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

According to the Asahi Shimbun, Nova has submitted a plan on how it would clean up its act only to be smacked down as being too vague by the metropolitan government of Tokyo.

According to the report, Nova's plan contained steps to better train its staff and ensure that there is a sufficient number of instructors. Tokyo, however, said that the plan lacked specifics and requested that Nova provide more details.

When the Nova story broke, much of the attention was focused on the punishment, which prompted lots of speculation as to whether Nova would be around in six months.

What has not been widely covered is Nova's political connection in all this. The Asahi Shimbun reported on June 13:

If you're looking to catch up on what's happened in the Nova ripoff scam, Liberal Japan has a good collection of links to various news and blog articles.

Clips of the Nova story have started showing up on YouTube. First, here's the initial report by NHK on Nova's punishment:

Nova is quickly becoming the debacle that keeps on festering. The Asahi Shimbun is reporting a leak from a Nova meeting in which Sahashi was told that they didn't have enough instructors. Sahashi's reply: "If sales are low, we can't increase the number of instructors no matter how many students there are."

Things just keep looking bleaker and bleaker for Nova. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun [in Japanese], as of June 20, Nova's classes will no longer be eligible to accept money from the government retraining program for the next five years. Since 1999, Nova has received 16 billion yen from the government in assistance that covered 71,000 students. Given Nova's scandalous behavior, it would be more appropriate to say Nova bilked the government out of 16 billion yen.

Internet forums and blogs are now rife with speculation about Nova's fate. Will it survive, will it get a government bailout, or will is go bankrupt? At this point in time, all anyone can do is speculate.

News of NOVA's punishment has been widely reported in the media. The nuts and bolts are are this: For a period of six months, NOVA will not be able solicit, accept, or conclude any new contracts exceeding one year. This means no contracts for courses more than a year or courses longer than 70 hours. Existing contracts are not affected by METI's punishment.

The media has covered the basics. Here's The Japan Times:

If you were thinking, "Wasn't the biggest story in Japan something to do with education reform and changing the constitution?" you'd be correct, but the recent pension scandal has completely eclipsed the Abe administration's agenda and reduced Abe to having to repeatedly say he's going to get to the bottom of it if it's the last thing he does. There is an outstanding roundup of the whole mess by Chris Salzberg on Global Voices Online. It's a must read.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, NOVA has been ordered by the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry to partially suspend operations for six months during which NOVA will not be able solicit, accept, or conclude any new contracts exceeding one year. METI found NOVA's behavior to be in violation of the Specific Commercial Transaction Law.