Mystery roll of blue «something» from Japan

April 26, 2020 11:34 AM

I bought this blue thing in the housewares/hardware section of Oomomo, thinking it was some kind of tape. It's not any kind of tape I've seen before. What is it?

It's thin translucent blue plastic tape. It's not adhesive. It seems to be immensely strong lengthwise, but pulls apart/shreds easily crosswise. Is it some kind of uniaxially-extruded polypropylene for wrapping/strapping? Whatever it is, it's cheap and I have a lot of it now …

(I don't have any kind of label from it, sorry)

posted by scruss to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

It's probably for wrapping. I have some stretchy stuff that is awesome for holding odd shapes together like furniture legs you want to keep together. It's great for moving or storing largish household items.
posted by amanda at 11:38 AM on April 26, 2020

Response by poster: not wanting to thread-sit, but: it's not stretchy or grippy like stretch wrap. It's extremely slick.
posted by scruss at 12:01 PM on April 26, 2020

Does it cling to itself? If so, that would support the furniture wrap idea. I've definitely seen it in varying levels of stretchiness.
posted by sagc at 12:33 PM on April 26, 2020

My memory is foggy but I think I've seen that kind of plastic strip used to do things like tie together stacks of cardboard or newspapers for carrying places/storing. Wrapped around one side, crossed on the bottom and up the opposite side, tied on the top with a knot.
posted by past unusual at 1:56 PM on April 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Is it a blue teflon/plumber's/thread seal tape?
posted by meowzilla at 2:08 PM on April 26, 2020 [1 favorite]

Seconding that it sounds like teflon tape, if it shreds when you pull it apart. Does it feel slippery without being wet?
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 4:44 PM on April 26, 2020

Definitely wrapping tape, like this.
posted by fish tick at 6:35 PM on April 26, 2020

Best answer: This kind of tape is commonly used in Japan where we might use twine in the USA. Not sure what it's called—I checked the Tokyu Hands website and they referred to it as "PP ひも" (himo, ie polypropylene cord).
posted by adamrice at 8:18 PM on April 26, 2020 [2 favorites]

Best answer: we used a lot of that for crafts when i was working at my preschool and we called it スズランテープ (suzuran tape)
posted by emmling at 8:08 AM on April 27, 2020 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: Thanks! It's definitely twine. I found the remains of the label; looks like it's polyethylene after all.

After some image searching, I found “スズランテープ”. Looks like what I got was a generic version of Lily of the Valley / Suzuran tape.

(and no, it's definitely not plumber's tape/gas tape or stretch wrap: I use both of those.)
posted by scruss at 8:15 AM on April 27, 2020