Last weekend, students in Japan were left wondering if their future dreams had been dashed due to the inexplicable appearance of Moomin in their exam paper.

The offending question in the Geography section of the National Center Test for University Admissions asked students to identify the language and setting of the classic Scandinavian cartoon.

The test and answers were made public afterwards, leaving even more people scratching their head. The correct answer was Finland and Finnish, but how could the student know this just by looking at a cartoon character?

According to the Japan Times, Markus Kokko, counselor of press and culture at the Finnish Embassy in Tokyo said, “while the Finnish author of the Moomins, Tove Jansson, may have written the stories with a Nordic nature in mind, the whole idea to the story is that it takes place in an imaginary place.”

It seems the test showed favour to fans of the series who would know the author’s nationality, although this is not actually the setting of the animation itself.

Many were left feeling disillusioned, and frustration expressed itself as what could be described as the best hashtag of the year so far (hey, it’s only January…) ‘Unforgivable Moomin’, demonising the animated character which may have caused many student’s downfall.

The Embassy of Finland in Japan saw the chance to turn this controversy into something positive and used it to encourage tourism on their official Twitter.

They wrote, 'Moomin was born in Finland, but where is Moominvalley?

Take this chance to search for Moominvalley by reading the original stories or taking a trip to Finland! In Finland there's places like the Moomin museum and nature which will make you think of his stories.

I wonder if Moominvalley is actually in all our hearts.'

So, if you’re thinking of entering a Japanese university, don't be a victim of the Unforgivable Moomin! Brush up on your obscure European animations to score those crucial points!