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

More red meat for the grinder. that Nova president Nozomu Sahashi was the sole owner of Ginganet, the company that sold videophones to Nova.

According to the article, Nova's trustees announced in a press conference that former president Nozomu Sahashi, who was the sole shares holder of the company Ginganet, sold videophone systems to Nova a several times the list price.

Despite the recent revelations of how Sahashi drove Nova into the ground and scuttled deals that may have saved the company, Nova may have a company or companies lined up to bail it out.

The Asahi Shimbun reported on a look at what you have probably already seen: Sahashi's lavish office. As the walls slowly close in on him, the media has started to dogpile on him for the fat, juicy target he is. Nothing sells newspapers like a corrupt head of a company falling hard.

The Christian Science Monitor ran a piece on Nova's collapse that views eikaiwa through rose-colored glasses. This quote in particular caught my attention because it conflates all Westerners working Japan with eikaiwa teachers and illustrates some seriously delusional thinking about the realities of eikaiwa.

Here's an example:

Sahashi's hand in running Nova into the ground is becoming clearer by the day. In part one of a three-part series,The Daily Yomiuri illustrates that even when he was about score with a tie up between Nova and Marui, he sabotaged the entire deal:

In a meeting held in late May in Tokyo, Nova's management was in the final stages of discussions over a capital and business tie-up with leading retailer Marui Co.

Uh-oh! Nova's liabilities may be larger than initially thought. According to the Asahi Shimbun (article at the bottom of the page), Nova's liabilities could swell to 70 billion yen from the 40 billion yen initially reported. This is because of Nova's accounting methods that listed only a portion of the lesson fees paid up front as a liability.

Nova announced today [PDF]that former president Nozomu Sahashi no longer owns the 70%+ stake in the company he once had.

As of March 31, 2007, Sahashi owned 24,002,900 shares with voting rights (a 35.55% stake) that ranked him second in terms of holdings. As of September 30, he owns 10,841,900 shares with voting rights (a 16.02％ stake) that places him at the top in terms of holdings.

It's all starting to unravel for Nozumu Sahashi. He's in hiding for two reasons: the link between him and a stock speculator has become clearer, and he has been found to have funneled money to an organization he owned.

The link to the stock speculator:

Despite the demise of Nova, teachers are still in limbo. Nova has released two announcements on its website explaining what will happen in the next month. The announcement on the appointment of interim trustees can be found here [PDF]. An FAQ for teachers is [PDF].

With Nova in ruins and its trustees looking for a receiver, the temptation to assign blame for the whole mess is hard to resist.

A letter to the editor in The Japan Times states METI "imposed their sanctimonious and totally inappropriate penalty upon Nova will spare a thought for the 7,000-odd foreign and Japanese staff who now find themselves unemployed."