I live in Japan. I would like to record the circumstances of Japanese bubblers as of December 2020.
Sodium Polyacrylate
Sodium polyacrylate sold as a food additive in Japan. It costs about $ 10 at amazon.co.jp.
Most of Japanese bubblers do not use PEO. J-Lube is not sold in Japan and is expensive to import from overseas. The same is true for guar gum.
Instead, they use Sodium Polyacrylate as a polymer.
The advantage of using sodium polyacrylate is that it is cheap.
100 grams costs about $ 10 on Amazon.co.jp. You can make over 6 liters of soap bubble liquid with 3-5 grams of sodium polyacrylate.
And it's easy to formulate. Simply mix the sodium polyacrylate powder in tap water little by little and dissolve. When it is completely hydrated, add detergent.
While some people still use japanese laundry starch, active bubblers use sodium polyacrylate to create bubbles. In Japan, it’s a game changer now.
Note : Sodium polyacrylate, especially sold as snow powder or magic tricks, is highly cross-linked and insoluble in water. Use what is sold as a food additive.
Japanese detergents
Currently, there are three major detergents in Japan. “Charmy Magica” , ”Cucute(Kyu-kyutto)” , and ”Joy”(not ”Joy Ultra”).
Charmy Magica is the successor to Charmy, but its surfactant ratio has been reduced from the 40% range to the 29%. However, some people feel that the color and scent is the best of the three, so they like it.
Cucute(Kyu-kyutto) contains the most surfactant of the three (37%), so it’s favored by people who want big soap bubbles.
Charmy Magica and Cucute(Kyu-kyutto) are ghostless, clean popping. (I have confirmed that Joy produces ghosts, but it's a small amount compared to the Dawn family. (Added in February 2021))
In terms of effectiveness, I usually use Cucute(Kyu-kyutto), but I don't feel much difference from Charmy Magica. Which one to use depends on personal preference.
The Dawn family of detergents is not for sale in Japan. That's why most people use the above three.
Cucute is labeled as neutral detergents (not alkaline). So maybe less ph adjusters are needed than in Dawn. (When mixing common solutions with Japanese tap water and Cucute and polymer, the pH is about 7.3-7.5 before ph adjustment.)
(Added August 2022) Kao Corporation has changed the composition of Cucute. The new Cucute does not appear to be as good an ingredient as the old Cucute. See blog post. / Anomalous occurrence (and its cause) / Comparative test of old and new version Cucute (analysis by projection)
Japanese Sodium Polyacrylate Recipe
Articles about standard recipes have been moved to the following pages.
Wands with Plastic Chain
In Japan, many bubblers are bubbling as some kind of performer. (They use SNS such as Instagram and Twitter). They prefer garland wands, which produces a lot of small bubbles, because garland bubbles can be more eye-catching and more photogenic.
When making garland wands, many of them use plastic chains instead of strings.
The advantages of plastic chains are their ease of maintenance (impressively easy to wash!) , and their light weight.
It seems that the amount of liquid retained is certainly slightly reduced. However, it is so lightweight that the benefits are quite significant for producing large numbers of small bubbles over and over again. On the other hand, it does not seem to be suitable for making world-class super giant bubbles.
It is a plastic chain sold in Japan. It cost about $ 32 for 15m.
The nominal size is written on label as "2mm". Almost the same size as a ballpoint pen.
I connect like this.
The metal fittings rotate to prevent entanglement.
Thin plastic chain (2mm) is very popular with children because when shaken quickly, a lot of fine bubbles like snow are released into the air.
7,Dec,2020 PlasticChain
This is a video of a garland made of a plastic chain(2mm, a chain of very small rings). I think it's a sufficient amount of bubbles. When I swing the chain quickly, small bubbles like snow fly in the air. (Sodium Polyacrylate solution)
In my case, I use wands that combines chains in three columns. Plastic chains are must. Not possible with cotton garland (I can't hold it physically. It's too heavy!).
The solution using sodium polyacrylate and the plastic chain wand was invented by Japanese bubbler Tadao Kurisaka.
He started outdoor bubbling in 2002.
He says he started using the plastic chain wand around 2010, and the sodium polyacrylate around 2014.
Sodium polyacrylate is the main ingredient in the Japanese personal lubricant PePe lotion. He initially considered using the lubricant, but it was not cost-effective. In Japan, sodium polyacrylate is available as a food additive, so he tried that and it worked.
# I'm not an English speaker, so I'm using google translate. If there is something wrong, calibrate it.