Chaos and Kanji is the blog where I write about my adventures through Japan!
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Thursday, June 8, 2017
Yui! Album Jacket Trading Cards
Do you love music and trading cards? Do you remember collecting CDs or record albums, and all the space those awesome covers took up? Well, do I have the product for you!
I don't know much about these, other than the only ones I've seen are what I'm sharing with you. Yui is/was a Japanese musician who got her start in 2004. She retired in 2012, but returned the next year before eventually getting married and having kids - that was a couple years ago, so she seems to be on extended hiatus or fully retired at this point.
.These are a little smaller than standard sized cards across and are square shaped. The card stock is thicker, too.
The fronts have the images found on the CD covers. Backs give various details - what album or single it is, the release number, and title is at the top. The release date is followed by a track listing and some Japanese text that gives the smallest bit of information about the release. A "Yui" logo, "Jacket Trading Card" and the copyright is at the bottom.
As you can see here, multiple covers get multiple cards - Namidairo has two identical releases other than the front image and release number.
I've never heard Yui's music, but when I saw these little cards I had to pick them up.
As I mentioned, a very quick search didn't turn up anything other than Yui having these cards, so it could have been some kind of campaign. I don't know anything about how or exactly when they were issued, though my "newest" card has a 2010 release date, so they're no more than 7 years old.
I love this concept. The size isn't convenient for storage, but since they aren't much narrower than standard cards they'll fit well into card boxes. I would totally collect these for a lot of my favorite artists - everyone from Queen, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, and Madonna, to Avril Lavigne, Ben Folds, and Britney Spears. And in this day of digital music, having a cool card "album cover" for Taylor Swift and other modern artists would be awesome.
And for those who are wondering, here's a Yui song:
(You might be able to watch more through YouTube but I had a hard time finding one that wasn't blocked by Sony.)
I actually have some of those albums & singles. Some of Yui's music was used for different openings & endings for the Bleach anime and I became enough of a fan to check Kinokuniya or BookOff for CDs when I was in Manhattan.
If you ever go to San Francisco, there is a shop called Amoeba Music (I hope it's still there!) in the Haight District, as well as other locations. The Haight shop had a decent selection of imports, including Japanese music. If you're still interested in any of it you might have some luck there. Or Japantown, off Geary Blvd.
Very cool cards. Wish other artists would do this. Back in the 80's, they had miniature album covers that contained a bubblegum album. They're called Chu Bops. I've been slowly building a master collection for a few years now and I'm about 40% of the way.
That's pretty sweet too! I'd be interested in a modern (and historic, too) set of these, but I'm guessing the market isn't very big and licensing would be a real pain these days.
Those are awesome!
ReplyDeleteI actually have some of those albums & singles. Some of Yui's music was used for different openings & endings for the Bleach anime and I became enough of a fan to check Kinokuniya or BookOff for CDs when I was in Manhattan.
If you ever go to San Francisco, there is a shop called Amoeba Music (I hope it's still there!) in the Haight District, as well as other locations. The Haight shop had a decent selection of imports, including Japanese music. If you're still interested in any of it you might have some luck there. Or Japantown, off Geary Blvd.
DeleteVery cool cards. Wish other artists would do this. Back in the 80's, they had miniature album covers that contained a bubblegum album. They're called Chu Bops. I've been slowly building a master collection for a few years now and I'm about 40% of the way.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty sweet too! I'd be interested in a modern (and historic, too) set of these, but I'm guessing the market isn't very big and licensing would be a real pain these days.
Delete