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

Japan Today has started a regular series on the state of the language school industry, in particular eikaiwa, written by Dean Rogers, president and CEO of Dean Morgan Co Ltd, the school that sounds like an investment company.

TBS correspondent in Australia, Hiroki Iijima, is covering the GEOS school closures and would like to hear from you.

Help him out. Contact him at: 0419 432 758 (mobile phone in Australia) or email hiroki [at] mcmstv.com.au.

Part 1 of a two-part interview with yours truly on My TEFL Journey.

Although you once taught at an Eikaiwa, you don’t anymore. Why did you choose to leave?

Back in 2001(my emphasis):

Around 20 companies affiliated with English-language school operator GEOS Corp. failed to declare some 280 million yen in income in the five years to March 2000, industry sources said Thursday.

This total includes 130 million yen in concealed revenues, the sources said.

GEOS Judas president and CEO, Tsuneo Kusunoki has issued an apology for the closures of the eight schools in Australia. Sadly, like the brief blurb on the GEOS website a couple of days ago, Kusunoki tries to assure everyone that things are OK while denying any connection to the schools. The apology in Japanese can be found here [PDF]. Here's a quick and dirty translation.

Good news if you're worried about the possibility of your visa renewal being denied due to your lack of national health insurance coverage:

The Immigration Bureau is planning to change a new guideline for foreign residents to ease concerns that those without social insurance will be forced to choose between losing their visa and entering the insurance system, a bureau official said Monday.

[...]

Earlier today:

The Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) says it will protect the 2,300 students affected by the possible closure of a number of English language schools across Australia.

[...]

"If a decision is made by the administrators for the college to close, all overseas students will be protected by the tuition insurance scheme," she [Lynn Glover, director of the VRQA]said.

The debate about opening the polls to long time residents of Japan, who are not citizens has been raging in Japan for months now. The current discussion is focused on whether Japan should adopt legislation to extend voting rights to Permanent Residents, who are not Japanese Citizens.

The story of the GEOS Australia schools shutting down has started to make the news in Australia and Japan. From Perth Now:

EMOTIONAL scenes erupted outside a Perth language school today after it closed unexpectedly due to financial problems.

Dozens of foreign students, who have already paid thousands of dollars for courses, were still arriving for night English classes at St Mark's International College in Perth tonight.

Add this to the list of GEOS's woes: voluntary administration.

Eight English language schools operated in Australia by the GEOS group have gone into voluntary administration, leaving about 2300 foreign students unsure of their future.

Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young have been appointed administrators to nine companies operating the schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns.