Amid the controversy over “wakatte TV,” a YouTube channel focused on academic pedigree and university rankings that posted a video mocking Fukushima University’s research activities, Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto said at a September 4 press conference that “judging a university’s research ability by its hensachi (exam-difficulty deviation score) is not appropriate.” On 5channel threads, opinions split — some backed the remark as “spot on,” while others pushed back with claims like “hensachi and research ability are correlated” and “this isn’t even a crime to begin with.” The thread was also notable for veering into casual chatter about the educational backgrounds of both the streamer himself and the minister.
At a press conference on the 4th, Education Minister Yohei Matsumoto addressed the controversy over a video creator focused on academic background and entrance exams posting a video containing remarks mocking Fukushima University's research activities, stating that "judging a university's research ability by its hensachi (exam-difficulty deviation score) is not appropriate."
Actually, that's insult (bujoku-zai), a real criminal offense
People get sued for online harassment these days, so mocking someone's academic background is no different
Nah, they're not making sense
Research ability and hensachi are directly correlated
By that logic
every piece of research in Japan except Tokyo University's gets dismissed
and honestly, on the world stage, even Todai's research gets dismissed along with the rest of Japan's universities
Even if it's entertainment, content that spreads misunderstanding or bias isn't okay
Other countries have plenty of cases where the government asked the US to get a channel banned
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJwoA5gel1I
High school grad, pulling in over ¥100 million a year, top-bracket taxpayer
Wait, being a cabinet minister pays that well?
Isn't it wild that a high school grad is running the Education Ministry?
Does that even happen?
Graduated from Keio University, Faculty of Economics, Department of Economics
Keio Econ, huh
Probably got brainwashed by Takeda Juku (a cram school chain) and turned into a monster
The mindset that whoever pulls in viewers, by whatever means, is untouchable is exactly why people keep escalating
These guys are the root of all evil
It's crazy that Breaking Down (the fight-event YouTube franchise) hasn't been banned either
Just don't watch it then
Only the Mizoguchi crowd is even into that stuff
That's basically pro wrestling — staged drama
It's fine when it stays among insiders, but dragging unrelated parties into it is a different story
If so, what charge would it even be?
Nope, won't happen
He only mocked a school, not an individual, so it doesn't even count as harassment
We lose, despite all our effort to stoke the flames
President Hayashi's been stirring up trouble against Fukushima University over this too
I think he's the real root of all evil
That's more like a bonus segment
The main content is campus tours
Hiroyuki (college grad)
Hezuma (college grad)
Karasawa (college grad)
Takada Fumin (high school grad)
Lol, this guy's just projecting himself onto the high school grad
One of them's got a criminal record though
YouTubers really are invincible, huh
Can't quit that controversy-marketing grind, huh
Well, Facebook got sued and forced to pay trillions of yen for making money while exposing kids to criminal harm
For Big Tech, playing the villain is nothing
As long as you don't actually break the law, stirring up hate is easy
These days whoever gets noticed wins 😏
'Infamy beats obscurity' isn't just some sketchy old saying anymore
What about all the other universities he's trashed before, lol
Seems like resentment had been building gradually before this, and it just exploded this time
Background and Key Points of This Story
wakatte TV is a YouTube channel with a large subscriber base that showcases university campuses and hensachi (exam-difficulty) rankings, long known for content built around academic pedigree. This time, an episode covering Fukushima University’s research activities drew backlash, leading to the unusual development of the Education Minister addressing it directly at a press conference. That said, the minister’s statement that “judging research ability by hensachi is not appropriate” carries no legal weight — it’s simply an expressed opinion. Thread reactions split between those who saw the remark as validating their criticism and those who countered that criticizing a university isn’t a crime in itself. The academic backgrounds of both the streamer and the minister also became a talking point, but that’s a separate tangent from the video’s actual content and should be read apart from the article’s core question of whether the minister’s remark was appropriate.
※This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5channel (Nanademo Jikkyo G) thread “[Breaking] wakatte TV Gets Scolded by the Education Minister wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.”