDs).  So, perhaps the obi was created so that an album's (LP's) artist and title info (if not Japanese) could be advertised on the album cover in Japanese text without having to alter and reprint the original album artwork, thereby make foreign releases more accessible  to Japanese consumers and eliminating the need for the Japanese to redesign and repress foreign album releases for domestic sale.

Dude. SERIOUSLY! I was there in January of this year and all I saw there was overpriced Square Enix reprints, Guilty Gear XX Vocal (LA or something) and FF Tactics Radio Dramas. There was a copy of Tekken 4 OST there, though, so I put that right in front on the shelf. Hopefully someone picked it up; even at $35 it's worth it!

Actually, that's a pretty sweet CD...Mami Kingetsu is one of the few Jpop singers I've bought a solo album for. Dunno why they chose "My Sweet Valentine" for the main track though, since the rest of the songs on the album are far better, but oh well. Other than that though, you always have to be careful you're not buying one of those drama albums...What a waste, even if I understood them.

Sadly though, Carl's picture also goes for the game shops that stock nothing but SM/EA CD's...;/ But yeah, a lot of Japanese writing is done vertical. Newspapers are largely the same way.

I always wondered why so many Japanese CD's have the names of the CD's written in perfect english on the side, considering their main audience...Looking at my shelf, so few of them have both ends written in Japanese.

Yeah Nightmare does have a point about LP Vinyls, it's not very practical at all in that application, yet they've always been there too.  I'm guessing it started with books in a Library though, as the primary media usage.

As for a better 'Wall of VGM' shop photo with a wider selection, try this pic.

The usual Square-Enix albums in the bottom right, but some SNK and Capcom and Namco scattered around too.

Book Off in NYC has a lot of Tokimeki Memorial CDs and other video game drama CDs.  They've been getting fewer and fewer VGM albums.  What used to be two full bookshelves about 2 years ago is now about 2 rows of a bookshelf.  And occasionally, something gets tossed in the anime CDs, so you might need to look there too.  The more interesting/rare VGM albums I saw were priced at $30+, so somebody there seems to know what is common versus uncommon/rare.

Their entire CD stock really took a hit once they started stocking DVDs. It was funny, though, when they started using those tall bookcases, considering the height of their average customer. Forget the sideways head turn; it's the upwards head tilt that'll really cramp your neck.

Burning question: What on earth do they say to greet you when you enter? I get the "konnichiwa" part, but I can't make out the part before it. I thought it could be "irashaimase," but to my ears it sounds like it starts with a 'w,' so I'm not sure.

I just really got a kick out of seeing the big "Game Music" sign over the entire section.

Boy, that brought back memories. I want to go back to Japan...

No wonder all the chiropractors tear up and burn their obis right after the shrinkwrap comes off
it all begins to puzzle the pieces into sense of pizza.. (PuckMan refererence)

Hajime'Mashiite' maybe

I thought all Japanese CDs had obi strips, not just VGM ?

But cool backstory nonetheless!

They do. I think the topic title is just catering to people whose only experience with Japanese CDs is VGM (like me).

I always think of the little plastic sticky-things on the top of American made CDs that are our "equivalent" to OBIs since they allow for easier browsing in CD stores. The quality on those cheap things is terrible... but that just shows the difference between Japanese packaging and American packaging (biased, I know).

MOST Japanese CDs do. Not ALL. There have been exceptions to the rule.

Yes, that's our USA equivalent, and it's complete CRAP.  I hate those bastard stickys.

I have to agree, I like the idea behind OBI's. Could you imagine the floorspace stores could save if American CD's used OBI's as well? There are worse uses for paper and trees.

Such as the liners that come with said American CDs.

well, what to expect, japanese music cd's and media related material overal is about twice as expensive in most cases than here in states.