What do you do with the obi on Japanese CDs?

[explodingbird]

Well, since it seems to be exclusive to Japanese albums (or Japanese versions of any album), i must ask - after seeing so much obsessio over te things:

What is so damn SPECIAL about the obi strip? You know, that little strip of paper that wraps around the spine of an album, on the left side (if viewed from the front). It does nothing, it doesn't exactly seem to have much purpose in being there except to say "HEY THIS CD IS FROM JAPAN" (which, again: Why such a big deal? It's not like it's the only country that makes good music), and it looks ugly more often than not.

I usually just throw mine away.

So, again, I must ask: Why such a brouhaha for the obi strip?