> local friends describe their reason for buying CDs as "something to collect"

Also japanese CDs generally bundle lots of extras, it's not just a plastic disc and a 1-ply cover art, they tend to get extensive liner notes, DVD extras, event tickets (e.g. "hand shake" tickets in jpop CDs), etc… And really neat collector boxsets tend to be much more common and normal than in the west e.g. this: http://aap.blackaris2001.org/AlienHead/Alien25thAnniversaryC... was their Alien 25th Anniversary Collection boxset