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Little Garden Smashes Shamelessness Record for Union Discrimination
NUGW Tokyo Nambu on May 15 filed a petition against preschool Little Garden for redress from unfair labor practices — sued the firm for union busting — at the Tokyo Labor Commission. Last summer, teachers and admin staff tried to build a union but management came down hard, making clear that anyone who joined would…
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Arudo Debito Book Tour
Author and activist Arudo Debito will be speaking at Tokyo Nambu HQ on Sunday, March 16, at 5:00, about his new book, “Handbook for Newcomers, Migrants, and Immigrants to Japan”. Read on to find out more, and come to Nambu on Sunday night to talk to the author in person. “HANDBOOK FOR NEWCOMERS, MIGRANTS, AND…
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Nova boss lived in cloud-cuckoo-land
“The superintendent at my apartment says to me, ‘Your rent is three months overdue; I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave,”‘ says Adele, who came from France six months ago to teach at Nova. “So I did a frantic Net search and found a place charging ¥40,000 a month. One six-mat room in…
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Ex-pat English teachers stranded by collapse of Japan’s Nova schools
In a country teeming with cute cartoon characters, few are cuter or better known than the Nova bunny. The pink mascot stood in the doorways of language schools across Japan, promising a short educational encounter with an exotic foreigner. But now, thousands of teachers and students have found that the bunny bites, hard. The collapse…
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Ex-NOVA boss questioned for breaking Labor Standards Law
Nozomu Sahashi, the founder of the failed NOVA Corp., has been questioned for breaking the Labor Standards Law by failing to pay his employees, government sources said. Officials of the Osaka Labor Bureau of the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry questioned Sahashi, 56, last Monday. They are considering whether to file a criminal complaint with…
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Foreign language instructors ‘will teach for food’ in Japan
Foreign language teachers who suddenly lost their jobs when Japan’s largest language school operator closed have been forced to rely on food handouts from their former students in exchange for private lessons, teachers and union officials said Thursday. Impromptu lessons are being offered in parks and restaurants because teachers can’t afford classrooms, or even apartments,…
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Nova share trading shady near the end
Boss unloaded amid volume, price flux Irregular transactions took place in the trading of shares in Nova Corp. in late August and early September ? well before the ailing foreign language school chain was put under court protection for rehabilitation last week, market sources said Thursday. The large volume of transactions and wild price fluctuations…
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Union reveals plan for feeding unpaid starving NOVA teachers: ‘Lesson for food’
Union representatives of the scandal-plagued NOVA Corp.’ foreign employees met the foreign press in Tokyo on Thursday, to unveil their relief plans for their fellow instructors who struggle to survive while their wages remain unpaid. The announcement at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan in Tokyo’s Chiyoda-ku came a week after NOVA, Japan’s largest English…
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School’s closure in Japan exposes tough times for foreign teachers
Nova, the largest language school, declared bankruptcy last week. Twenty years ago, native English speakers in Japan used to joke that they could make $100 an hour as an ESL teacher because they speak “a” language. These days, teachers feel as if the joke is on them. Some 4,000 foreign teachers are without jobs and…
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Foreigners march for worker rights
Workers from all parts of the globe battled wind and rain Sunday to give speeches, performances and then trudge through the streets of Shibuya, Tokyo, calling for job security and equality for all. “This march is about raising people’s awareness about the job situation in Japan, especially for foreigners,” said an American woman dressed as…