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

The Japan Times ran a couple of articles last week on the coming changes in health insurance for foreigners in Japan.

As you are probably already aware, starting next April, you will have to show proof of enrollment in shakai hoken (SH) or kokumin kenko hoken (KKH) when you apply to renew your visa. Jenny Uechi reminds us of the law:

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.

Old news is fun! The Japan Times reports on Yano Research's survey on the foreign language learning market in Japan, which I wrote about this at the beginning of August and touched on again earlier this month. The only difference with today's article is that the JT spoke with somebody at GEOS.

Remember back in June when when some flights in and out of Japan were delayed or re-routed due to a volcano erupting in the Kuril Islands?

That was the eruption of Sarychev Peak on Matua Island. You may have seen a picture of it, such as this one from Live Science:

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.

ＮＯＶＡ・猿橋元社長側が控訴

2009年9月3日

From J-Cast we learn some more about the state of eikaiwa and the foreign language market in Japan. I've highlighted Yano Research surveys that illustrate the continuing contraction of the market before, and J-CAST touches on this research to show how the market is changing. Here's a summary of the article.

Here's some video to show you what I'm talking about when I wrote about Fuji TV using The Terminator as their election theme this year:

G.communication continues to believe that the NOVA bunny has some value left in keeping it as the mascot of the company. I saw their latest commercial last night, not long after the news had broadcast that Sahashi had been found guilty and sentenced to prison. Here's the latest NOVA commercial.

I take back what I said in my last post. It's not over with Sahashi. He was released on bail last night following his sentencing. The Asahi shimbun, among other papers, carried a report of the events in the courtroom yesterday. Here's a summary of that article.

I'll keep this short and sweet: The court found Sahashi guilty of embezzling money from NOVA's employee welfare fund and sentenced him to three and a half years in jail.

According to the ruling, on July 20, 2007, Sahashi withdrew ¥320 million from NOVA's shayuukai welfare fund, converted it into cheques, and then deposited the money into an account held by NOVA Kikaku, a company that he controlled.