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The story
Businessman Takafumi Horie addressed online criticism of former AKB48 member Tomomi Itano on his YouTube channel. Some have accused Itano of “flexing” over the international school her daughter attends and her use of a foreign domestic-staffing service. Horie responded that it’s “envy from people who are economically poor,” predicting the backlash would “die down within a month.” The comment sparked debate on the 5ch Geino/Sports News+ board, with users split over whether dismissing criticism as mere envy is fair, and others pointing out real structural problems with international schools themselves.
Businessman Takafumi Horie, known as “Horiemon,” updated his YouTube channel on the 6th, sharing his personal take on online criticism aimed at former AKB48 member and TV personality Tomomi Itano.
In the video, the topic turned to criticism from some quarters accusing Itano of “flexing,” relating to her daughter attending an international school and her use of a foreign-born housekeeping staffer.
When his manager, who was interviewing him, asked, “Do you think kids develop more ability at an international school than at a Japanese school?” Horie replied, “I think that depends on the international school,” before adding, “But honestly, that criticism is just envy from people who are too poor to send their own kids to an international school even though they’d like to.”
Source: ggtnews.net / Original article here
What people said
Same-sex fans?
It's less about a specific group — there's always a certain number of people who just want to torch anything they can
Just guessing though
(´・ω・`)
Must be a personal grudge
she's going to keep getting dragged back into this
every single time something else happens
Most of them aren't recognized as real "schools" by Japan's Ministry of Education, so the only path forward after graduating is a university overseas
If your language skills don't develop enough, or your parents' finances happen to take a hit, you end up stuck going to one of the low-tier "F-rank" domestic universities that'll still accept international-school grads — there's genuinely no way out
What's dumb is they're blind to all the people who earn way more than them and never get criticized at all
I eat vegetables because they're delicious!
Background and key points of the debate
Horie’s “criticism equals envy” line is a familiar refrain of his, and this latest YouTube comment is just the newest instance of it. What split the thread was the validity of that argument itself: some questioned dismissing critics’ points outright based on their finances rather than engaging with the substance, while others countered that most of the criticism really is tinged with jealousy anyway. Worth noting, though, is that many international schools aren’t officially recognized as “schools” under Japan’s School Education Act by the Ministry of Education — meaning graduates’ options afterward can be limited mainly to universities abroad. That’s a structural issue facing any family that chooses international education, not just something specific to Itano. It’s worth remembering that this institutional point tends to get buried under the more emotionally charged “envy” debate.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geino/Sports News+) thread “Takafumi Horie on criticism of Tomomi Itano: “There’s definitely some poor-people envy going on,” predicts backlash will “die down within a month”.”
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