Blogs

, a member raises a good question: "Are there any details re why they are having to do this [the class action suit]? I thought that it was already decided that NOVA had to refund students for unused lesson points."

If you were under the impression that everything for Nova will eventually turn out fine since there hasn't been much new to report, think again. According to the Daily Yomiuri [in Japanese], a class action lawsuit against Nova is in the works.

Keeping pace in Japan is running a 7-part series called "The Truth About AEON" on the ins and outs of working for AEON, the not-too-distant relative of GEOS.

It's worth a read if you're thinking of working for AEON. The series has been deja vu for me. I found myself identifying with a lot of what the author, Turner, writes.

Part I

Part II

It's starting to become clearer as to how Nova found itself in deep legal trouble. The Daily Yomiuri is reporting that METI tolerated Nova's refund practices:

The Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry issued a document in June 2002 that tolerated English conversation school industry leader Nova Corp.'s controversial practice of minimizing refunds of students who terminated their contracts, according to sources close to the issue.

Travel agency H.I.S has been identified as a candidate for a possible tie up with Nova. The head of H.I.S., Hideo Sawada met with Nova President Nozomu Sahashi last month in Tokyo to ask about Nova's financial situation, but both parties denied that any any specific deal had been made.

Stating the obvious, the Japan Times reported:

Via Debito's blog, we learn that by November this year, all visitors to Japan will be fingerprinted and photographed in the name of protecting Japan's security. Watch the cheesy video in English here.

As a consumer, it seems that danger lurks around every corner.

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.