This thread is for the discussion of matters related to physical media. This includes the discussion of buying, selling, and collecting physical books/manga. (You can also just show off your collection if you want)
I have a physical media story!
A book I once wanted (…that I still haven’t read) wasn’t available as an ebook, but I found someone selling it on ebay in my country so I ordered it from them. It came looking fine, but it smelled like straight mildew.
I ended up putting it in a tight plastic bag with dryer sheets in my freezer for a month to get rid of the smell.
As for pics, I actually don’t have enough shelf space to contain all my books anymore 
It’s part of why I’m trying to work through my 赤川次郎 books as I have a ton of his.
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Phew; I’ve been lucky enough to get all my used books in pretty decent condition, at least. Fewer books ordered from ebay, interestingly; I haven’t managed to find anything cheaper there than if I just imported.
I should probably post a few pictures myself; my issue there is that, similar to cat, I’m at the limit of shelf space. I’m not at the point yet of piling on floors, but basically everything’s double-shelved, so I’ll have to pull things apart to get good pictures. 
I really need to read my manga I’ve got piled up. 
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An excuse to share a picture of my bookshelf? Don’t mind if I do!
This isn’t quite my whole collection but it’s probably like 70% of the Japanese books I own. Also, I didn’t realize how much that top shelf was bowing until taking this photo… I should maybe be a little more careful with it 
Anyone else have shelves to share?
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Those bookworm book spines look really nice!
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Imagine having so many books that your shelves can’t take it anymore… That’s definitely a goal to have! 
Also, nice hidden pumpkin in the corner.
Please do! Truthfully, I only created this thread because I started collecting some physical books this month and wondered what everyone’s collections looked like. I’ll share some pics of my small collection too. (when I get to it )
I’m glad that I have never received any mysterious smelling products from ebay… 
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I’m not sure how clearly it comes out, but this is a book of mysteries based on narrative tricks, so it’s all about your perception. On the front cover the obi slides up and down to reveal different scenes.
I usually find obi strips annoying but I love this one!
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Book jackets can be so cool! I think the only one I have that looks neat is unfortunately one that I didn’t even like enough to finish, #ある朝殺人犯になっていた | L32
and removing the dust jacket…
Also I took a pic of my one shelf that is largely Japanese books and not a mishmash of English, Japanese, and DVDs but it’s uh…not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as most of yours.
問題な日本語 is the formerly smelly one.
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So here’s a question:
How do you organize your physical Japanese books on the shelf?
- By title
- By author
- By publisher
- By genre or topic
- By size
- Organizing is for dweebs
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I have a fair few physical Japanese books, and organizing them has been surprisingly difficult. Normally I group my books by genre, but because of the dramatic size differences between them it’s hard to get it to look good on the shelf. The tiny little paperbacks just disappear in-between the bigger books.
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I put “by author”, but the authors themselves are not organized by any particular schema besides what fits on the shelf. Within each author titles are organized by title.
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There is vague organizing by size in the shelf pictured with larger books being on the ends, but if my other shelves with mixed English and JP were visible it would quickly become apparent that my organization system is ‘A book fit in an open space’. I like the chaotic look, it feels homey 
I try to keep 上・下 next to each other but that’s about it.
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Where’s the “all of the above” option?
My top shelf is all Manga Time Kirara (with some overflow on shelf three), so by publisher.
My second shelf is all LGBT themed (with some overflow on a shelf not in my picture), so by genre/topic.
My third shelf (and not pictured shelves) is kind of miscellaneous.
But I also definitely try to organize them by size as much as possible.
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I finally put my books back on my shelf so I can share, yay!
I also just ordered more manga so I’ll have to figure that out soon 
but yeah full bookshelf complete! This is mostly manga; there are some novels in the bottom right though. I still have quite a lot of single volumes from the early days when I had no idea what I wanted to read, but I’m starting to get more of a feel for things haha. You can also tell how many of them I haven’t even touched from the fact that they’re still wrapped in plastic
Yeeesss I love book jackets!! That’s honestly a big part of the reason I love getting physical versions, like yes I also just like reading physical books better but there’s so much cool design on a lot of books (especially manga) that you just don’t get digitally, you know?
some fun book jackets!!
囚獄のヴァニタス has this cool coffin imagery on the inside cover but also a whole little desk scene on the inside of the dust jacket!! Very fun
月刊少女野崎 puts 4-komas on the front and back as well:
ブルーロック does like おじさん versions of all of the covers
I think my favorite is ヴァニタスの手記 though, the dust jackets are already this really nice matte cardstock-type material, but there’s also shiny silver diagrams and things on the inside
Also didn’t realize I was in such a minority organizing by title It’s worked out so far!
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My OCD would want me to sort by 五十音順 rather than English alphabetical order, but that sounds awful. I don’t have 五十音順 memorized well enough to allow me to do it without thinking.
Regarding book jackets / covers, the manga 私の百合はお仕事です has some interesting ones. It takes place in a fake yuri cafe, except the MC is actually hated by the girl acting as her yuri partner. The two versions of the cover show that dynamic. (I didn’t actually enjoy the series, so only have two volumes to show off.)
The inner covers for ひとりぼっちの〇〇生活 are also cool. They show the main character’s circle of friends growing over the volumes.
ご注文はうさぎですか is a bit weird, in that the inner cover is used to show the table of contents. Not particularly convenient to be honest.
Nothing else from my collection has a noteworthy cover, as far as I can find from a quick scan.
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You could always sort them in いろは order!
…wait, that actaully sounds kind of fun…
And I’m also a huge fan of cool book jackets! I love when there’s a secret second cover underneath with fun stuff. A couple of the https://learnnatively.com/series/b819949277/ manga covers have a すごろく board based on the story (which stretches across multiple books), and https://learnnatively.com/book/34a3821326/ has several self-referential cover jokes, such as volume 3 with a manga that features the previous volumes’ cover illustrations as characters.
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This isn’t everything I own, but my mom happened across these in a thrift/antique/consignment shop in the next town over. SUPER weird place for them to end up. I asked the cashier about it and she told me that all of the anime/japanese stuff is brought in by one guy because his wife is japanese. Needless to say that I’ll be going to visit the shop more in the future.
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Cut out the middle man and make friends with the lady.
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I am still unpacking things from my move and got around to setting up my manga and other Japanese books bookshelf, so showing that off a little bit
Edit: Hid photos (realized kind of big) and added an explanation on how I organize my bookshelf.
Shelf detail shots & organization explanation
Top shelf: series, some novels, and then books that grouped together by publisher on left, then a few extra books that fit thematically.
Middle shelf: left side are grammar books including text and work books. Right hand side are book I have both in Japanese and English for the purpose of practicing translating.
Bottom shelf: Miscellaneous books on the right, left are blank notebooks and magazines. The book facing forward is something my teacher gave me when I visited Japan that he wrote.
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Apparently I never shared my collection here. I think I made this video last year, so it’s fairly up to date.
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