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The story
On September 1st, a video published in April 2021 by the academic-pedigree YouTube channel “wakatte.tv” (770,000 subscribers) went viral again on social media. In the clip, a cast member calls a graduate’s diploma from Waseda University’s commencement ceremony a “safety net” (a pun on backup university choices), sets it on the ground, and sits down on top of it. The video has been publicly viewable since its release and has racked up 880,000 views, but criticism exploded after a Waseda University professor called out the channel by name on X (formerly Twitter), saying “This is inhuman behavior.” On 5channel threads, opinions split between those who see academic-pedigree mockery as the channel’s whole shtick — priced in from the start — and those who say using an individual graduate’s actual diploma crossed a line.
A video published in 2021 by the academic-pedigree YouTube channel “wakatte.tv” (770,000 subscribers), in which cast member Fumin Takada calls a Waseda University graduate’s diploma a “safety net” before sitting down on top of it, has gone viral again. On September 1st, a professor at the university criticized the clip on X, calling it “inhuman behavior.”
Diploma Placed on the Ground, Then Sat On
The video in question is “Fumin Goes Off the Rails!? Investigating Where Waseda Students Get Jobs After Graduation!”, published April 11, 2021 (roughly 880,000 views). Timed to Waseda’s commencement ceremony, the segment involved asking graduates leaving the ceremony about their job placements.
Source: yutura.net / Original article here
What people said
Yeah, dreams alone~ (quoting the Saint Seiya anime opening theme)
They're in serious trouble right now, something like 2.8 billion yen
We don't need videos that put others down just to make people feel superior
If you tell them to cut that out, they'd have nothing left to make videos about lol
Like just shrugging and going "well that's pathetic lol"
[2025 Admissions] Which School Did "Double Acceptees" to Both Waseda and Keio Choose? — Resemom article https://s.resemom.jp/article/2025/07/18/82664.html
○Waseda Poli-Sci/Econ 85.7 – 14.3 Keio Law●
○Waseda Poli-Sci/Econ 80.0 – 20.0 Keio Econ●
●Waseda Law 41.7 – 58.3 Keio Law○
○Waseda Commerce 77.8 – 22.2 Keio Commerce●
△Waseda Letters 50.0 – 50.0 Keio Letters△
○Waseda Culture, Media & Society 75.0 – 25.0 Keio Letters●
○Waseda Fundamental Sci & Eng 76.2 – 23.8 Keio Sci & Eng●
○Waseda Creative Sci & Eng 73.7 – 26.3 Keio Sci & Eng●
○Waseda Advanced Sci & Eng 73.5 – 26.5 Keio Sci & Eng●
Overall selection rate for same-field double acceptances:
Waseda 73.6% — Keio 26.4%
When 🟥 [Waseda] and 🟦 [Keio] fans call stuff like this trivial, that's exactly what makes them look like clowns
We're just feeding their engagement
It's not going to get the channel shut down though
"Regarding the conduct in the video in question, due to our poorly chosen wording, it came across to many viewers in a way that differed from our intent. We sincerely apologize to everyone at Waseda University and all related parties for any discomfort or trouble this may have caused."
Handkerchief Prince: "…" (nickname for Waseda alum and famous ex-pitcher Yuki Saito)
People poisoned by academic-pedigree obsession are just messed up in the head — it's honestly kind of sad.
If they don't file one, that just means they're fine with this kind of video
>the academic-pedigree YouTube channel "wakatte.tv" (770,000 subscribers)
Never heard of it
not exactly in a position to look down on other people's education
He's openly said he dropped out of Kyoto University because he couldn't keep up with the coursework — not like those YouTubers with weirdly misplaced pride
He personally experienced the core problem with Japan's education system firsthand — someone who cleared a brutal entrance-exam screening still couldn't keep up with undergrad coursework that isn't even that hard — and yet here he is making content that props up that very same system. Kind of a letdown.
Fighting back with counterarguments is too risky for them, so a half-assed apology plus deleting the video is their only real move
Even idiots get in
I went to Kyushu University, but I had a dumb classmate who couldn't even do math get into Waseda — just grinding humanities subjects only lol
Bragging that shamelessly about Kyushu University means you've got to be pretty old
I'm an old guy too so I get the feeling, but say that to young people today and they'd think you were completely unhinged
These days Kyushu University gets looked down on in the greater Tokyo area
40 years ago, Waseda had students who'd turned down the old Imperial Universities to go there
Even in the greater Tokyo area, the old Imperial Universities rank above Keio and Waseda
And anyway, he should've done this stunt with his own diploma
He's only a high school grad, so he doesn't have one
Looked it up — turns out that was back in 1994. No internet back then, so I guess it made the newspapers?
Guess everyone was thinking of the same story lol
It even got covered on Denpa Shonen (a famous Japanese TV variety show)
There's probably something going on with him
Well, he is just a middle-aged high school grad after all
Background and Key Points of This Story
wakatte.tv is an academic-pedigree YouTube channel with 770,000 subscribers, known for content that mocks university students over their academic credentials. The video at the center of this controversy was published in April 2021 and has 880,000 views; it already had some recognition at the time, but it rapidly went viral again after a Waseda University professor called it out by name on X on September 1st. Opinions in the thread split between those who see academic-pedigree mockery as the whole point of the channel’s content — “why is this a surprise now?” — and those who argue that using the setting of a commencement ceremony and an individual graduate’s actual diploma crosses a line. The discussion was also fueled by the fact that the cast members’ own educational backgrounds (only a high school diploma, a Kyoto University dropout, etc.) became a talking point themselves, creating an ironic situation where the credentials of those mocking others’ credentials ended up under scrutiny. It’s worth noting that neither whether the video was filmed on university grounds, nor whether the diploma was used with the graduate’s consent, has been confirmed with certainty within the thread.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “[Academic Pedigree] wakatte tv Sits on a Waseda Student’s Diploma — Old Video Resurfaces and Blows Up… Waseda Professor Erupts: “This Is Inhuman Behavior”“.
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