Blogs

Clips of the Nova story have started showing up on YouTube. First, here's the initial report by NHK on Nova's punishment:

Nova is quickly becoming the debacle that keeps on festering. The Asahi Shimbun is reporting a leak from a Nova meeting in which Sahashi was told that they didn't have enough instructors. Sahashi's reply: "If sales are low, we can't increase the number of instructors no matter how many students there are."

Things just keep looking bleaker and bleaker for Nova. According to the Yomiuri Shimbun [in Japanese], as of June 20, Nova's classes will no longer be eligible to accept money from the government retraining program for the next five years. Since 1999, Nova has received 16 billion yen from the government in assistance that covered 71,000 students. Given Nova's scandalous behavior, it would be more appropriate to say Nova bilked the government out of 16 billion yen.

Internet forums and blogs are now rife with speculation about Nova's fate. Will it survive, will it get a government bailout, or will is go bankrupt? At this point in time, all anyone can do is speculate.

News of NOVA's punishment has been widely reported in the media. The nuts and bolts are are this: For a period of six months, NOVA will not be able solicit, accept, or conclude any new contracts exceeding one year. This means no contracts for courses more than a year or courses longer than 70 hours. Existing contracts are not affected by METI's punishment.

The media has covered the basics. Here's The Japan Times:

If you were thinking, "Wasn't the biggest story in Japan something to do with education reform and changing the constitution?" you'd be correct, but the recent pension scandal has completely eclipsed the Abe administration's agenda and reduced Abe to having to repeatedly say he's going to get to the bottom of it if it's the last thing he does. There is an outstanding roundup of the whole mess by Chris Salzberg on Global Voices Online. It's a must read.

According to the Asahi Shimbun, NOVA has been ordered by the Ministry of Trade, Economy and Industry to partially suspend operations for six months during which NOVA will not be able solicit, accept, or conclude any new contracts exceeding one year. METI found NOVA's behavior to be in violation of the Specific Commercial Transaction Law.

This is from last week's Classifieds in the Japan Times, but it's a keeper. Eikaiwa is fraught with tales of low pay, insane students, insane managers, and general stupidity that would make Scott Adams drool with excitement.

NOVA is back in the news again with articles in the Yomiuri and Asahi shimbun detailing how NOVA just can't make its problems go away. These are quick-and-dirty translations, so if I've gone horribly wrong somewhere, let me know.

First, the story from the Yomiuri Shimbun.

Who knew breakfast was good for you? Here's a good example of advertising masquerading as news, a news-mercial if you will. In a poorly translated piece of screed from the Mainichi Shimbun:

A well-balanced, nutritious breakfast is important to help people concentrate on work and increase their productivity, an experiment conducted by a leading pharmaceutical company has shown.