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

Things are apparently looking good at G.communication. Its president, Masaki Inayoshi, sat down with the Chunichi Shimbun to talk about the past year.

Inayoshi says that the past year has gone well for the new Nova. Of the approximately 670 schools left in the wake of Nova's collapse, G.communication has re-opened 126 of them. Combined with the new schools and jukus opened by G.communication, they were operating 396 schools as of the end of October. These schools apparently have a combined capacity for 300,000 students, but the current student body is only 76,000, 80% of which are from the old Nova.

As for the problem of employing some 1500 of its instructors, the issue has largely been resolved with after reaching an understanding with the labour union in June. Inayoshi says that the instructors who wanted to stay on with Nova are all employed. Nova currently has 656 instructors, of which 500 are from the old Nova. He also says that the problems over the past year have been dealt with and the company is back in the black.

When asked about old Nova's faults, Inayoshi says that there was a lot of waste. There were too many schools, and alot of them were overly large and subject to high rents. He moved about 80% of those schools to smaller and cheaper locations nearby. He is also critical of the way Nova used to charge for lessons up front and has done away with that practice opting for a monthly payment system instead. He calls the system of spending lots of money on advertising and collecting lessons fees up front a "warped business model."

Inayoshi also notes that he's been able to attract Nova refugee students to the new Nova by offering them lessons at 75% discounts. He says that even when students have used up their remaining lesson points, about 70% decide to renew their contracts. To him, this is a sign that they're satisfied with the lessons.

As for his next move, Inayoshi says that he wants to set up an ocha no ma ryuugaku center in the United States next year. While the current center is in Osaka, he says that it will be more efficient to employ instructors in the States. Also, look for new Nova TV commercials in the new year in which the Nova bunny will make its return.

Comment: So Nova is profitable again, huh? I suppose when you drastically shrink the company and cut costs, that's what happens. One thing that stands out are the numbers: 80% of its students and 76% of its instructors are refugees from the collapse. Neo-Nova is a rump of its former self. It may be profitable, but how large can it be expected it to grow with numbers like these? It doesn't sound like it's attracting a lot of people. The return of the bunny will also be interesting to watch. Apparently G.communication will try and squeeze every last yen out of its corpse despite its connection to the tragedy of last year.

Original article

「ＮＯＶＡウサギ復活」　１年で黒字化達成、ジー社会長に聞く

2008年11月18日 朝刊

経営破たんした英会話学校ＮＯＶＡの事業を引き継いでから１１月で１年を迎えたジー・コミュニケーション（名古屋市）の稲吉正樹会長（３９）は、 中日新聞のインタビューに応じ、米国に「お茶の間留学」の講師を集めるセンターを新設し、テレビＣＭを年明けに再開するなど、積極的な営業展開に転じる考 えを示した。主なやりとりは次の通り。　（矢野修平）

－ＮＯＶＡ再建は進んでいるか

再建のペースは予想以上に速い。教室は（約６７０あった教室のうち）１２６校を引き継いだ。新規開校や学習塾への併設などを合わせると、１０月末 で３９６校になっている。（最大３０万人とされる）受講生は現在７万７６００人。約８割が旧ＮＯＶＡから継続して受講している。

－約１５００人いた外国人講師については、再雇用をめぐるトラブルがあり、６月に労働組合側と和解を結んだが

大きな問題はなかった。（再就職希望の）講師は、ほぼ全員引き継いだと思っている。現在の外国人講師数は６５６人で、うち約５００人が旧ＮＯＶＡからの講師だ。旧ＮＯＶＡが抱えていた問題点は、この１年でほぼ解決した。黒字化も達成し、大きな課題はない。

－旧ＮＯＶＡの問題点とは

教室は無駄が多かった。どこも必要以上に広くて家賃が高く、約８割を近隣に移転させた。また、受講前に多額の授業料を前払いさせる料金体系も改 め、月謝制を基本にした。多額の宣伝費をかけて生徒を集め、多額の前払い金を次の宣伝費に充てる。いびつなビジネスモデルだった。

－再建の手応えは

旧ＮＯＶＡの受講生が、未消化授業分を通常の２５％の料金で受けられる優遇策を適用している。それが終わっても約７割が継続している。授業内容に満足してくれているからだろう。まったく違う会社になっており、丸１年を機に攻めに転じたい。

－どう展開するか

テレビ電話を使った「お茶の間留学」の講師を集めるセンターを、米国に年明け以降、設立したい。現在は大阪にあるが、講師の採用面から現地の方が効率が良い。また、テレビＣＭも年明けから開始する。キャラクターのＮＯＶＡウサギを登場させ、新ＮＯＶＡをアピールする。

A translation of Part II of Sasaki's CNET Japan article has been posted. In this installment, Sasaki fleshes out the war between the internet and mass media, describes a meeting with senior management at the Mainichi, and cautions against calling the newspaper's critics trolls

.

Excerpt:

Net users are not “trolls”

However, the majority of 2-Channel users, bloggers and Hatena bookmarks users expressing themselves on the net are not this sort of “troll.” The net world is of course far from flat. There are people who produce content such as high-quality blog posts and other creative works, as well as influencers, people who accurately critique this content. There are also people who support these influencers, or criticize, post bookmarks, and add comments. In addition, there are also those who do not have their own view, who are easily swayed by other people’s opinions and blindly follow the flow. The net is organized according to this layered structure, and it is through the collective of the infocommons (information sharing zone) that the space for discussion on the net has developed to become what it is today.

Many of these guys are moreover (probably) people living a proper life, and while the net population has expanded to the size it is today, they have been reduced to less than a minority group in society. And now they have become a force strong enough to be considered the majority. In this state of affairs, public opinion on the net is coming ever closer to matching real public opinion, and to ignore this world makes even the formation of public opinion unreliable. And, for better or worse, the net world has a weapon in its hands — namely, the telephone pressure campaign — that can be used to influence the real world. It would seem that the expansion of the war front from the internet to the real world will progress further and further in the future.

Newspapers, on the other hand, do not for the most part recognize this fact. Not only do they fail to recognize it, they remain under the impression that “net users are just some creepy minority crowd.” To make matters worse, they are utterly swayed by nice-sounding expressions that are in vogue like “throwing fuel on the fire,” and to top it off they are hobbled by their inappropriate and bizarre way of dealing with the net. I can only describe this as pathetic. In the end, it is they who are being completely “dominated” and manipulated by the net.

In fact, the reaction to the article in PJ News titled “‘We are not able to answer questions from internet-related media’: Mainichi Daily News rejection of search engines” suggests that the newspaper’s failure to respond to reporters and its control of information has actually managed to beautifully “throw fuel on the fire.”

Read Part II.

So, not only was the Mainichi in a lot of trouble for printing sleaze in the WaiWai column, but it was hostile to its critics. Granted, the bulk of its critics were probably anonymous, but had the Mainichi come clean about WaiWai, they might have avoided a lot of grief for themselves. Instead, their attempts to cover their tracks and treat its critics with derision only added fuel to the fire. How does a newspaper stay in business if it doesn't have any readers again?

A few snark-worthy items in the news.

Talk A Lot English textbook: Foreigners at strict Japanese high schools can't speak Japanese properly, ride motorcycles, have long hair, dress like bums, carry knives, and bring beer and scary pets with them.

William Pesek, Bloomberg.com: Few people benefited from Japan's miraculous post-war growth. Yet, Japan is a wealthy nation, except for the income gap, working poor, internet cafe refugees, drop in the Nikkei, strengthening of the yen, and the BoJ's 0.3% interest rate. That's why I fear being mugged by old people.

Toshizo Ido, Governor of Hyogo: Death and destruction in the Tokyo area would be a windfall for Kansai!

Naoko Yamazaki, astronaut: The explosion of the Challenger shuttle was inspiring! [Did she really say that or is this some kind of transcription/translation problem?]

Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan: It would be really nice if wealthy people voluntarily refuse my election bribe pitiful handout money to protect the public from a violent storm seen only once every 100 years because it would save me the hassle of actually doing my job.

Gen. Toshio Tamogami, Air Self-Defense Force Chief of Staff: Fuck you, I find your North Korea-like control over freedom of expression disturbing.

And finally, since the world is abuzz over the election of Barack Obama as the next president of the United States, a little dip into US politics:

John Hinderaker, Power Line (Time's 2004 Blog of the Year):

Obama thinks he is a good talker, but he is often undisciplined when he speaks. He needs to understand that as President, his words will be scrutinized and will have impact whether he intends it or not. In this regard, President Bush is an excellent model; Obama should take a lesson from his example. Bush never gets sloppy when he is speaking publicly. He chooses his words with care and precision, which is why his style sometimes seems halting. In the eight years he has been President, it is remarkable how few gaffes or verbal blunders he has committed. If Obama doesn’t raise his standards, he will exceed Bush’s total before he is inaugurated.

CNN: Bush: 'I regret saying some things I shouldn't have said'.

Doh!

A little bit more on the WaiWai scandal, this time from the inside.

Adam Richards from Mutant Frog Travelogue provides a translation of an article by Toshinao Sasaki posted in August at CNET Japan about the scandal that illustrates what went on inside the newspaper.

In it, we see that the Mainichi circled the wagons, daring its critics to bring it on, instead of coming clean about WaiWai. As Sasaki writes about the backlash, "its destructive force has created an astonishing situation. This incident may well be the milestone that turns the relationship between the Internet and the mass media on its head."

Why was the post-scandal management so inconceivably horrible?

I am sorry if this sounds like I am turning my back on my mentor, senior reporters, and bosses, but the Mainichi’s handling of the post-scandal management was just terrible. This has been pointed out several times elsewhere, but first off is the fact that the following passage was included in the June 22 “apology” article: “In a related development, a flood of messages and images have appeared online that gravely defame and slander a number of our company’s female staff writers and other employees, who are in no way accountable for this matter nor subject to punitive measures. The Mainichi Newspapers Co., Ltd. is determined to take legal action against such clearly illegal acts that constitute defamation.”

Second, their responses to media coverage of the scandal were awful. For example, they acted snobbishly toward J-Cast News, the first media organization to report the scandal, and this attitude became even clearer with their unbelievable response to a citizen journalist for PJ News.

Thirdly, it has never been made public how Mainichi views this issue internally, what sort of debate is taking place, or how employees see the reactions from the Internet. A two-page examination of the scandal was printed in the July 20 edition of the newspaper, but this article only describes the series of events leading up to the scandal, and contains nothing whatsoever about the company’s views after the scandal broke. Far from it — the article contains a shocking comment from freelance journalist Kunio Yanagita: “The fact that these attacks on a failure are taking the appearance of violence caused by Internet agitation make me fear that the dark underbelly of the anonymous Internet is no longer a distant phenomenon.”

Read Part I.

The anniversary of NOVA's collapse has quietly come and gone. The Daily Yomiuri and Sankei Shimbun provide an update on what has been going on over the past year. Their stories are unsurprising, as many issues facing former students and instructors have yet to be resolved.

The Daily Yomiuri points out that the government hasn't taken any steps to regulate language schools:

OSAKA--Even though it has been a year since Nova applied for court protection under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, the central government has done little to ensure the private language school industry improves its operations.

The failure of Nova, which was the largest language school in the nation, has sowed public distrust in the industry.

Moreover, many former Nova students have not been compensated for tuition fees paid in advance, even though the school's operations have been taken over by Nagoya-based G.communication Co.

On Thursday, a group set up by former Nova students submitted a petition to Seiko Noda, state minister in charge of consumer affairs, requesting stronger measures to protect language school students.

"I'd like the authorities to investigate [the matter] in depth so similar problems don't happen," a 35-year-old female former Nova student said.

Although there are no regulations on the establishment of language schools, the law that covers such businesses was revised in 1999 to regulate them to some extent, allowing students to cancel contracts with the schools, for example.

Although Nova had many contract issues before it failed, the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry supervising the law was slow to take punitive measures against Nova, such as banning it from entering into contracts with new students.

The ministry's failure to act in time was due, in part, to the matter being covered by multiple central governmental ministries and agencies.

The ministry is urging the industry to create voluntary rules, such as setting a tuition ceiling in contracts.

Urge the industry to create voluntary rules? WTF? This is self-regulation and is nothing more than passing the buck. What a joke. Draw up some regulations and put your foot down and enforce them.

The Yomiuri also notes that the students have yet to be compensated. Will they ever be?

Many of the about 300,000 students who had contracts with Nova when it failed have not been compensated, and former Nova managers have said payments made in advance are not likely to be refunded.

G.communication Co. offers classes to students--at 379 locations as of Friday--for 25 percent of the advance tuitions paid to Nova. However, only 70,000 of the students have signed up for the classes.

Although many students complain that there are no classes within easy distance, G.communication has been working to expand the number of its locations, but has not said how many.

Also, 55 firms operating language education schools, mostly belonging to two industry organizations, announced they would accept a total of about 20,000 former Nova students, offering such perks as no enrollment fees. More than 10,000 people are said to have accepted the offer.

The Sankei shimbun has a similar story, but focuses on Nozomu Sahashi's culpability in the largest consumer disaster since the end of the Second World War.

About 2300 former NOVA students have set up the Nova Seitonokai in Osaka. One student says she joined NOVA in October of 2003 and paid approximately ¥700,000 in advance for German and English lessons. After NOVA went bankrupt, she decided to continue studying at the new NOVA run by G.education. However, her school was far from home and the number of German lessons offered fell dramatically. She wants Sahashi to explain how NOVA failed and for him to take responsibility.

There are also questions about Sahashi's silence following his arrest and indictment (and later release on bail) for making off with ¥320 million from a staff fund in June. Since his release, he has stayed out of the public eye. Sahashi is apparently living by himself in an apartment in Osaka. The Sankei says that he is apologizing for what happened to those around him, and is currently looking for work so he can raise money to pay compensation to the students.

Sahashi's lawyers, however, insist that he did everything he could to raise money to save the company. As for stealing from the staff fund, Sahashi did intend to use the money to compensate students, but his lawyers claim that the fact he was "borrowing it in advance" raises questions about any illegality on his part. They intend to plead innocent once the case goes to trial.

The articles ends with a quick look at how G.communication is doing. The company operates 379 schools, including 126 it assumed when it took over from NOVA. Ninety percent (approx. 74,000) of its customers are former NOVA students. But even when one includes the 10,000 students accepted by 25 other schools at the request of METI and measures such as waiving sign up fees, only 30% of NOVA's students have decided to continue studying.

Everything appears to be coming to a head. The government has made no progress in trying to regulate language schools. Two former instructors are seeking to get the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office to re-examine its decision to not press charges for the non-payment of wages. There is also a ¥16 million lawsuit against Sahashi and his directors in the works. Sahashi, the misappropriation of lesson fees, and the "NOVA Way,"--the bicycle business model--will soon be before the courts.

Sankei shimbun article

ＮＯＶＡ破綻から１年　“ワンマン経営者”元社長は雲隠れ

2008.10.26 22:11

英会話学校「ＮＯＶＡ」（大阪市、破産手続き中）が大阪地裁に会社更生法の適用を申請してから２６日で丸１年を迎え た。元受講生約３０万人が前払いしたまま返還されない受講料が約５６０億円に上る、「戦後最大の消費者被害」となったが、元受講生の救済は進んでいない。 一方、「ワンマン経営者」としてＮＯＶＡを率いた元社長、猿橋望被告（５７）＝業務上横領罪で起訴＝は“雲隠れ状態”で沈黙を守ったままだ。

説明求める被害者

「語学を学びたいという純粋な思いを踏みにじられたことに怒りを覚える」

約２３００人の元受講生でつくる「ＮＯＶＡ生徒の会」（大阪市）のメンバーで、同市北区の会社員女性（３５）は悲痛な声を上げる。

女性は外国人の親類とコミュニケーションを取りたいと平成１５年１０月にＮＯＶＡに入会。大阪・梅田校で英語とドイツ語のレッスンを受講していたが、突然 の閉鎖。前払いした受講料は約７０万円に上り、事業を引き継いだ「ジー・エデュケーション」（名古屋市）の「新ＮＯＶＡ」に登録した。しかし教室が遠く なって通いづらくなり、ドイツ語のレッスン数も大幅に減ったため足が遠のいた。

女性は「なぜこのような事態に陥ったのか。猿橋氏はきちんと説明した上で謝罪してほしい」と訴える。

無罪主張も視野

猿橋被告は今年６～７月、社員互助組織の積立金３億２０００万円を流用したとする業務上横領容疑で逮捕、起訴された。その後、保釈されたが、公の場で一切説明していない。

関係者によると、現在は大阪市内のマンションで１人暮らしをしている。周囲に「受講生に迷惑をかけて申し訳ない。被害弁償も考えないといけない」と語り、資金繰りのため職探しをしているという。

一方、猿橋被告の弁護人は「被告自身も当時、会社を建て直すため金融機関から資金を借り入れるほど切迫した状況だった」と強調。刑事責任についても 「社員の積立金を元受講生への返還金にあてたが、当時の金の流れをトータルにみれば“前借り”したという評価もあり得る」と違法性に疑問を呈し、今後の公 判での無罪主張も視野に入れて準備を進めている。

一方、元外国人講師らへの賃金不払いを巡り、労働組合「ゼネラルユニオン」に加入する元講師２人が今月２３日、労働基準法違反罪で書類送検された猿橋被告を不起訴とした大阪地検の処分を不当として検察審査会に審査を申し立てた。

「継続」は３割弱

ジー社は昨年１１月、ＮＯＶＡから事業を引き継いだが、全国の元受講生約３０万人の大半は救済されていない。

現在、ジー社は継承した１２６校を含む３７９校を展開しており、受講生の９割（約７万４０００人）がＮＯＶＡからの継続組。しかし、経済産業省からの要請 で入会金免除などの優遇措置を設けた２つの業界団体の加盟社約２５社が受け入れた約１万人を含めても、受講を継続したのは全体の３割弱にとどまる。

語学学校との契約を巡るトラブルなどに対する行政側の対策も進んでいない。

近畿在住などの元受講生２４人が今月１７日、猿橋被告を含む旧経営陣や監査法人に前払い受講料約１６００万円の返還を求め、大阪地裁に提訴した。破綻後、全国で初めての集団訴訟となった。

多額の受講料を事業資金に注ぎ込み、自転車操業を繰り返した「ＮＯＶＡ商法」。その是非が法廷で問われようとしている。

One year ago today, NOVA collapsed after Nozomu Sahashi was ousted in a coup d'etat by his directors who then filed for protection under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law. NOVA officially went bankrupt on November 26, with g.communication picking over the carcass of the Pink Bunny for any juicy tidbits.

One year on, the collapse of Japan's largest and most well-known English language school still resonates today. Nova's 300,000 students and 4,000 instructors are still owed billions of yen in refunds and unpaid wages. The vaccuum created by Nova has sucked the life out of the foreign language sector. Although Sahashi has been indicted for embezzlement, his trial has yet to begin. G.communication took over NOVA's business, but the transition has not gone smoothly. Right from the beginning, there were problems with what to do about the unused lesson tickets held by former NOVA students. Things were just as bad for instructors who weren't sure if they were hired or fired.Despite the rough transition, it appears that G.communication has limped along.

During NOVA's meltdown, I traded e-mail with a number of NOVA instructors seeking advice and wanting to get the word out about meetings or protests. I came to know Joi Wong (Kurosaki) and Randy Poehlman (Shimonoseki and Izumi-Fuchu), and I caught up with them via e-mail to ask about the NOVA meltdown and where they are now.

Why did you choose to work at NOVA?

Joi: I applied to work for the JET Programme and scheduled my interviews to fall on the same weekend as I had to travel 6 hours to get to London so thought I'd kill two birds with one stone. Since JET wanted me to wait for a few months before letting me know whether or not I was successful and Nova got back to me after a fortnight, I took the fastest option to get me out to Japan.

Randy: I chose NOVA without really researching. I had no plans to go to Japan after finishing my undergraduate. When the time came to start "job hunting" I applied for a few positions in various parts of the world. I believe I applied in Lisbon, Prague, Dubai and for a couple of programs in Japan. I had a friend who also applied for NOVA and when they made an offer, we both decided to take it. He worked in Chiba, North of Tokyo and I started in Shimonoseki in south Honshu and lived in Kokura.

How was the job?

Joi: It actually wasn't that bad. The hours were good, I got along with practically everyone I worked with and I had two day weekends (my current job only lets me have 1 day off a week).

Randy: The job was really very easy and the hours were great. I had a lot of fun the first few months, before the repetitiveness really got to me. For all its flaws the NOVA job was actually a, "what you see is what you get" type of existence. It offered me the lifestyle I wanted to live in a foreign country and above all was "a means to an ends." I went to Japan for a year and never planned extending beyond that.

What were the first signs that made you think that NOVA might be in trouble?

Joi: I was a bit suspicious the first time Nova paid us late way back when. It was only by 12 hours or so but I thought that their excuse of 'technical difficulties' with their computers didn't sound too convincing!'

Randy: The first signs for me that NOVA was becoming unstable were the METI sanctions when the company was barred from signing up new students on their suspect contracts. If you examine the NOVA business model, you quickly realize that the company is built on the need to keep attracting new students. Students mostly paid upfront for their lessons and when you cut off the cash flow and you have expenses being paid to teachers and building owners, the house of cards will collapse within months. I started looking for my exit not long after that.

How did you react? Were you indifferent? Shocked? Angry?

Joi: Shocked? No. Angry, you bet!

Randy: I reacted by looking for a way out of Japan before the collapse. I hadn't planned on building a life in Japan, so I was pretty indifferent about the meltdown. I followed all the developments and made myself informed.

How did you deal with the late paychecks? Could you manage or were there times you thought you might not be able to pay the bills or feed yourself?

Joi: I'm one of the lucky ones who wasn't living in a Nova apartment at the time, and my new place was a lot cheaper than the company one. On top of that, fortunately, when we signed the lease for the new place, we signed up to an insurance guarantor company who kindly paid our rent for three months. I managed by borrowing money from friends working at other English conversation schools and who had a regular paycheck.

Randy: The late pay cheques. I don't really remember getting any of mine late at most a week late or so. I remember finding a grocery store that took my credit card and I was pretty stoked about that. I remember going grocery shopping on it a few days before pay day a couple times. I did get swindled out of a few weeks pay and a week of holidays at the end, as I stopped showing up mid September. I knew the September pay would not be coming in October and after getting paid on Sept. 15th, I really had no motivation to come to work on the 16th. So I spent the next week with some Japanese friends on Lake Biwako and then stayed a few days with some friends on a tea farm in Shizuoka. I decided to spend my last two weeks in Japan touring around. I also went back to Tokyo for a while before taking the slow boat to China from Kobe and from there on the Trans-Mongolian Train.

What was your reaction to the faxes from Sahashi?

Joi: 'Bullshit!'

Randy: Those faxes were jokes. They had no result.

What was the communication like within the company? Was it good or were you in the dark about what was happening?

Joi: I found out the majority of what I knew back then from students!

Randy: The internal communication was one of the major points of frustration for me. That, more than anything, turned me bitter toward the company. I had my contract review in late August and I asked our AAM about the rumours and about the state of the company. His response: "I hear the same rumours as you and I guess we just keep moving forward and I am sure everything will be alright." This guy, called Wayne, looked as if he should be a used car salesman on the side of Route 66. He wore the half sleeves with a tie and the whole bit. A real "regional district manager type." I built my own cross country network around this time with the help of Lets Japan, and I kept most of the teachers in my area informed based on this network. There was no internal communication, but I knew better than most based on reports from teachers in Kokura, Osaka, Tokyo, Hokkaido and various other places. I met a lot of people as a result.

How did the NOVA staff react to the crisis? Did they try to keep things running as usual or were they forced to close due to a lack of students or instructors?

Joi: In the final days running up to the death of Nova, they were pushing sales like there was no tomorrow. The teachers, the BT and myself (I was the AT at Kurosaki) called foreign personnel from a cell phone and passed the phone around the room telling them we wouldn't be going in the next day. This pretty much helped to tip the scale towards closing our branch.

Randy: Staff were complacent--not a bad word about the company. I didn't really anticipate otherwise. I had one staff who was a bit more on the ball, who would talk openly to me and she realized the company was a sham. But for the most part they kept up as normal as they could hoping it would just blow over. Really a silly attitude, if I were a NOVA staff, I would have had my Working Holiday paperwork filled out mid-July.

What did your students think about the crisis?

Joi: They were understandably very pissed off!

Randy: You could feel tension with the students. They knew. The ones who were active and came everyday were trying to get rid of their points by booking blocks of lessons.

Did NOVA's closing schools affect you?

Joi: Every cloud has a silver lining. My BT, a teacher at another school and I started up our own school. Unfortunately, our grand opening day was on December 1st, the same day as Neo-Nova opened its doors.

Randy: I was gone before they started whacking schools.

As things got worse, what did you do?

Joi: I was visiting my family back at home the day before Nova collapsed. I found out on Facebook that it had gone belly up. The day after that, I get a message on FB asking me if I was interested in co-founding a school. Naturally, I said "yes".

Randy: As things got progressively worse, teachers not getting paid, evicted from their housing and such, I booked a trip from Beijing to Berlin via train and decided to use the opportunity to tour. I had put in my moving request as I was going "to arrange my own lodging." Really I knew that come October 5, 2007 I would be taking my leave from Nippon. I filed a moving request so they couldn't hit me for rent if I ended up getting any of the money they owed, but at this point I knew it was futile.

Is there any specific event or incident that encapsulates the collapse for you?

Joi: See above.

Randy: Something to summarize the collapse... Picketing in Namba by myself and getting in a couple of Japanese papers and such.

Were you able to collect all the wages owed you?

Joi: 80%, which is more than I had expected.

Randy: Wages, I didn't really bother. When I got home in late November, a great business opportunity opened up for me and I just wrote off trying to collect.

Did you ever consider working for food?

Joi: Nope. Cold hard cash only.

Randy: Work for Food- I was gone before that occurred and I would not have done that, rather I would have booked a flight out of the country via credit card and been on to the next destination.

Where are you at now? Still teaching or have you left Japan?

Joi: Sky English School in Kitakyushu City, Fukuoka.

Randy: I am back in Toronto. Living downtown with a great view of the CN Tower and the cityscape doing business development and sales in the Metal Industry. We manufacture for the defense, medical, automotive and mining industries. Things are going very well, and I was blessed with a great opportunity.

What advice would you give to someone thinking of coming to Japan to teach?

Joi: Do it if you like a challenge!

Randy: Go and experience Japan. It is a remarkable place and if you can make a little pocket coin while doing it, all the better. I had a few friends who did foreign exchanges in University and I thought it added a lot to them as people, so I used my Japan experience as a bit of that. Don't carry too many expectations and please do not re-invent yourself. I swear if there is another DJ Matty or DJ Paul when I get back to Japan I am going to snap.

Remember when the Osaka Labor Bureau sought to have Sahashi charged with non-payment of wages earlier this year? Prosecutors shot that idea down because they couldn't determine if the non-payment was deliberate or due to the company's poor financial state.

It looked as if the case was over and Sahashi had dodged a bullet, but two former instructors have with the Osaka District Public Prosectuor's Office to re-examine their decision.

The instructors say that the non-payment of wages was deliberate, arguing that Sahashi used the money collected in prepaid lesson fees for personal gain, which put the company in jeopardy. One the instructors who filed the petition, Robert Collins, says that he has struggled to pay the rent and education costs for his children. He also added that Sahashi said that he would pay the wages but has never made good on his promise, and that the prosecutors have a legal responsibility to pursue the matter.

ＮＯＶＡ元社長の賃金不払い不起訴は「不当」　元講師

2008年10月23日

経営破綻（はたん）した英会話学校「ＮＯＶＡ」（大阪市）が講師ら４００人に賃金１億円余りを支払わなかったとされる労働基準法違反容疑について、大阪地検が７月に元社長の猿橋望被告（５７）＝業務上横領の罪で起訴＝と法人としての同社を不起訴（嫌疑不十分）としたのは不当だとして、元外国人講師２人が２３日、大阪第二検察審査会に審査を申し立てた。

申立書は「受講者に多額の受講料を前払いさせる商法で経営を悪化させ、自らは不当に高い報酬を得ながら賃金を故意に支払わなかった」としている。申立人の一人で神戸市に住む米国人ブルース・コリンズさん（５０）は「家賃や子どもの教育費などで大変な苦労をした。元社長は『賃金を払う』と言いながら一切実行しておらず、刑事責任を問われるべきだ」と話した。

has been filed against NOVA. This time, 24 former students are suing Sahashi, five of his directors, and accounting firm KPMG AZSA & Co. for ¥16 million.

The group says they want the truth and those responsible to be held accountable, citing that about ¥56 billion yen was never returned to NOVA'S 300,000 students.

The group of 24 is made up of former students from the Kansai, Shikoku, and Kyushu regions who signed contracts between 2002 and 2007 at 25 schools, among them the Umeda honko (Osaka), Ikebukuro honko (Tokyo), Tarumi branch (Kobe), and Shijo dera-cho branch (Kyoto). The group is demanding compensation ranging from ¥350,000 to ¥1,290,000 per person to reclaim tuition fees and the cost of equipment for ocha no ryuugaku lessons.

They charge that:

• Sahashi and his directors engaged in a reckless expansion of the company by heavily spending on advertising that saw the number of schools grow to 994, and that they misappropriated the lesson fees it collected up front.
• Sahashi and his directors were negligent in their duties to avoid a situation where the company could not provide enough teachers and was unable to refund money when contracts were canceled.
• Five directors and 2 accounting firms participated in the bankruptcy of the company by allowing NOVA to continue to use illicit accounting practices where they inflated profits by recording 45% of advanced tuition for long-term contracts as part of its sales.

Comment: As you may know,this lawsuit is in addition to Sahashi already being indicted for embezzlement.

ＮＯＶＡ元受講生２４人、１６００万円賠償求め集団提訴

経営破綻（はたん）した英会話学校「ＮＯＶＡ」（大阪市）の元受講生２４人が１７日、元社長の猿橋望被告（５７）＝業務上横領の罪で起訴＝ら旧経営陣５人と、会計監査にあたった大手の「あずさ監査法人」（東京）などを相手に、主に前払い授業料として払った計約１６００万円の賠償を求める訴訟を大阪地裁に起こした。受講生約３０万人に約５６０億円の受講料が返還されなかった被害をめぐって元受講生らは「実態を明らかにし、責任を追及したい」としている。

提訴したのは関西、四国、九州地方に住む２４人。０２～０７年、梅田本校（大阪市）や池袋本校（東京）、垂水校（神戸市）、四条寺町校（京都市）など２５校で受講契約を結んだ。前払い受講料や「お茶の間留学」用の機器代など、１人あたり３５万～１２９万円の支払いを求めている。

元受講生側は、猿橋元社長ら旧経営陣について「８１年の開校以来、広告宣伝費に多額の資金を投じ、教室を最大９９４まで増やして無謀な経営拡大路線をとり、前払い受講料を野放図に流出させた」と主張。「必要な講師数が確保できず、解約時の返金に応じられない事態を回避すべき義務を怠った」と訴えている。

また、１～３年の長期契約を結ばせて集めた前払い受講料の４５％を毎年の売り上げに計上したことを「利益水増しの粉飾決算」とし、当時の監査役５人と監査法人２社について「違法な会計処理を見過ごし、破綻必至の拡大路線に加担した」と主張している。

Reporting on companies that go bankrupt follows a predictable script. First, the shocking news of the bankruptcy is announced followed by a few more details. Next, are the stories about the people who lost their money, which are then followed by the stories of anger from the people who lost their money. The Chugoku Shimbun brings us a story about the anger.

It turns out that the reason for the .