So just an update, my email did indeed arrive. I guess they just wanted to wait a day because they knew I could appreciate the hilarity of the email being sent on Christmas Eve. This makes two years running that Japan has given me a nasty surprise on Christmas Eve. I must remain here for one more year just to prove to myself that it is in fact possible to have a nice Christmas Eve in Japan!
Haha, that is a bit tongue-in-cheek though, because I am in fact having a great Christmas Eve and this email was rather expected, so not truly a surprise. I am optimist through and through and refuse to let anything ruin my favorite holiday! (^_^)v
Merry Christmas everyone!
Monday, December 24, 2007
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Merry Christmas, Corporate Style!
Yesterday, our generous benefactors (G Communications, not to be confused with the Combine), sent out an email to some of the former NOVA teachers who had received a promise that they would be rehired on January 10, 2008.
I have reproduced the email according to what is revealed in a post at www.letsjapan.org/forum because thankfully, I didn't receive one myself.
December 21, 2007
Information regarding Re-employment with G.education
Thank you for requesting re-employment with G.education. Since taking over operations at Nova we have put all our efforts into proceeding with the reopening of branches. As a result, we expect to have approximately 130 branches offering Nova lessons during December 2007.
At the same time, the Trustees in Bankruptcy are making progress with dissolving Nova Corporation. At present they have started proceeding sequentially with terminating leases of properties which will not be taken over by G.education and the problem of unpaid wages. With the cooperation of property owners, we have managed to rapidly reopen many branches but now intend to more closely align branch reopenings with the current business situation. The process of opening the Ekimae Ryugaku branches and restarting lessons requires a lot of time, personnel and expense. To enable us to offer lessons even more quickly to students who still have unused lesson points, we will shift the focus of development from the branches to expanding Ochanoma Ryugaku lessons with a view to even opening new Multimedia Center facilities overseas.
In the current business situation, it is only possible for G.education to employ a limited number of instructors in January and while we appreciate your request for re-employment from January 10, 2008, it is with great regret that we inform you that we are not able to offer you a position at G.education at this time.
While the current business situation makes this decision unavoidable, we hope to be able to contact you and ask you for your assistance if possible once business operations allow.
In our endeavor to continue Novafs business, we are constantly forced to make difficult decisions and, while our aim is to be able to have as many students as possible return to the branches and as many instructors as possible continue employment, it is with a heavy heart that I have to inform you of this decision and ask for your understanding.
We wish you all the best with your future endeavors.
Takashi Ono
Chief Executive Officer
G.education Co. Ltd.
The words speak for themselves; the new NOVA company is no improvement, as they basically immediately are going back on their word to several thousand former employees. Apparently there was some randomly selected employees that they decided to keep, and I appear to be one of them... at least so far. There could be a second wave of emails, including one with my name on it.
To be honest, I wasn't so sure about this new company to begin with and have still been actively job hunting, so this doesn't in particular surprise or worry me. If they extend an offer of employment, come the 10th, then all's well. If not, I will make do until I can land a job elsewhere. I have a lot more going for me than most of the former NOVA employees seeing as how I have been here a bit over a year, and can claim basically a year's worth of experience. For those who have only been in Japan a few months, things are looking quite grim.
Anyways, at least I can say I lived in interesting times. This entire trip to Japan has been quite the "growing up" experience that I imagined it would be, but in entirely unexpected ways!
At the forum where I obtained the copy of the email (whose contents I have confirmed through friends who also received one of these Dear Gaijin emails) there are a lot of people who are basically blaming the NOVA employees who took it on good faith that this company's promise would be kept. While I agree that I personally didn't particularly believe the company would rehire all the employees, I dislike any attitude which shifts the blame away from the true culprit; regardless of if its just business or whatever other excuse you want to make, the fact of the matter is that this company made a misleading promise and then broke it.
Once upon a time, this behavior would not be acceptable in good society. Maybe that's the problem; good society is now the minority and so many people are just out to get their own and screw anyone they can while doing so. Regardless, for many NOVA teachers, this is the first real world job they have had; they don't know better than to trust the promises of a faceless corporation. That was one of my biggest complaints, back in the days when I actually worked at NOVA; everyone acted like it was such a terrible job and the conditions were awful and blah blah blah, when in reality we were all getting paid sick money for doing the easiest job I've ever had!
In any case, my heart goes out to all my friends and former co-workers who had this bitter announcement delivered to them days before Christmas. For all I know, I am in your same position, but I hope nobody begrudges me if I find myself among the lucky* few who will find a place at Neo NOVA.
* - If conditions are the same or worse than they were with the old company, the word lucky might be a tongue-in-cheek joke. Time will tell, though this recent event certainly doesn't bode well for our new benefactors...
I have reproduced the email according to what is revealed in a post at www.letsjapan.org/forum because thankfully, I didn't receive one myself.
December 21, 2007
Information regarding Re-employment with G.education
Thank you for requesting re-employment with G.education. Since taking over operations at Nova we have put all our efforts into proceeding with the reopening of branches. As a result, we expect to have approximately 130 branches offering Nova lessons during December 2007.
At the same time, the Trustees in Bankruptcy are making progress with dissolving Nova Corporation. At present they have started proceeding sequentially with terminating leases of properties which will not be taken over by G.education and the problem of unpaid wages. With the cooperation of property owners, we have managed to rapidly reopen many branches but now intend to more closely align branch reopenings with the current business situation. The process of opening the Ekimae Ryugaku branches and restarting lessons requires a lot of time, personnel and expense. To enable us to offer lessons even more quickly to students who still have unused lesson points, we will shift the focus of development from the branches to expanding Ochanoma Ryugaku lessons with a view to even opening new Multimedia Center facilities overseas.
In the current business situation, it is only possible for G.education to employ a limited number of instructors in January and while we appreciate your request for re-employment from January 10, 2008, it is with great regret that we inform you that we are not able to offer you a position at G.education at this time.
While the current business situation makes this decision unavoidable, we hope to be able to contact you and ask you for your assistance if possible once business operations allow.
In our endeavor to continue Novafs business, we are constantly forced to make difficult decisions and, while our aim is to be able to have as many students as possible return to the branches and as many instructors as possible continue employment, it is with a heavy heart that I have to inform you of this decision and ask for your understanding.
We wish you all the best with your future endeavors.
Takashi Ono
Chief Executive Officer
G.education Co. Ltd.
The words speak for themselves; the new NOVA company is no improvement, as they basically immediately are going back on their word to several thousand former employees. Apparently there was some randomly selected employees that they decided to keep, and I appear to be one of them... at least so far. There could be a second wave of emails, including one with my name on it.
To be honest, I wasn't so sure about this new company to begin with and have still been actively job hunting, so this doesn't in particular surprise or worry me. If they extend an offer of employment, come the 10th, then all's well. If not, I will make do until I can land a job elsewhere. I have a lot more going for me than most of the former NOVA employees seeing as how I have been here a bit over a year, and can claim basically a year's worth of experience. For those who have only been in Japan a few months, things are looking quite grim.
Anyways, at least I can say I lived in interesting times. This entire trip to Japan has been quite the "growing up" experience that I imagined it would be, but in entirely unexpected ways!
At the forum where I obtained the copy of the email (whose contents I have confirmed through friends who also received one of these Dear Gaijin emails) there are a lot of people who are basically blaming the NOVA employees who took it on good faith that this company's promise would be kept. While I agree that I personally didn't particularly believe the company would rehire all the employees, I dislike any attitude which shifts the blame away from the true culprit; regardless of if its just business or whatever other excuse you want to make, the fact of the matter is that this company made a misleading promise and then broke it.
Once upon a time, this behavior would not be acceptable in good society. Maybe that's the problem; good society is now the minority and so many people are just out to get their own and screw anyone they can while doing so. Regardless, for many NOVA teachers, this is the first real world job they have had; they don't know better than to trust the promises of a faceless corporation. That was one of my biggest complaints, back in the days when I actually worked at NOVA; everyone acted like it was such a terrible job and the conditions were awful and blah blah blah, when in reality we were all getting paid sick money for doing the easiest job I've ever had!
In any case, my heart goes out to all my friends and former co-workers who had this bitter announcement delivered to them days before Christmas. For all I know, I am in your same position, but I hope nobody begrudges me if I find myself among the lucky* few who will find a place at Neo NOVA.
* - If conditions are the same or worse than they were with the old company, the word lucky might be a tongue-in-cheek joke. Time will tell, though this recent event certainly doesn't bode well for our new benefactors...
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Morning Musings
I woke up early today and decided to take a bike ride through downtown Osaka since I'm basically never awake during the morning commuter rush, and wanted to see what it was like. There is a TON of folks in Osaka! Apparently the city's population is around 2 and a half million at night time, but during the day another million commuters come to the city to work.
While riding my bicycle, I passed a coffee shop called "Ko Hi Kan", spelled out in romaji. (That's what they call the English alphabet here.) Being a sophisticated expat, I was able to use my powers of deduction to figure out it was a coffee shop because I knew that coffee is pronounced "co-he", or phonetically in kana "ko-hi", and I seem to recall that "kan" is used to describe a hot drink or something like that, though I could be wrong. Also, there was a big picture of a cup of steaming coffee on the window, which I was able to utilize in my scientific deductions.
I am often surprised at the "gambare" work ethic of the Japanese people. It is a noticeable cultural difference when you interact with staff at minimum wage jobs, especially. (Note: I'm not saying this to offend anyone who does in fact try their darnedest even at minimum wage. This is a stereotypical example and I would say that you would be an exception to the rule, at least in my own experiences in America. End of disclaimer.)
At McDonald's, for example, the Japanese people are extremely friendly, smiley, and polite. Everyone, at every McDonald's, without exception. I remember going to a floating McDonald's in St. Louis, built out of an old ferry boat or some such, and being particularly unimpressed with the service and outright hostility of the staff working there. This type of situation is basically impossible to find in Japan, due to it being a matter-of-fact cultural difference; it is unfathomable that someone wouldn't try their best, especially in a service industry.
A shame that it isn't similarly unthinkable that a guy might cop a feel off a middle school student in a crowded subway...
Japan can be pervy. The Japanese view on sexuality is quite different from the Christian-influenced culture of America. In some ways I find it kind of refreshing; a lot less hypocritical nonsense. In other ways I find it quite disturbing, as the lack of restraint can manifest itself in molesting middle school students on crowded subways. After inquiring around, I was surprised that most of the girls I know, gaijin and Japanese alike, get groped or fight off an attempted grope at least once a month.
Of course this isn't to say that the average Japanese man is a sex offender; bear in mind, what I'm describing is a depraved minority... but they are able to operate with a lot more freedom than would be tolerated in America, due to the cultural differences. Japan is a very "don't make waves" society, so it tends to leave victims feeling powerless to inform an authority that someone is perving out on them.
Thankfully, there have been campaigns recently to empower women to report the chikans (train molesters) and the climate is definitely changing. Depraved perverts everywhere are wistfully remembering the good old days while crying into their sake.
And now I think it is time for me to take a nap.
While riding my bicycle, I passed a coffee shop called "Ko Hi Kan", spelled out in romaji. (That's what they call the English alphabet here.) Being a sophisticated expat, I was able to use my powers of deduction to figure out it was a coffee shop because I knew that coffee is pronounced "co-he", or phonetically in kana "ko-hi", and I seem to recall that "kan" is used to describe a hot drink or something like that, though I could be wrong. Also, there was a big picture of a cup of steaming coffee on the window, which I was able to utilize in my scientific deductions.
I am often surprised at the "gambare" work ethic of the Japanese people. It is a noticeable cultural difference when you interact with staff at minimum wage jobs, especially. (Note: I'm not saying this to offend anyone who does in fact try their darnedest even at minimum wage. This is a stereotypical example and I would say that you would be an exception to the rule, at least in my own experiences in America. End of disclaimer.)
At McDonald's, for example, the Japanese people are extremely friendly, smiley, and polite. Everyone, at every McDonald's, without exception. I remember going to a floating McDonald's in St. Louis, built out of an old ferry boat or some such, and being particularly unimpressed with the service and outright hostility of the staff working there. This type of situation is basically impossible to find in Japan, due to it being a matter-of-fact cultural difference; it is unfathomable that someone wouldn't try their best, especially in a service industry.
A shame that it isn't similarly unthinkable that a guy might cop a feel off a middle school student in a crowded subway...
Japan can be pervy. The Japanese view on sexuality is quite different from the Christian-influenced culture of America. In some ways I find it kind of refreshing; a lot less hypocritical nonsense. In other ways I find it quite disturbing, as the lack of restraint can manifest itself in molesting middle school students on crowded subways. After inquiring around, I was surprised that most of the girls I know, gaijin and Japanese alike, get groped or fight off an attempted grope at least once a month.
Of course this isn't to say that the average Japanese man is a sex offender; bear in mind, what I'm describing is a depraved minority... but they are able to operate with a lot more freedom than would be tolerated in America, due to the cultural differences. Japan is a very "don't make waves" society, so it tends to leave victims feeling powerless to inform an authority that someone is perving out on them.
Thankfully, there have been campaigns recently to empower women to report the chikans (train molesters) and the climate is definitely changing. Depraved perverts everywhere are wistfully remembering the good old days while crying into their sake.
And now I think it is time for me to take a nap.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Observation of the Japanese Government
Since I've been living in Japan (a little bit over a year now), I have often seen political and industrial scandals being reported in the news. This is a very common occurrence, much more common than I recall seeing in America.
One of the main similarities that I've noticed in the Japanese scandals is that in cases where there are people who were victimized, they are pretty much always abandoned. The responsible parties rarely faces anything beyond losing their career, in spite of literally ruining the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people.
A good example is a recent Hepatitis C scandal in which as many as 10,000 innocent people were infected with the disease during medical treatment in Japanese hospitals. The government seems to always dodge responsibility when confronted with problems like these, and it often results in the people having no help and no options.
It could be that I just have forgotten the frequency of similar situations in America, but I can't seem to recall this type of disgrace being a common event back home. I've heard people say that basically this is also why there are a ton of homeless folks in Japan; an earthquake or fire destroys someone's house or livelihood, and for some reason they can't receive an insurance payout or didn't have insurance at the time, for example because their company had just gone bankrupt.
Without any help from the government, they are forced to make due and continue living as best as they can manage. Myself, I'm living in Japan by choice; it is a privilege to live here and worst case scenario, I return home and move back in with my parents while I get back on my feet. However, if I didn't have that support group and was a Japanese citizen with nowhere to go, I could very easily be homeless now.
This whole experience has been a very valuable lesson on having backup plans and emergency savings, and has really made me appreciate my friends and family all the more knowing that I have people who would help me should I ever really need it.
About a month ago, my meager savings had ran dry. (This is aside from the cash I refuse to spend in case I just end up having to buy a ticket home.) I no longer was pulling in any income aside from a few private students, but the experience showed me just how cheaply one can live in Japan. Not having to pay our rent for the past few months has been integral to my ability to get by on a nonexistent income, and I basically could only afford to buy the groceries that I ate.
Luckily, I already own a bunch of great video games and as such, I didn't have to spend any money to have fun. However, my internet bill was due soon and I didn't think I would be able to afford to pay it... luckily, our company's new benefactors have seen fit to pay me a small gift in order to help ease my unemployment status until they can make full use of me come January 10th. So financially, I'm solid again! (Yay!)
Yes, folks, that's the day I'm no longer going to be unemployed. I dread it like I used to dread the end of summer. But I suppose it will be good to have a paycheck every month, and I'm excited to see how well my newfound knowledge of cheap-living will be able to replenish my savings.
Until next time, remember to put some extra cash in your emergency savings!
One of the main similarities that I've noticed in the Japanese scandals is that in cases where there are people who were victimized, they are pretty much always abandoned. The responsible parties rarely faces anything beyond losing their career, in spite of literally ruining the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people.
A good example is a recent Hepatitis C scandal in which as many as 10,000 innocent people were infected with the disease during medical treatment in Japanese hospitals. The government seems to always dodge responsibility when confronted with problems like these, and it often results in the people having no help and no options.
It could be that I just have forgotten the frequency of similar situations in America, but I can't seem to recall this type of disgrace being a common event back home. I've heard people say that basically this is also why there are a ton of homeless folks in Japan; an earthquake or fire destroys someone's house or livelihood, and for some reason they can't receive an insurance payout or didn't have insurance at the time, for example because their company had just gone bankrupt.
Without any help from the government, they are forced to make due and continue living as best as they can manage. Myself, I'm living in Japan by choice; it is a privilege to live here and worst case scenario, I return home and move back in with my parents while I get back on my feet. However, if I didn't have that support group and was a Japanese citizen with nowhere to go, I could very easily be homeless now.
This whole experience has been a very valuable lesson on having backup plans and emergency savings, and has really made me appreciate my friends and family all the more knowing that I have people who would help me should I ever really need it.
About a month ago, my meager savings had ran dry. (This is aside from the cash I refuse to spend in case I just end up having to buy a ticket home.) I no longer was pulling in any income aside from a few private students, but the experience showed me just how cheaply one can live in Japan. Not having to pay our rent for the past few months has been integral to my ability to get by on a nonexistent income, and I basically could only afford to buy the groceries that I ate.
Luckily, I already own a bunch of great video games and as such, I didn't have to spend any money to have fun. However, my internet bill was due soon and I didn't think I would be able to afford to pay it... luckily, our company's new benefactors have seen fit to pay me a small gift in order to help ease my unemployment status until they can make full use of me come January 10th. So financially, I'm solid again! (Yay!)
Yes, folks, that's the day I'm no longer going to be unemployed. I dread it like I used to dread the end of summer. But I suppose it will be good to have a paycheck every month, and I'm excited to see how well my newfound knowledge of cheap-living will be able to replenish my savings.
Until next time, remember to put some extra cash in your emergency savings!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Disjointed Rambles...
In general, Japanese people have no real opinion on American politics, aside from the consensus that nobody likes President Bush. As far as Japanese politics, my experiences in asking folks seems to reveal that there's a lot of political apathy, just like in America.
Speaking of American politics, I was quite surprised at how many misconceptions foreign native English-speakers had about America's political process. And then I realized that I had basically no knowledge whatsoever of the other English speaking nations' political processes either, before coming here and making friends with other countries' citizens. Its funny how we all consider ourselves "Democracies" at least in the layman's use of the term, and yet our various governments' political processes are so vastly different.
Christmas time in Japan is quite similar to Christmas time in America; Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas specials, holiday music (in English) piped through the store radios, and the staff more often than not are wearing reindeer and Santa hats. It is very festive and helps me not get too homesick during the holiday season.
When my company went bankrupt, we were very concerned about our apartment. It was a company apartment, and we didn't have enough money to make the deposit, first month's rent, and last month's rent on a new apartment. Not to mention "key money", an archaic tradition in Japan where you give basically a monetary gift to your landlord, which once upon a time was someone you lived *with* and not a faceless corporation.
Well, turns out that if you know the right people, even faceless corporations are pretty good guys. (Valuable life lesson: always do your best to know the right people.) I may have mentioned before, (or maybe not?) that our neighborhood has a little hole-in-the-wall bar ran by a guy who spent 2 years backpacking across Europe and Asia. During his travels he picked up pretty good English and as such, we really enjoy hanging out in his bar and talking with him. "We" being myself and my roommate Eddy, who has become my best mate in Japan. ("Mate" is the Aussie and British way of saying friend.)
So the bartender of the little "tachinomimonoya" (literally "standing bar", which means there's no room for seats or tables, just a bar which everyone stands around) knows one of the managers in the company that owns my building, and he put in a good word for us. After that, we meet with the manager of our particular building, and he lets us stay in the apartment without having to bother with moving, gave us an extra month free, and then set up our payment so that it would be at the end of the month rather than the beginning, which is what everyone else has to do. All of this because he understood our situation and that we wouldn't be coming into money for several months. Additionally, he waived the key money and isn't requiring a deposit.
In other words, we got the hook up yo!
Shortly after this deal transpired, our former neighbors, fellow gaijin English teachers, realized that their new apartment was going to be too expensive for them to stay in. We had a spare room so we offered to let them crash here for a few months, providing they pay rent, and they agreed. So now its a regular full house with two guys and two girls (the girls sharing a room), and although the kitchen is now a permanent war-zone I have to say that having a female's touch on the house decor has been rather refreshing.
Concurrently, as they moved in, we cleaned house... the battle of two young men against 10 years of NOVA teachers trashing this apartment. We took heavy casualties, but have declared VF day! (Victory over Filth!)
Speaking of American politics, I was quite surprised at how many misconceptions foreign native English-speakers had about America's political process. And then I realized that I had basically no knowledge whatsoever of the other English speaking nations' political processes either, before coming here and making friends with other countries' citizens. Its funny how we all consider ourselves "Democracies" at least in the layman's use of the term, and yet our various governments' political processes are so vastly different.
Christmas time in Japan is quite similar to Christmas time in America; Christmas decorations everywhere, Christmas specials, holiday music (in English) piped through the store radios, and the staff more often than not are wearing reindeer and Santa hats. It is very festive and helps me not get too homesick during the holiday season.
When my company went bankrupt, we were very concerned about our apartment. It was a company apartment, and we didn't have enough money to make the deposit, first month's rent, and last month's rent on a new apartment. Not to mention "key money", an archaic tradition in Japan where you give basically a monetary gift to your landlord, which once upon a time was someone you lived *with* and not a faceless corporation.
Well, turns out that if you know the right people, even faceless corporations are pretty good guys. (Valuable life lesson: always do your best to know the right people.) I may have mentioned before, (or maybe not?) that our neighborhood has a little hole-in-the-wall bar ran by a guy who spent 2 years backpacking across Europe and Asia. During his travels he picked up pretty good English and as such, we really enjoy hanging out in his bar and talking with him. "We" being myself and my roommate Eddy, who has become my best mate in Japan. ("Mate" is the Aussie and British way of saying friend.)
So the bartender of the little "tachinomimonoya" (literally "standing bar", which means there's no room for seats or tables, just a bar which everyone stands around) knows one of the managers in the company that owns my building, and he put in a good word for us. After that, we meet with the manager of our particular building, and he lets us stay in the apartment without having to bother with moving, gave us an extra month free, and then set up our payment so that it would be at the end of the month rather than the beginning, which is what everyone else has to do. All of this because he understood our situation and that we wouldn't be coming into money for several months. Additionally, he waived the key money and isn't requiring a deposit.
In other words, we got the hook up yo!
Shortly after this deal transpired, our former neighbors, fellow gaijin English teachers, realized that their new apartment was going to be too expensive for them to stay in. We had a spare room so we offered to let them crash here for a few months, providing they pay rent, and they agreed. So now its a regular full house with two guys and two girls (the girls sharing a room), and although the kitchen is now a permanent war-zone I have to say that having a female's touch on the house decor has been rather refreshing.
Concurrently, as they moved in, we cleaned house... the battle of two young men against 10 years of NOVA teachers trashing this apartment. We took heavy casualties, but have declared VF day! (Victory over Filth!)
Monday, December 3, 2007
Battle Report
Time: 19:35
Date: 3rd December, 2007
Location: Maruyama Heights #402
After-battle report for the Bathroom Region: heavy casualties taken in action in the sink sector, but in spite of this we have completely secured the area. Awards and medals are expected for the exceptional performance seen by the forces that engaged the enemy in this sector; the fighting was fierce but we are able to declare total victory in this sector.
Forces are currently mopping up the shower sector, with small pockets of enemy resistance still holding out. For the most part, however, the shower sector is secure. Advise caution when patrolling the bathtub area; still receiving reports of enemy activity but our forces are stretched too thin to secure it completely.
Forces have begun to advance into the toilet sector; enemy contact has been heavy, with casualties on both sides already rising. Expecting further word after combat has ceased.
Date: 3rd December, 2007
Location: Maruyama Heights #402
After-battle report for the Bathroom Region: heavy casualties taken in action in the sink sector, but in spite of this we have completely secured the area. Awards and medals are expected for the exceptional performance seen by the forces that engaged the enemy in this sector; the fighting was fierce but we are able to declare total victory in this sector.
Forces are currently mopping up the shower sector, with small pockets of enemy resistance still holding out. For the most part, however, the shower sector is secure. Advise caution when patrolling the bathtub area; still receiving reports of enemy activity but our forces are stretched too thin to secure it completely.
Forces have begun to advance into the toilet sector; enemy contact has been heavy, with casualties on both sides already rising. Expecting further word after combat has ceased.
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