--- title: "Obi Strip: What It Is, Where It Came From, How to Keep It" description: "The obi is the paper strip on Japanese records and CDs. What it carries, where it came from, how to tell it belongs to your copy, and how to keep it intact." canonical: "https://www.recordbyrecord.app/en/blog/obi-strip/" locale: "en" published: "2026-10-07" updated: "2026-10-07" --- # What Is an Obi Strip? The Paper Band on Japanese Records A Japanese record often comes with a narrow paper band wrapped around the left side of its sleeve. Plenty of listeners threw it away once they got home. The obi is a paper strip found on Japanese records and CDs. Audio-Technica's glossary calls it **a Japanese custom that records made elsewhere usually lack**. Collectors around the world now look for it by name. ## What the obi carries The front usually shows the title in large type, with a tagline, the catalogue number and the price in smaller print. The back often advertises related releases or playback equipment. On Western records sold in Japan, the obi did a second job. It gave the Japanese title, the artist's name in Japanese and a line of copy aimed at local listeners. Audio-Technica describes it as advertising for the home market. CDs carry the same kind of strip. Japanese Wikipedia describes it as a stiffer card folded twice to match the case, fitted over the spine. In Japan it is often simply called a cap. ## When and why it began The sources disagree on when. Japanese Wikipedia and a Japanese record-buying column put it around the 1950s; Discogs' feature on the obi says the 1960s. **The sources don't name a first label or title.** The reason is debated too. A feature in the Japanese magazine BRUTUS offers one explanation among several: when selling foreign records, a strip in Japanese made them easier to understand. The shape has varied as well. Goldmine describes the earliest obi, the hankake obi, as a strip draped over the top of the sleeve without closing into a loop. A *kabuse* obi fits over the top edge of the sleeve; most obis wrap around the left side. ## Does this obi belong to this record? Most obis are only wrapped around the sleeve, not glued down. **They slip off easily and get lost just as easily.** So check that the obi you hold belongs to the same edition as the record. 1. Compare the catalogue number on the obi with the one on the spine and on the label. If they differ, the obi may have come from another edition. 2. Read the printed price. Price formats and obi designs changed over the years, so they help narrow down when a copy was issued. 3. Check the obi itself is genuine. Paper is easier to copy than a sleeve or a record, and a column by a Disk Union store manager and buyer warns that rare obis are best assumed to have counterfeits. The same column shows what betrays a fake, with real examples: logos with square, jagged edges that the phototypesetting of the period could not produce, or the same logo in a different font and feel. On a hankake obi, glue traces at the top of the back are a mark of the real thing, though their absence proves nothing. And since counterfeiters dirty their copies to make them look old, an aged look proves nothing either. Nor do the tells stay valid forever — the fakers keep producing new versions. Pin down one feature that is hard to reproduce, and when in doubt, leave the record: that is the column's conclusion. An obi can date a design without proving the age of the record inside. Some reissues, such as one Sony Music Japan announced in 2023, **reproduce the original obi faithfully**, and some paper-sleeve CDs reproduce obi designs too. When an obi looks exactly like the first edition's, confirm the record itself with our [guide to identifying a pressing](https://www.recordbyrecord.app/en/blog/identify-vinyl-pressing/) and the runout, the smooth area between the last track and the label. **The grade may not mention the obi** A condition grade describes the vinyl and the sleeve. Whether the obi is present, and its state, is often written in a separate line or the notes. Our [guide to record grading](https://www.recordbyrecord.app/en/blog/record-grading/) explains how to read a listing. ## Keeping it in one piece The obi is thin paper. Shops in Japan look at more than whether it is there: fading, tears and creases count too. - **Keep it with the record.** Put a loose obi back in the same outer sleeve as the jacket. A Tokyo record shop suggests a clear polypropylene bag. - **Keep it out of the light.** The Northeast Document Conservation Center notes that light fades paper, and the damage is cumulative and irreversible. Shelve away from direct sun. - **Keep it dry.** In damp rooms the obi can wrinkle and tears come more easily. For the shelf as a whole, see our guide to [organising vinyl and CDs](https://www.recordbyrecord.app/en/blog/organise-vinyl-and-cds/). ## Note the obi, copy by copy The same album with and without its obi is two different copies, and shops treat them that way. [Record by Record](https://www.recordbyrecord.app/en/) keeps condition, notes and photos for each copy. Write down whether the obi is there, with its catalogue number and printed price, and the next time you meet the same record you will know what sets them apart. --- HTML version: https://www.recordbyrecord.app/en/blog/obi-strip/