I buy, because I care.

Reading magazines is one of the things I cannot live without. There is this notion in the society (at least in Japan) that a hierarchy exists in the publication world - that literature and newspapers come first, regular books the second, and magazines and comic books at the bottom. I resent that hierarchy especially in these days when they publish lords of very trashy business / pop culture books, and when newspapers publish lots of sponsored articles which are copied and pasted many times (and people in Japan tend to think that what they read in the newspapers are the facts).
Think about how much time and energy and intelligence spent in some of the high quality magazines... Like below.


雑誌を読むのが好きなのです。世の中には出版物の中に見えないヒエラルキーのようなものがあって、文学や新聞が偉く、一般書籍は次に偉く、雑誌(と漫画)は一番下、みたいな雰囲気があると思うのですが（わたしが思っているだけ？）、最近の書店に並ぶビジネス書の薄っぺらさといい、アイドル本（存在自体が理解できない）の。。。といい、新聞には半ば広告のような記事がならぶことといい、雑誌の位置づけの低さが不思議になります。
上の写真のような雑誌、手間ひまとインテリジェンスとセンスが詰め込まれていて、ひとつの記事を制作するのにかける時間は半端じゃない。

These are my favorite Japanese magazines: Esquire Japan, ku:nel (a lifestyle magazine with some crafty touch), kangaeru-hito (meaning a person in deep thoughts, they collects themed essays and interviews), and Kuroshio-no-techo (another women lifestyle magazine, the target audiences' age is a bit higher but the contents are great nonetheless).
Unfortunately, Esquire Japan went out of business a few years ago. It was definitely better than the US Esquire magazine for sure.
残念ながら廃刊になってしまったエスクワイヤー日本版。ku:nel、いつも愛読している考える人、そして、世代がちょっと違うかなと思いつつ大好きな暮しの手帖。

To avoid the same thing to happen to my other favorites, I buy them.
You can read them at the libraries, but you shouldn't, if you care.
残りのお気に入りも廃刊になっちゃったら悲しいので、買ってます。
図書館でも借りられるけど、もし雑誌というカルチャーに一票投じたいなら、皆さんもやっぱり買って下さい。