Language teachers in Japan have been watching the decline of Nova for several months, and many have jumped ship as soon as another company offered a position. The gradual collapse of this language school leaves thousands of people without work and, to add insult to injury, without any chance of recovering payment due.
Chris Salzberg at GlobalVoicesOnline gives a pretty good rundown of the problems many employees have faced in recent weeks, with administrative staff not receiving their September 27th and (now) October 27th paychecks, and language instructors not receiving their October 15th pay.
I really feel bad for these stranded employees. Not just the teachers, but the administrative staff, too. They’ve all given quite a bit of their time and effort, but will get nothing in return. Bills don’t stop coming just because we have no income 
Earlier today the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo had sent an email out to let us know what our options were, and there aren’t many. Here’s an exerpt:
As you may have already heard in the news today (October 26), NOVA English school has filed for bankruptcy. In this message, the Embassy endeavours to communicate as much information as possible to assist you in planning your next steps.
The Canadian Embassy is monitoring the situation and remains ready to receive enquiries and provide the best advice we can.
Employees with concerns should consider contacting one of the two regional Nova offices which have been tasked with responding to employee queries, the workers’ union representing Nova employees, and their local labour advisory office. Contact details are:
- West Japan: Osaka Office (06) 7688-0404
- East Japan: Tokyo Office (03) 6688-4441
Nova has advised that it is in the process of putting related information for employees including questions and answers up on its website at www.nova.ne.jp.
General Union – Nova Branch: (06) 6352-9619
http://www.generalunion.org/nova/main.htmThe Osaka Labor Bureau, a local branch of the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, has launched a consulting counter with five interpreters for foreign Nova instructors. Its phone number is 06-6344-1135
The assistance that the Embassy of Canada is able to provide you is limited to that which is stipulated in the Consular Service Standards page, http://www.voyage.gc.ca/main/about/service_standards-en.asp.
The Embassy is neither legal expert nor labour law specialist; we do not possess the expertise to be able to advise you on these topics thus we have been, and continue in, encouraging individuals to seek out subject-expert advice from local providers. The following is a list of contacts for services and official Japanese advisory organisations that may be of assistance. Many are Tokyo-based but they should be able to direct you to resources in your vicinity.
If you did wish to look into the option of hiring a private lawyer, the Embassy can provide a list of lawyers, some with English speaking services.
They go on to say some more, including this little bit about financial struggles:
We understand that many of you have major concerns about this. The Embassy is available to assist you to contact your family or friends in Canada and facilitate private funds transfers between you and them should the need arise; however, we cannot provide financial funding for Canadians to remain overseas.
Money transfer methods include wire deposits into a personal Japanese bank account (or a Canadian bank account accessible from Japan e.g. by ATM card), credit card account, or instant transfers via Western Union – Please note that the Japanese agent of which is Suruga Bank with branches located in the Tokyo, Kanagawa, Shizuoka and Aichi areas. Alternatively, your family member can contact the Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in Ottawa to obtain information on how to transfer funds through the department.
If you are seeking alternative work in order to stay in Japan, you may wish to discuss your situation with your family and friends to ensure you have arrangements in place should the necessity for emergency funds arise. Also, please ensure to contact your nearest Immigration Bureau Office to obtain more information about changing jobs.
If you are planning to go home to Canada anytime between now and the holiday season, we strongly encourage you to start making travel arrangements immediately. Mid-December marks the beginning of the holiday/Christmas high season; consequently, airfares will rise significantly, and ticket availability will become scarce.
If I were a recently unemployed language instructor who just lost employment as well as a month’s wages, I’d be pretty upset, scared, and frantic to get out of Japan and back to a country where I know I could be employed in a short period of time. That said, I’d probably be out of luck due to some serious financial constraints myself.
A large number of Nova teachers live in “Nova apartments”, which of course they will have to leave because Nova won’t pay the rent. If I were in that position, I think I’d have to beg my parents to send me the money to buy a ticket home.
It’s a far cry from Nova just last year that was putting out great TV commercials and winning students with it’s pink Nova rabbit.
Wow, I had heard they were having problems but am surprised to hear that they are bankrupt. They were such a dominant player in the English school industry for so long. I wonder what really happened.. if the owners got really greedy and just decided to cash it in and fly to the Cayman Islands or something…
From some of the conversations at work today with previous Nova employees, it seems the management has been a little … umm … stupid with money and profit allocation for the last few years. I doubt the real story will ever come out, but we might just see a TV-movie about it in a few months
Hope you don’t mind but I added this post to Japansoc.com
Nope, I don’t mind at all. Heck, you might just want to add the November 13 post, too … once it’s published
I’ll be writing a few more posts in the coming weeks that will be targeted for JapanSoc, and I look forward to it’s growth
So Nova has been reborn on a much smaller scale in the form of G Communications or (something like that). I haven’t heard any thing more about the teachers you were “teaching for food”.
JapanSoc is still very much in beta, as is the software used to power it. It’s fun playing with and I’m looking forward to pushing it more next year.