Whatever you do, please don’t hand me a sheet of bubble wrap.

I’m not normally an OCD kind of person, but when I get my hands on that stuff I can’t stop until it’s all popped. Every last bubble of it.

It seems I’m not the only one. The Japanese have become so obsessed with the task that they’ve even got a name for it – puchipuchi – and toys to simulate popping the plastic. They’ve mass produced bubble wrap that releases an aroma when its ruptured and a CD of tunes dedicated to the pop.

Now a new gadget that is sweeping the nation.

Bandai has a keychain-sized gizmo called Puchipuchi that replicates the physical sensation of bursting the bubbles and even the sound that accompanies the act.

There are rewards for repeated popping. For every 100 “bubbles” that you burst, a different noise will replace the “pop.” You might hear a doorbell ring, a dog bark or flatulence.

Once this fad has passed, like they all do, and all these little toys are abandoned, will the man who recycled chopsticks into a functional boat find a way to reuse the Puchipuchi?

Tags: puchipuchi, bubble wrap, Bandai, gadgets, compulsions, pop

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