What day is today?

?English:cf.http://www.matino-akari.com/linksyu/news.cgi?mode=vew&resno=7469
8月8日はプチプチもらってプチプチする日。

8月8日は「プチプチの日」らしい。
August 8th is called as "Puti-puti day".


プチプチというのは川上産業株式会社(愛知県名古屋市)の商標で、正式名称は「気泡キャップ」。
"Puti-puti" is a brand name which is registered by Kawakami-Sangyo Co., Ltd and the official name is "Kihou-Cap (air cell cap)".


海外ではBubble Wrap(バブルラップ)とかAir Cap(エアーキャップ)などと呼ばれているようですが、
It is also called "Bubble Wrap" or "Air Cap" in overseas.


“88(パチパチ)”と潰すことなどから8月8日を“プチプチの日”として、
They set up August 8th for "Puti-puti day", as a kind of equivoque.


新しい可能性を知って貰うため日本の主要駅でプチプチを無料配布する啓蒙活動を毎年行うそうです。
They said they do enlightenment activities on the day annually, in order to people be able to know the new possibility, they hand out Puti-puti to people for free.


で新しい可能性ってナンダ?
However, what's the "new possibility" of it?

プチプチがあるとつい潰したくなる人がいますが、
Some people would feel themselves compelled to pop when they find some Puti-puti.


川上産業によるとこれは「本能」だそうで(あるテレビ番組の実験でチンパンジーに渡したところ、同様に潰しはじめたらしい)、
Kawakami-Sangyo says it is one of the “instincts”, in a TV program it was reported that a chimpanzee that was handed out, started to pop as well as people.


cf.http://fun.from.hell.pl/2003-11-24/bubblewrap.swf
これちょっと楽しい。Manic Modeとか最高。