Students the same world over; soft tank internet anime

Today we spent class with the grade sixes in the computer lab doing internet research for a special english project. Nearing the end of class, we unhitched them to roam the (filtered) internet themselves. Immediately they headed to the Japanese version of youtube.com, mostly to watch "internet anime". This is a segment of Japanese culture that had previously escaped me but I wasn't too surprised to see that anime had evolved again. Most of the kids ran to one particular anime; a series of cartoons based on a cute tank, of course, that is, in reality, a type of chinese dumpling available at most convenience stores in Japan: Yawaraka. If that sounds bizarre to you, it is! Consider this post its North American debut because I really didn't get. (Should run fine on all browsers. The episodes are the small rounded rectangles toward the middle. Play with sound up! It's cute! ) I was intrigued by the same response exhibited by Japanese students under the same conditions. The same is true in Canada; you can't hold any grade six back from quirky internet video. I found it hard to chastise students laughing so hard they could barely breath. One of my many weakness. Nothing to do but enjoy the adventures of the "soft tank".