Let's Japan.org Debunking Eikaiwa and Ramblings in Japan

The Fukuoka General Union has a long read titled The ALT Scam that points out the problems with BOEs outsourcing ALT jobs.

The main points are:

1. ALT jobs have been deemed a "service" so local governments can save money and avoid the management of foreign employees.
2. It is illegal for sub-contracted ALT teachers to work at public schools
3. ALTs/Dispatch companies don't know if they will get the next job/contract
4. Most ALT jobs advertised will not eventuate because they do not exsist and nobody knows if they will eventuate
5. Dispatch companies take big margins and the more they squeeze the ALT the more profit they make
6. Sub-contract ALTs are in reality double taxed losing 5% to consumption tax
7. Dispatch companies make profits from not enrolling ALTs in SH
8. A sub-contract ALT has practically no recourse if the school deems them sub-standard
9. BOEs ignore the Ministry of Education directive to employ ALTs directly
10. The BOE has no way of knowing if the dispatch company is breaking labour laws

Get a cup of your favorite beverage and read it all...

h/t Mogura

This is going to leave a mark:

China's Education Ministry on Sunday warned students considering studying overseas against Australian schools run by the GEOS group after more than 40 Chinese students were left stranded with the group's collapse.

More than 2,300 students in GEOS group schools across Australia were affected after the college closures. The schools were scattered across Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Cairns.

GEOS is a Japanese company which owns hundreds of colleges around the world. The GEOS group has run out of money for its Australian colleges,according to Australian media reports.

Chinese embassies and consulates in Australia are negotiating with local authorities to settle the issue to safeguard students' legitimate rights.

The Education Ministry has drawn up a recommendation list of nearly 15,000 schools in 33 countries worldwide on its website. The recommended schools are relatively trustworthy and reliable.

Australia has been a preferred destination for overseas education for Indian and Chinese students.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics said the number of Chinese student enrollments was 146,000 by June 2009, up an average annual 16 percent over the past six years.

Remember, Kusunoki has told us that everything is just fine with GEOS.

It took the Consumer Affairs Agency long enough. From the Yomiuri Shimbun:

The Consumer Affairs Agency and the Tokyo metropolitan government on Thursday ordered a Tokyo-based English-language conversation school chain operator to suspend operations due to its coercive method of selling its services to university students and others.

Fortress Japan talked customers into signing contracts for the purchase of English-learning programs, often telling students, "You'll never be able to find work with your current English-language abilities."

The authorities issued the order based on the Specified Commercial Transactions Law.

A consumer organization certified by the prime minister filed a lawsuit last year arguing that Fortress Japan's way of soliciting customers was against the law. Last March, the plaintiff and the company reached the first settlement of its kind in the nation.

There are seven consumer organizations across the nation certified by the prime minister to file lawsuits against companies over aggressive sales schemes. The certifications were introduced to discourage dubious or illegal sales schemes before damages proliferate.

But the authorities said Fortress Japan continued to use unlawful sales practices after the settlement, leading to the stricter punishment by the agency.

According to the news brief released by the Consumer Affairs Agency [PDF], Fortress Japan has been ordered to cease operations for 6 months from February 19 until August 18. During that time, they are not allowed to solicit new contracts, accept applications for lessons, or conclude any contracts.

I previously wrote about Fortress Japan breaking its promise not to be evil, but they just couldn't help themselves. The article offers this example:

Last April, a man in the Kansai region who was then a third-year university student was approached by a female employee of Fortress Japan in front of his university campus. She asked him to fill out a simple survey about English conversation and job-hunting activities.

He wrote his name and phone number on the sheet, and was frequently called about attending an introduction meeting.

He finally agreed to attend a meeting, but ended up being confined in a small room together with a male employee of the company for three hours and was cajoled into signing a contract for lessons.

When the student tried to refuse, the employee looked down at him and demanded he sign the contract, telling him, "You'll never survive in the business world with such a carefree attitude."

Unbelievable. While it's good that the Consumer Affairs Agency put an end to Fortress Japan, consumers need to wise up and grow a backbone.

Remember Fortress Japan? Back in 2008, they were caught stealing a page or two out of Nova's playbook with some underhanded sales tactics. The Kansai Consumer's Support Organization (KCSO) sued, and in 2009, Fortress Japan promised to change its ways and behave.

According to the Sankei shimbun, the KSCO has asked the court in December to force Fortress Japan to pay 1.5 million yen in penalties, claiming that the English school operator broke its promise not engage in unfair sales practices.

The KSCO says that despite Fortress Japan's promise, they still told potential students that they could take lessons any time and pressured them into signing contracts. The consumer group confirmed the practices with three individuals last November and demanded that each person be paid 500 thousand yen each in compensation. Fortress Japan, however, has asked for a reprieve and has not paid the money.

Comment: What else can be said? Fortress Japan is but one example of the persistent rot in eikaiwa. Both the Mainichi and Sankei reported in November last year that complaints about the way eikaiwas (self-improvement seminars, certification courses, and computer schools were also mentioned) did business were rising. Specifically, the Sankei article reports that a typical tactic is to call a customer, usually university students, and tell them they have some useful information regarding their job hunt. Once at the school, the customer is given a guilt trip (you'll never find a job without taking English lessons) and then made to sign a contract.

The rip-off continues...

Sankei article

就活生へ不当勧誘、英会話学校に違約金求め提訴　消費者ＮＰＯ

2009.12.25 11:05

就職活動中の大学生を対象に大阪や東京などで英会話や就職支援の教室を運営する「フォートレスジャパン」（東京）が、不当な勧誘をしないとした裁判上の和解条項を守っていないとして、ＮＰＯ法人「消費者支援機構関西」は２５日、同社に対する違約金１５０万円の強制執行を求める訴訟を大阪地裁に起こした。

訴状などによると、消費者支援機構関西とフォートレス社は今年３月、不当勧誘差し止め請求訴訟で和解。同社は不当勧誘の停止に合意したが、その後も「いつでも受講できる」と虚偽内容を伝えたり、威圧的に契約を迫ったりする不当な勧誘を続けた。

機構側は１１月末、３人に対する不当勧誘が確認できたとして、和解条項に基づき１人５０万円の違約金を請求したが、フォートレス社は猶予を求めるなどして支払わなかったという。

Let's start an open thread for kicks. I won't call it an End of GEOS thread, but if you have have something to add, comment on it here.

Today is also notable as it marks two years since Nova went bankrupt. Although Nova is a shell of its former self, it's collapse has left its mark on eikaiwa. The final chapter has yet to be written as Sahashi appeals his conviction while trying to avoid hotel visits from gangsters.

What's on your mind?

Novawhiz noticed an update to the GEOS Wikipedia page that was quickly removed:

Recent economic woes have lead Geos to be late paying the Japanese staff in August and September 2009. It is further reported that foreign teachers working at the adult schools were not paid on time in October 2009. Geos is currently asking clients to pay as much as 5 months in advance for the following year's lessons in a bid to raise the necessary funds to meet payroll obligations. This financial distress has led to many Japanese staff members to resign.

The edit in question can be found here.

There may be some truth to this. A thread in a kuchikomi message board wonders the same thing: were the staff late in getting paid? In response to the question, the first post was:

2009/09/22 19:21

はい！！！

そのとうりです！毎月月末のスタッフのお給料がでませんでした。
本部から自宅に電話があり、お金がないので今海外校に送金手続きをしてもらっているから１週間待ってくださいと・・・。
スタッフに払う金がない？？？？
ありえない・・・。
すぐに上司にやめたいと言いました。
却下・・・・。
周りのMGは妊娠した、入院する、母ががん。。。とうそをついて辞めようと必死です。
今月でるのでしょうか・・・。お給料。
NOVAの次とは聞いてますが、いよいよ破産近し・・・・です。

Yes!!!!
Head office called me at home to say that they had no money and to wait a week until they can process wire transfers from overs schools.
They don't have any cash to pay staff????
That's unbelievable.
I immediately told my boss that I wanted to quit.
Got rejected...
Other managers I know are scrambling to quit, saying they're pregnant, have to be hospitalized, or their mother has cancer.
I wonder if we'll be paid this month?
I've heard GEOS would be next after NOVA. Looks like it's ready to go under.

Another commented:

2009/09/30 21:44

9/30日本日もお給料入っていませんでした！！！！！
２回目です。NOVAは４回目の社員お給料遅延で破綻。
いったいどうなるんでしょうか。
２ヶ月もお給料遅れるなんてまずいですね。

2009/09/30 21:44

It's 9/30 and I haven't been paid !!!!
This is the second time. NOVA went bust after pay was late for the 4th time.
What the hell is going on?
Getting paid late for 2 months running is not good.

Another poster says pay was late for instructors, too:

2009/09/30 22:31

今回は講師も遅れましたね。

今回はシステムエラーなのかミスなのか
、まあどっちでもいいですが、2カ月続いての事なので
「ホントかよ！？」って感じです。

2009/09/30 22:31

It happened to the instructors, too.

Whether it was a system error or a mistake, it's happened 2 months in a row. What's up with that?!

Another comment about a "system error:"

2009/09/30 23:26

今日も給料入ってませんでした。本部のシステムエラーだとメールがきていましたが、それが本当のことならあってはいけないミスですよね。かえって売り上げが悪く支払いが遅れますと言ってくれた方がましです。こんなことだからCSの案内するのに気が引けるっつうの。

2009/09/30 23:26

I haven't been paid this month. I got an email from head office saying that it was a system error, but if that's true, it's an inexcusable mistake. I'd rather hear from someone that sales are down and salaries will be late. I'm not up to doing CS [Commission sales] because of this.

Another commenter adds that they finally got paid:

2009/10/05 23:37

９月は１日遅れで入りました！
システムエラーだそうです。
先生が辞める！！！と言い出したのでなだめるのに大変でした＞＜！！

2009/10/05 23:37

September's pay was a day late but I got it!
Apparently it was a system error.
Teachers have started saying that they'll quit and I've had a tough time trying to smooth things over!!

Finally, a student chimed in to say:

2009/09/26 19:20

私は、ジオスに通っている生徒です。
契約更新をするかしないか・・・迷っています。

＞更新時に「ジオスはつぶれませんよね」
＞と言われて「今のところ大丈夫ですよ」としか
＞言えませんでした。

私も、同じ質問をしたところ、
「分からないですからね。」と言われ、
半年契約（？）を勧められました。

先生は凄くいい人で、続けたい気持ちはあるのですが、
NOVAのようにお金だけ払って続けられなくなったらと思うと
怖いです。

年内にも経営破たんをしてしまうのでしょうか。

※ジオスのHPで経営状況を確認したかったのですが、
【売上高：164億円（'06.12月期）】
となっており、通常'08（2009年更新）の売上高が
記載されるべきなのに、過去のものが記載されており、
確認ができませんでした。

2009/09/26 19:20

I'm currently a student at GEOS. I'm thinking about renewing but am having second thoughts

＞They ask during renewals, "GEOS isn't going to go bankrupt, right?," but all I could say was," Right now everything is fine."

When I asked the same question, they told me they didn't know and tried to sell me a 6-month contract (?).

The teachers are really good people and I want to continue, but I'm scared to think that things might end up like NOVA where you pay and are then unable to take lessons.

I wonder if they'll go bankrupt by the end of the year?

*I looked up GEOS's finances on their website and found their sales were 16.4 billion yen (for the period ending Dec. '06) but couldn't find any new numbers even though sales figures for FY'08 should be up there.

These are anonymous comments and I have no way of knowing how much truth there is to what's been said. If the "system error" explanation sounds familiar, it's because NOVA used the same excuse to explain why it had not paid their staff.

Can anybody flesh this out some more? Has pay been late for the past two months? Is this just a one-off event or a sign of more serious trouble to come?

This is how the end came for NOVA. First it was the staff, and then it was the instructors not getting paid. If the rumour is true and the staff has been late in getting paid, it's time to start thinking about Plan B. You don't want to repeat the fisaco of ex-NOVA instructors getting re-hired. The moment you don't get paid, get the hell out as fast as you can. You certainly don't want to end up teaching in a park for food.

UPDATE 02/21: Comments are closed for this post. Continue the discussion here.

The latest development in the dirty undertaking of dispatch teaching:

A labor union of foreign workers requested Monday that the Aichi prefectural board of education address the concerns of English-language instructors at public schools who they say are working under illegal contracts.

The General Union, based in the city of Osaka, said an investigation it conducted last month and communications with municipal boards of education show that foreign teaching assistants in 16 school districts in the prefecture are contracted by private language schools or other agents rather than the school boards themselves.

The union charges that by going through agencies, the school boards are "avoiding the obligation of hiring them directly that comes after a certain period of (temporary) employment has elapsed."

It's all slowly coming to a head. Nothing illustrates the situation better than this 2005 letterfrom the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) acknowledging that gyomu itaku (outsourcing contracts) are illegal.

This notice was sent to all prefectural BOEs, and advises that they give preference to JETs, direct hires, and legal dispatch jobs over gyomu itaku with private dispatch companies. It also recommends that skilled ALTs be made permanent employees （正社員）.

Paragraph 3 in the appendix also contains some noteworthy items. It notes that dispatch contracts can only be made with ministry-approved dispatch companies and that BOEs should make sure they are dealing with approved companies before entering into a contract. It also notes that dispatch contracts are valid for 3 years whereupon the ALT must be made a permanent employee.

This letter is the kind of thing that should lay the foundation for ALT positions to be decent jobs, but instead, what we have is a terrible triangle.

BOEs: Lazy and cheap. They want ALTs in classrooms but don't want any of the hassles that come with having to manage foreigners. They know that dispatch companies can be unscrupulous but use them anyway. They like the steady supply of cheap instructors but aren't smart enough to figure out why the teacher turnover is so high.

MEXT: The letter shows that they are aware of illegal hiring practices, but they aren't doing anything beyond issuing guidance. This particular letter was written in 2005, and clearly nothing has been done in the past 4 years. Recall the fate of Samantha, covered by NHK in 2007. Fast forward to the present, and we still have the same abuses happening to ALTs like Robert and Eric.

ALTs: For some unknown reason, despite the information one can find on the internet about dispatch companies and teaching in Japan, teachers still insist on being taken advantage of by their employers. They work for low pay and no benefits because they'd rather not give up on their dream/fantasy/plan of living in Japan.

Where is the breaking point? There is absolutely no justification to put up with such terrible working conditions. At what point does the whole mess collapse under the weight of its own bullshit? Who takes the first step in breaking the triangle? Do the BOEs smarten up? Does MEXT do something beyond issuing memos? Do ALTs quit in droves or strike for better working conditions?

A quick blurb in the newspaper, the Mainichi reports that the three men arrested on suspicion of confining Sahashi in his hotel room have been released.

Apparently the police don't have much of a case on them. At any rate, the thugs caught with Sahashi are probably thinking, "Mission accomplished." They delivered their message.

Mainichi article

ＮＯＶＡ元社長事件：監禁容疑で逮捕の３人釈放　東京地検　

東京地検は１９日、経営破綻（はたん）した英会話学校最大手「ＮＯＶＡ」（破産手続き中）元社長、猿橋望被告（５８）＝業務上横領罪で実刑判決、控訴中＝の監禁容疑で逮捕された指定暴力団山口組系組員（３８）ら３人を、処分保留で釈放した。

警視庁は、９月２８日に東京都中央区のホテル一室で猿橋被告を監禁したとして３人を逮捕した。捜査関係者によると、組員らは警視庁の調べに「一緒にいただけ」などと容疑を否認。猿橋被告もホテル内から外部に電話で連絡を取っていたといい、地検はホテルでのやりとりについて捜査を継続する。

毎日新聞　2009年10月19日　20時42分

According to the Yomiuri shimbun, Nozomu Sahsahi, NOVA's disgraced and convicted ex-president, was confined in his hotel room for three days by gangsters. The police have arrested two men, one who is a member of the Yamaguchi-gumi syndicate, in connection with the incident.

Sahashi had apparently traveled to Tokyo, and when his lawyer became unable to contact him over the weekend, he went to the police. The police found Sahashi yesterday afternoon in his hotel room in Nihonbashi where they arrested two men whom they allege held Sahsahi for roughly 3 and a half hours. The men claim that they were merely with Sahashi (and that they didn't hold him against his will).

Many will be disappointed to learn that Sahashi was not injured. The police are investigating the circumstances of the incident.

Assuming it wasn't a social call, one possible reason for the "visit" may have to do with Sahashi's mysterious stock dealings as NOVA crashed and burned around him. Desperate to come up with some cash, he put his shares in NOVA up as collateral only to be swindled out of five million of them. One name that came up in the course of the dealings was Nishida Haruo, who appears to have made a career out of stock manipulation. Perhaps Sahashi owes some bad people some money. Then again, he is arrogant enough that you could not completely rule out him demanding his shares back, either.

Yomiuri article

ＮＯＶＡ元社長を監禁容疑、組員ら逮捕

経営破綻(はたん)した英会話学校「ＮＯＶＡ」（破産手続き中）の元社長で、業務上横領罪に問われた猿橋望被告（５８）（控訴中）を東京都内のホテルに監禁したとして、山口組系暴力団員の男（３８）ら２人が、監禁の疑いで警視庁三田署に現行犯逮捕されていたことがわかった。

同署幹部によると、２人は２８日午前１１時３０分頃から午後３時頃まで、中央区日本橋蛎殻町内のホテルの一室に猿橋被告を監禁した疑い。猿橋被告にけがはなかった。

猿橋被告の弁護士が、猿橋被告と２５日頃から会えなくなったとして同署に相談していた。捜査員が２８日午後３時頃、同ホテルで猿橋被告を保護し、２人を取り押さえた。２人は「一緒にいただけ」と容疑を否認している。同署はほかに共犯者がいるとみている。

猿橋被告は、ＮＯＶＡグループの社員積立金を流用したとして、２００８年６月に業務上横領容疑で大阪府警に逮捕され、先月、大阪地裁が懲役３年６月の実刑判決を言い渡していた。

(h/t to Are they the lemmings)

No surprise here. Sahashi officially filed an appeal of his three and a half year sentence for embezzlement with the Osaka District Court on Wednesday. Typical of his defiance during his trial and ever since he was ousted from NOVA, Sahashi asserted once again that he had acted to prevent NOVA from going bankrupt.

Asahi shimbun

ＮＯＶＡ・猿橋元社長側が控訴

2009年9月3日

経営破綻（はたん）した英会話学校「ＮＯＶＡ」（大阪市）の社員らの積立金３億２千万円を受講生への返還金に流用したとして、業務上横領の罪に問われた元社長猿橋望（さはし・のぞむ）被告（５７）の弁護人が２日、懲役３年６カ月とした大阪地裁判決を不服として控訴した。猿橋元社長は「会社の倒産を防ぐためだった」と無罪を主張していた。