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Clueless

If Nova ever digs itself out of the hole it's in, it will be because of idiot consumers like Hikaru Maeda:

Regarding the Sept. 21 front-page article "Nova may close hundreds of schools": As a Nova student for 11 years, I think it's a shame that Nova has been so criticized by the media. We love Nova's system, which includes flexible lesson-time schedules, voice rooms (one ticket lets us be there seven hours to speak English every hour with teachers as they change). There are no other places to speak English freely in Japan unless we have foreign friends or work for a foreign company.

The prospect of Nova's bankruptcy makes students and teachers suffer. We hope Nova stays in business. Otherwise, we'll lose our place to speak English!

Never mind that Nova has been breaking the law and ripping off its customers for years, they don't deserve to be criticized because I want my English lessons, dammit!

Nova must absolutely love dimwits like Hikaru. 11 years at Nova! 11 years for Nova to hook up its vacuum to Hikaru's wallet and suck everything out of it. Hikaru must be living under a rock because that letter makes no sense.

Meanwhile, back in reality, teachers have lost confidence in Nova and may lose the roofs over their heads:

Late salary payments and lack of communication from top Nova management have rankled its mostly foreign staff.

A 31-year-old Brisbane woman who works in Nova middle management in Osaka said teachers and students had no confidence in the company.

"Basically, middle management is not being provided with any information as to why we're being paid late," she said.

She said 300 eviction notices had been served to teachers living in Nova-sponsored apartments, with the company deducting rents from their salaries but not passing them on to landlords.

Despite the company's woes, Nova's Osaka office this week approved eight Sydney instructors for positions in Japan.

If you can spare 30 minutes, hop over to Trans-Pacific Radio and listen to this podcast. You already know what it's about, but what's important is that the interviews in the podcast give the teachers a voice. Now they're real humans as opposed to anonymous text on a message board.

Japan: 
stupidity
nova
Eikaiwa: 
Naked Theft

Comments

Mon, 10/01/2007 - 22:39 — Tony Kiernan (not verified)

>>with the company deducting rents from their salaries but not passing them on to landlords.
Someone needs their legs broken

EVICTION: Thing to know
Hopefully this thread won't be deleted as it could possibly help someone or someone with a family.
I hope this helps anyone with a particular company that is being threatened with eviction. First of all and most important do not voluntarily leave or move from your apartment without getting a court ordered eviction judgement against you. If you do all claims that you have are invalid as you no longer live in the apartment.

First,as far as the landlord getting a court ordered eviction, the landlord must prove to the court that you weren't paying rent or that you were doing illegal activities from the apartment.

If the landlord goes the way of taking you to court to get the eviction. The landlord first has to go to court and file a complaint against the agent and (also) the tenant.If the court finds ground to continue the complaint, the court will set a court date for (ALL)parties involved and not just the landlord.

In other words the landlord can't just show up with some paper saying that your evicted. If you can prove to the court that you were paying rent and etc. The landlord will not get a eviction order against you.IT DOESN'T MATTER IF YOUR ON THE LEASE,ON A SUB-LEASE,HAVE NO GUARANTOR OR CONTRACT OR IF YOUR COMPANY WAS NOT PAYING THE RENT TO THE LANDLORD THAT YOU PAID TO THE COMPANY. If you can prove by receipt, pay stub of any kind that you paid rent, you will not be evicted.

If the landlord comes to your apartment telling you to leave or if your company tells you to leave REFUSE tell the party that they need a court ordered eviction order. If they threaten you or etc, tell them that you will have your lawyer contact them.

If they deny you access to your apartment or remove anything, they have commited a crime and you will also get compensation from them.

Also continue to pay rent on the apartment, if your company or landlord accepts the rent, then automatically under Japanese law you have a contract with them and if they refuse to acceppt the rent, you can go to your MAIN police office(Not KOBAN) and they have a section that will accept your rent if the landlord or company refuses to accept it. IT covers you as you were paying the rent.

This same type of thing happened to me. I had no contract on the apartment, no sub-lease, no guarantor, but I was paying the rent and had proof of it.(The details are a long story) but anyway after recieving several threats and whatnot. I called the legal advice section at the ward /city office and they told me to just leave, they said that I had a right to live there, but if I fought ( I would be breaking Japanese wa) I asked for litature explaing my legal right to stay there, but again they said"just leave or move out".

I was starting to worry, so I contacted the Japanese bar association in Tokyo (Legal Aid) I went there paid 5,200 yen for a consultation and after telling my story to the lawyer, he said that I had a legal right to stay at the apartment and wrote a letter to the landlord and agent explaining this and the law and I more or less never heard another word from them and I continued to live at the apartment for another year with no lease, contract or whatever.

The biggest probelm is that Japanese landlords or the agents have NO knowledge of the landlord/ tenant law and just blindly try to do something.

I just thought that I would pass along this advice and it's up to you if you follow up on it or not, BUT REMEMBER THEY CAN'T JUST FORCE YOU TO LEAVE THE APARTMENT WITHOUT DUE PROCESS.

One other thing to remember if your landlord decides to evict you. The landlord can't just go to the ward office and do this. They must go to court in the prefecture the apartment is in and they must also hire a lawyer to file the eviction and it's not worth it to most of them, so they just resort to threats.

Also your (compnay ) can't evict you or tell you to leave, if they don't own the apartment, it has to come from the landlord, no matter what your lease or contract says.

thanks man, just the information I need!

I'm quite dissappointed that Let's Japan has decided to post an article of this kind. Don't you think that disparaging and ridiculing a NOVA student in this manner - simply for expressing her opinions amongst all this mess is rather cruel and mean-spirited?

Have the owners and users of this site degenerated into such a pack of groupthinking wolves that anyone who dares to espouse even a kernel of support for NOVA gets savaged and berated?

People may not like or understand Hikaru Maeda's choice of hobby or her wish to continue studying English at a place she evidently enjoys going, but that doesn't give anyone the right to hold her up to ridicule. NOVA students have been treated badly enough, none of NOVA's current woes are the fault of its paying customers.

Of course NOVA is in one hell of a mess, and it only has itself and its upper management to blame for that. But lets not forget that NOVA has given a lot of enjoyment and fulfillment to a lot of people over the years, mostly due to the hard work and commitment of its teachers.

To denigrate Hikaru Maeda is to denigrate NOVA teachers, too. Both NOVA students and teachers - the innocent victims in all of this - deserve better treatment.

Thumbs down on this one, Chris & Shawn.

This site used to be a really useful and reliable place to try and get a handle on what the hell is going on, but it has descended in to a uless boring shit fight and now they guys running it are getting in on the act too. Waste of time.

I love that students comment, "I think it's a shame that Nova has been so criticized by the media"

No, what's a shame is that nova wasn't put out of business years ago. dimwits
like her are one of the reasons nova hasn't gone under yet.

I totally agree with Shawn's comment. That student's comment is based on her own selfishness and ignorence. She loves nova's system because she can hang out in the voice room all day? Flexible lesson time schedule? Since when?! It doesn't matter to Hikaru that nova has been lying to and ripping off it's customers and employees for years, arrogantly thinking that they are somehow above the law. According to Hikaru, this doesn't matter. Or in her simple mind it never happened.

I was really surprised to see article of this nature on the letsjapan website. Running down a NOVA student who has a positive opinion of NOVA is a cheap shot that does nothing for the reputation of the authors. Get back to reporting real news!

Ah, jason trent, you summed yourself up so succinctly - clueless

So many other words in there that clearly apply to you also - dimwit, selfish, ignorant, arrogant, simple

Oh come on, will you shut it, when someone criticises a customer for being naive and shortsighted they are actually trying to protect them. How much do you think students know? they get told crap and only get fed positives, positives and more positives, Nova would never warn a student of some impending collapse. There marketing techniques　fool them into believing that this company is reputable and will give them value and quality for money! HAHA, so why did the government slap　Nova with a penalty for misleading information (ie, book a lesson when you want guaranteed)

Who are you to judge Mr Trent? Is what he said about nova ripping of customers incorrect? do you feel that nova is a company worth working for? please explain yourself. thank you

let me guess, you are one of nova's proud cheerleaders, right? it's great how you can anonymously post rude comments about people from the safety of your little room, isn't it?

"there are no other places to speak english freely" erm how about aeon, geos, ecc(who i THINK does open booking lessons) or a multitude of small housewife pleasing "schools". im with shawn on this. this woman knows that the teachers are getting pumped, but all she cares about is planting her little boys flat arse in voice for 7 hours to bore some poor cunt to tears with delicious hobbies. selfish and childish. you know what macarthur said.

ah, mr anonymous, and you as well.

ignorant, arrogant - what are you, a nova AAM? or do you hold
one of novas other important titles such as AT, BT, RAAM, COCK,
CUNT, etc...

Yep. "Clueless", "idiot", "dimwit": just tying to help.

Shawn - personally insulting articles like this only serve to detract credibility from the good stuff you write. In the context of the genuine news that you have obviously gone to great lengths to report and translate over the past few weeks, it's also completely unnecessary.

"all she cares about is planting her little boys flat arse in voice for 7 hours to bore some poor cunt to tears with delicious hobbies. selfish and childish"

Very well said, indoctrin8.

The point of Mr Trent's comment was not to talk about Nova's failings, but rather to personally attack a student who enjoys studying at Nova. There is a massive difference between the two, but unfortunately some people don't have enough grey matter to see the distinction. You are obviously a case in point.

As for Mr Anonymous criticizing me for being anonymous... WTF, get over yourself!

I am not an AT, BT, or any other acronym. I am however quite happy with my job. The only downside to it is having to listen to juveniles such as yourselves. If you don't like working at Nova, go elsewhere. There's no reason to slander the people who enjoy working or studying there, except immaturity.

You feel the words I used in my comment were rude towards Mr Trent, and yet all those words were in his comment about the student. Must be nice to be able to pick and choose when to be moralistic.

In this YouTube/Myspace/Facebook era, it is true that you are able to write what you want.
This being Shawn's blog, I accept his right to write whatever he wants.

The unfortunate part is that I doubt half of the swill that is spilled all over this site and many others wouldn't even be spoken in public. The net has removed all decency.
I applaud Shawn for giving us, his visitors, a chance to develop and further our collective knowledge.
It is a pity Hikaru Maeda was singled out in this post as being an idiot consumer. I doubt anyone on this page would confront her with what they have posted here, if they knew her. There are tons of idiot consumers and they come in many forms, but there are also consumers who made a choice for whatever reason to continue to buy points and attend classes/voice. Sure there are other schools out there and places for business men/housewives/children whatever. I don't really care.
These people made a choice. It is their money and you may or may not earn it with ease or great difficulty. Let them choose to spend it how they please, however aware or unaware they may be. They may have friends who also attend Nova. They may enjoy the voice room flexibility. They may have been fucked by a teacher at another school or fucking a teacher at Nova...it happens. Or there may be no other alternative.
You really have no idea. I think it is wrong to criticize someone as harshly as you have in these comments.
Nova has the largest number of schools/teachers/whatever.
It is terrible that they have lied to students and teachers through the upper management and the use of TI pawns. But that's life. It sucks sometimes.
I can't change either Shawn's or Hikaru's opinions, but I think it was in bad taste to post this.
I come here for valuable information, but day by day I have to scroll through war after war and then to see this on the front page... I groaned. One more reliable source slowly succumbing to the bandwagon.

FYI:
I came to Nova. Should have moved on earlier in the game...2 years ago. But, I didn't. I did get my own place as soon as I knew I was going to be here for more than a year. I don't trust anyone who wants to become an AT or higher unless of course they are just paper pushers who stay out of my way. I have no interest in taking a salary cut by switching to another school or losing the holidays I have built up. Hell, I don't even want to switch to another job unless I am going to make it my career. I came here to enjoy being in Japan, not the job. I am enjoying myself. Nova lied to me when they explained the teaching situation. They lied to the students. They lie to the Japanese staff. I accepted that I worked for a company that lies. I have chosen not to lie or mince words. I have had fights with AAMs (one altered a signed document without going through me first, obligating me to work at an altered time and put it in my box...which would have burned me had I not popped into my branch to grab the iPod I forgot the day before). The Union's response was lame and seemed more concerned about giving teachers the right to fuck students without getting fired or bringing down the company... not at all the purpose of a Union. But you know... people still keep working there. Students keep signing up and english is still being spoken, even if teachers speak the majority of the time. If Nova goes under, it will be unfortunate to more teachers than those who post on here. It will burn students who already have been burnt but choose to continue on for whatever reason. I trust that they won't just sign up at another eikaiwa if Nova falls, so trying to work at another school might not guarantee there will be students or a demand for teachers. And finally, it will burn the staff, good and bad alike, who are just working for the monies they require to live just as much as the rest of us.

Enough of the flame wars.
I am pleased with the faxes/translations/news links/etc... keep them coming

I want to thank all readers for their comments, especially the criticisms. You're right to call me on the personal attack of the letter writer. It was excessive and it's not what I normally do. I wrote that post right after translating an article about Sahashi's character, and it set me off.

But I my basic point still stands. When somebody writes "I think it's a shame that Nova has been so criticized by the media" in a newspaper, it's hard not to think that the writer is grossly naive. The letter completely ignores the past 3 months of events to
say, "I like Nova."

There's a huge disconnect here. The letter becomes bizarre when compared to a letter by Dennis Tesolat clarifying the position of the union that also appeared in Readers in Council that day.
How do you make sense of "We hope that Nova teachers who remain in Japan will join our union and help us reform the language industry, especially so that the current problems do not recur at other workplaces" juxtaposed with "We like Nova's system"?

Thanks again for your comments.

The significant problems we have cannot be solved at the same level of thinking with which we created them. -Albert Einstein

—

Shawn

Right on Shawn!!!That bitch is crazy!!! Like about 50% of all NOVA students that I have encountered.

This student has enjoyed learning with Nova, she also recognizes that if Nova does close it will be the students and Teachers who suffer.

If, as she says, she has been studting there for 11 years then her opinion is valid and she is experienced enough with te way things work (from a customer point of view) for her opinion to be respected. If she had only been studying for a week her opinion should still be afforded more respect than some commentors have given.

Someone wants to see a company they like get through a difficult time and sort itself out, I think they are not alone as many instructors would like to see their paychecks come in reliably. Yes, that might not happen, slagging off one person for voicing that hope is neither constructive or interesting, it just looks petty.

Some of the comments seem to stem from either anger at Nova (fine) or frustrations with students (not fine, part of teaching, this job might not be right for you).

People describing students as crazy or mocking them for trying to discuss their personal interests while attempting to make conversation? Firstly 'discussing hobbies' might not be top of your list of things to do, might not even be theirs but it is A conversation so give them a break... also the mocking of common errors, ok it can be a little amusing from time to time but I'm sure 90% of us on this forum leave something to be desired when we stumble through our paltry Japanese. Correct it, that's the reason you are here, if they make the mistake again correct it again in a different way until it gets through, certainly don't hold it against them.

There are many teachers at Nova who are very good at their jobs, many also who are unsuited - they don't have the patience or skills to do it.

I have taught in tertiary education in the UK, it is no picnic there either. Most teachers are employed on part time or short term contracts so they can be let go of easier if the budget streams change, resources a re poor or non-existent and Teachers and students suffer. I don't like the way the company has gone about things and I am amazed at the basic and continuing management errors, obviously a good deal of the upper management could happily be replaced especially the 'bizzare letter writing leader' (who by the way is at it again with a letter to branch staff that will no doubt be doing the rounds).

This doesn't make comments like "Right on Shawn!!!That bitch is crazy!!! Like about 50% of all NOVA students that I have encountered." acceptable. If that is tuly the case then you are extremely unlucky. It is however more likely that your attitude towards your students is influenced by something else, If you don't enjoy teaching ask yourself 'what am I putting into this? Would I like to be taught this way?' If not change something.

Yes most of us think huge mistakes have been made by Nova. Yes we would all love a nice reliable job. Insults don't help, if you want to be helpful how about some job adverts?

true, mate, discussing personal hobbies IS a conversation. once.
but when you hear it ad infinitum it gets a bit grating.
miss maede sounds to me like one of those students
who turn up at voice EVERY DAY, but never seem to remember
anything about the others in the room. hence the groundhog day scenario
which drove me, and quite a few others ill bet, mad.

these people just dont like each other as its competition for gaijin
time, and they certainly dont listen to each other. its all very id driven.
hence my comment of childish and selfish.

dull topics in themselves dont bother me. its the constant repetition
that annoyed me.

oh, and good for you, in teachin tertiary education. i only taught in high schools
back home for 7 years so obviously my patience and teaching skill is
far inferior to yours. a pain in the arse is a pain in the arse no matter
what or where you are teaching them, and i dont see any reason
why i cant express my opinion on that.

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