Japanese CD Single Packaging

What is the proper option for the long, narrow packaging that Japanese singles used to come in back in the day (maybe they still do)? I have no idea what to call them and I don’t know what packaging option I should choose when adding them. Searching for “long Japanese single box” didn’t give me any hints.
Example: ヤフオク! - 6/8cmシングルCD/雨都物語 川越美和

2 Likes

No expert on this, but after looking up a clearer example (EAGLES HOTEL CALIFORNIA / Japanese 3" mini CD single JAPAN / UK DESPATCH 4943674303229 | eBay), it looks like it could be considered a gatefold, at least temporarily? :thinking:

2 Likes

It is usually classified as a Digipak in my experience.

8cmCDシングルの発売

この縦長のシングルジャケットは日本独特のものである。基本的にはデジパックの様に紙ジャケットにプラスチック製のトレイを貼り付ける構造だった。

4 Likes

Yeah, Digipak sounds more accurate.
I think I get those mixed up more than I like. :woman_facepalming:

Hm. Is digipak good enough, or should a ticket be opened for a new packaging format?

3 Likes

I thought these were just referred to as being longbox?

A search for that term results in what I’d expect?

https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ffab&q=cd+longbox&iax=images&ia=images

EW have an article mentioning it as such from April 1990

They’re similar, but not quite the same. These are more like digipaks, most have three segments inside so you can fold them up and put them in your car.

1 Like

The big difference is the size.
Long box is huge, Japanese 8cm single packaging is rather small.

The long box width contains a regular 12cm CD jewel case in its middle.
If it contains 2 of them, OK, but indeed, only containing one of them is dumb marketing idea.

But this topic is about 8cm CD, those digipaks (not boxes) are small.
But it’s true half of their shape is waste, CD wise, but is used for the artwork.

Some of them (older releases) contain instructions to remove this padding half and fold the jacket, becoming a 8cm square package.
See: how to make it even smaller / さらにコンパクトに
But nobody ever did that, it ruins the artwork and the packaging itself, that, usually, you want to preserve… :wink:
Removing the useless half and folding the jacket are both irreversible.

3 Likes

These Japanese 8cm CD packages are sometimes called tanzaku, in reference to the long strips of paper used to write wishes during Tanabata. They are also sometimes known (at least in English) as snap packs due to how you can break off the bottom half to make them smaller.

It is superficially similar to digipak but not really the same thing at all. We don’t have a specific packaging type for this unfortunately, but we should. (our packaging type list is pretty sparse, really).

8 Likes

Thanks for the info about tanzaku 短冊

Snap Pack ticket:

2 Likes

@reosarevok is apparently very well-rested from his break because he immediately implemented the new packaging type when he got back :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

5 Likes