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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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Nova burns out
The tragedy of the English-teaching company Nova is a gripping and revealing one. That students should have their fees returned and teachers and staff be given their salaries should go without saying. That the company had serious management and leadership problems should be equally obvious. Still, the Nova episode is reason to consider several aspects…
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Former Nova boss oblivious to people’s anguish
On [deposed Nova Corp. president Nozomu Sahashi’s] desk sat the company’s mascot–the bright pink Nova usagi, a bunny with long ears and the beak of a bird. The ears and the beak are said to symbolize the basics of mastering a foreign language, which are to listen a lot and speak a lot. The animal…
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Nova was cash cow for ex-boss / Sahashi overcharged school chain to repay debts at other parts of group
Five companies affiliated with Ginganet Corp., owned by former Nova Corp. President Nozomu Sahashi, obtained 4 billion yen in loans from failed Ishikawa Bank in return for cooperating with the bank’s illicit transactions, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. After the bank went bankrupt in December 2001, Osaka-based Ginganet’s funding situation got worse. A court-appointed administrator…
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Nova boss grilled, may face charges
¥100 BILLION IN LIABILITIES The Osaka Central Labor Standards Supervision Office said Friday it questioned ex-Nova Corp. President Nozomu Sahashi this week on suspicion of breaking the law by failing to pay its employees. It was meanwhile revealed that Nova would have liabilities in excess of assets totaling nearly ¥100 billion if the foreign-language school…
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Japanese Lesson: How Do You Say, ‘Taken for a Ride’?
Fresh out of college, Sam Gordon bought a one-way ticket to Tokyo for a chance to explore Japan’s exotic culture while teaching English at the nation’s largest language school. All it took to get the job was one simple interview. The adventure, which began five years ago, has abruptly come to an end. His employer,…
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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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Former Nova president admits to nonpayments of salaries
Former Nova Corp. President Nozomu Sahashi admitted the language school chain withheld wages from thousands of employees, saying the now-defunct company could not raise sufficient funds, Osaka Labor Bureau sources said Friday. The bureau interviewed Sahashi on suspicion of violating the Labor Standards Law and may seek criminal charges after questioning Nova’s current management team.…
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Nova collapse leaves schools without ALTs
As English conversation school chain operator Nova Corp. filed for court protection from creditors under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law last week, schools that have contracts with Nova to dispatch assistant language teachers are scrambling to find substitute teachers or resorting to the use of CDs recorded by native speakers. “The children were very much looking…
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Bring NOVA back from the brink — or the bunny gets it
Failed NOVA Corp.’s thousands of unpaid teachers, hundreds of thousands of paying students left without classes and billions of yen in debt have been well-documented, but Shukan Asahi (11/9) notes an important question about the English conversation chain remains unanswered: What’s going to happen to the NOVA bunny? NOVA grew to become Japan’s biggest English…