The photo below shows some bookshelves full of “manga” comic books in a Japanese bookstore.

The following mangas are my favorites; one is about “hot spring baths,” and the other is about “how to cook spice curry.” They’re both kind of one-shot comics.

The photo below shows some magazines for women stacked in one corner of a bookstore.
These days, magazines along with one or two “free gifts” are popular, especially among women.

As you can see in the photo above, they are very thick because they have free gifts stuck inside!

The gifts are not visible from outside, but you can see the sample on the walls before you decide whether to buy the magazine.

The free gifts are usually things like “small bags,” “makeup items,” and so on.

By the way, in Japanese bookstores, there is something you will probably be asked by the store clerk when you buy a book; “Would you like a jacket on your book?”

If you say “Yes,” you can get one for free.
The clerk will even put it on the book right in front of you.

It is said that this “free-jacket” custom was originally started as a kind of advertisement for the bookstores or publishers, or simply as a sign that the book was surely paid for (and not shoplifted).

Whatever the original reasons for putting a jacket on books may be, the main reason today would be that Japanese people tend to hide their books with a jacket because they do not want others to see what they are reading, especially when they are reading their books on trains or at public places.  Or maybe simply because they want to keep their books clean.

As the book-jacket custom is common in Japan, there are a variety of book jackets available; they are made of not only paper, but also cloth or leather.

I suppose this is a very unique custom that can be seen only Japan, isn’t it?