Another Edition of Project Japan

The question that whether the two paper bands are part of the cover reminds me of the Japanese version of Project Japan (Heibonsha, February 25th, 2012 ) I discovered during the summer, where the two vertical bands are replaced by one horizontal band called obi, using the same color code.

Obi is commonly seen in Japanese publications usually for advertising the book. On the pink band is the comment of the interviewer (the advertising part), while on the orange band is a summary of the book content which is similar to the description of the English version but from a more local point of view. 

It's interesting to see that on Heibonsha's website, the book comes without the obi, while on Taschen's website it's shown with the two bands. It reveals the fact that obi is not usually considered as part of the book. Besides, Obi wraps around the book while the two vertical bands only wraps around the front cover.

Heibonsha(2012/2/25)/ Taschen (2011/10/28)