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Nova searched in contract row

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Offices of English-conversation school operator Nova were searched over allegations the company was cheating students who canceled their lesson contracts, sources said. The searches at Nova’s head office in Osaka and some of its schools were conducted by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo metropolitan government, the sources said Thursday.Nova is suspected of refusing to refund a reasonable amount to students and deceiving them about the cancellation process.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702170164.html

Nova probed over refunds, deception

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Big English school faces sales ban

Government authorities have rapped the knuckles of private English school chain Nova Corp. for allegedly shortchanging students on refunds and providing false accounts of its cancellation policy.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo Metropolitan Government inspected Nova’s headquarters in Osaka and several schools Wednesday. The company may get a directive forbidding it from enrolling new students if clear evidence of legal violations is found in further investigations, officials said Friday.

According to the officials, several Nova schools failed to give full refunds to students who canceled their remaining lessons after paying in advance.

Other clients have complained that Nova refused to accept their unconditional cancellation, claiming the cooling-off period had expired.

By law, clients of private language schools have an eight-day cooling-off period, during which they are entitled to a full refund if they cancel their contract.

But Nova claimed the cooling-off periods began on the days the applicants registered their names and addresses, and not when they actually signed the contract.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari said at a press conference Friday, “I think there are problems (with Nova) because the number of reported cases of trouble and complaints exceeded 1,000 cases in fiscal 2005 alone.”

A Nova spokesman at its head office in Osaka said the company was not engaged in any unlawful activities.

“How we calculate the refund in case of a cancellation is spelled out in our brochure. We are doing business according to rules,” the spokesman claimed.

Founded in 1981, Nova has grown rapidly since the 1990s by charging less for lessons than other English schools, and opening outlets in convenient locations, often near railway stations.

The company was listed in 1996 on the Jasdaq Securities Exchange for startups and now boasts the largest number of students in the industry, with about 480,000 as of September 2005.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nb20070217a1.html

NOVA raided after complaints over missing tuition fees

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This is not the first time the eikaiwa giant has been pulled up for dishonest business practices. A court ruled against NOVA in a lawsuit filed by a student seeking the return of 700,000 yen in lesson fees in May 2003, and the National Consumer Affairs Center of Japan said that it has received 7,750 complaints and inquiries about the compant since 1996.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070216p2a00m0na017000c.html

Nova offices searched over contract disputes

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Nova is suspected of refusing to refund the correct amount to students and lying to them about the cancellation process, sources said.If Nova is found to have violated the law on certain business transactions, the industry ministry could impose disciplinary measures, including a temporary ban on collecting new students, they added.

A public relations official at Nova acknowledged the offices were inspected by the ministry.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200702160266.html

English school chain operator Nova inspected over class cancellation trouble

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Private English school chain operator Nova Corp has been inspected by government authorities for allegedly requiring high cancellation costs from students and having provided them with false accounts on its cancellation policy, government officials said Friday.

Several schools of the chain featuring outlets located near railway stations have refunded canceling students the remaining value from their lesson fees paid in advance in smaller amounts than expected, the officials said.

Headquartered in Osaka, the leading English school business in Japan has also caused trouble with their clients by refusing unconditional cancellations with the argument that the cooling-off period had expired.

The law governing businesses offering private language courses ban the firms from providing false or insufficient accounts of their services and require them to accept cancellation unconditionally during an eight-day cooling-off period.

But Nova claimed that the cooling-off periods for the clients concerned were over as they had begun on the days the applicants registered their names and addresses with it.

In refunding for midterm cancellation, the Nova schools in question used a payment structure different from the one applied for the students’ enrollment, according to the officials.

The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry and the Tokyo metropolitan government have jointly conducted an on-site inspection and will slap an administrative sanction on Nova after confirming evidence of its violation of the law, they said.

Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Akira Amari said at a press conference Friday, “I think there are problems as the number of reported cases of trouble and complaints with Nova is outstanding.”

The authorities are questioning people involved and analyzing results of their inspection with an eye toward actions against the firm including that of ordering Nova to suspend activities to solicit new subscribers, the officials said.

The company has responded to the government probe that it was engaged in no wrongdoing, they said.

Founded in 1981, Nova has grown rapidly since the 1990s by selling its lesson fees cheaper than other English schools as well as accessible locations of its outlets.

It was listed in 1996 on the Jasdaq Securities Exchange for start-ups and now boasts to be the largest player in the industry with about 480,000 students as of September 2005. 

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/399281

Japan’s innovation problem

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…Japan really needs a dual approach to boosting long-term growth prospects: more babies and more immigration.

Thanks to a rapidly aging population, a low birthrate and no pro-growth immigration policies to speak of, Japan faces a skilled-labor shortage. Stimulating procreation is an awkward task for governments, and Japanese already live the longest on a world scale. A more immediate cure is attracting more workers from overseas.That’s easier said than done in uniquely homogeneous Japan. A reminder of the nation’s aversion to opening the floodgates came last week with the publication of a magazine on crimes committed by foreigners. FamilyMart, Japan’s third-largest convenience-store chain, pulled “Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu,” or “Secret Foreigner Crime Files,” from its shelves, citing the publication’s “inappropriate racial expressions.”

It’s significant, though, that some leading politicians such as Shintaro Ishihara, the [right wing] Tokyo governor, are speaking more about the need to attract international talent.

First, a couple of caveats. As a regional leader, Ishihara might not seem all that important. Yet when you manage Tokyo and appear on television as frequently as the charismatic 74-year- old, you have some serious sway over popular opinion.

Also, Ishihara is an unabashed nationalist known for xenophobic statements; he’s sometimes described as Japan’s answer to France’s Jean-Marie Le Pen. Feminist groups also weren’t amused a few years back when Ishihara said women past childbearing age are “useless.”

That said, at least part of Ishihara’s immigration argument is worth exploring. “The country should take it upon itself to adopt an immigration policy,” Ishihara said in an interview with Bloomberg News on Feb. 6. “This is not a question of procuring a labor supply. We should be letting in more people who are intelligent.”

Ishihara’s comments came with a rant about lax Japanese immigration controls that allowed an increasing number of Chinese to enter Japan illegally. “This is leading to new forms of crime,” he said. Such comments only feed those who equate “foreign” with crime and disorder. In my opinion, this part of Ishihara’s immigration stance should be ignored.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/12/bloomberg/sxpesek.php

Japan Store Withdraws ‘Foreigner Crime File’ Magazine

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Japan’s crime rate is one of the world’s lowest at 1,776 reported crimes per 100,000 people in 2005, according to the latest government statistics. The number of crimes among Japan’s 2 million foreign residents in 2005 was 2,380 per 100,000.

Offenses by foreigners rose to a record high of 47,865 in 2005, from 47,128 a year earlier and 40,615 in 2003, according to police statistics. The number of non-Japanese arrested is also rising, to 21,178 in 2005 from 20,007 two years earlier.

The statistics don’t break out visa-related offenses, which in 2003 accounted for 46 percent of crimes committed by foreigners. By their nature such breaches can’t be committed by Japanese citizens.

Japan’s overall crime rate in 2003 was 2,185 per 100,000 and 2,120 among foreigners. Excluding visa offences, the rate was 1,570 per 100,000 foreigners.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601101&sid=aqOSjgeKU5X8&refer=japan

Dispute over police actions compounds traffic tragedy

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Long detentions and interrogations are common in Japan — whatever the nationality. “This is surely one of the very few democratic countries where the police can detain someone for four months after a traffic accident,” says Lawrence Repeta of Omiya Law School. Repeta says such detentions reflect the unequal standing in Japan between defense lawyers and prosecutors. “The practice is truly pre-modern.” 

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070206zg.html

Japan strips shelves of books on ‘foreigner crime’

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Japanese convenience store chain FamilyMart and other retailers are pulling copies of a book on ?foreigner crime? from their shelves after a wave of complaints, the stores said on Monday.
The front cover of ?Shocking Foreigner Crime: The Undercover File?, published in Japanese, features caricatures of non-Japanese, alongside the question: ?Is it all right to let foreigners devastate Japan??

?We are removing the book from our shelves today,? said Takehiko Kigure of FamilyMart Co.?s public relations department.

?We had complaints from customers, and when we checked the content of the magazine, we found that it contained some inappropriate language,? he added.

Inside the glossy magazine-style book, photographs and illustrations show what the editors say are non-Japanese engaged in criminal or reprehensible behaviour.

?We wanted to take this up as a contemporary problem,? said Shigeki Saka of Tokyo-based publishers Eichi, which also publishes magazines on popular US and South Korean television dramas. ?I think it would be good if this becomes a chance to broaden the debate,? he added.

One caption in the magazine refers to a black man as ?nigger.?

?This is not a racist book, because it is based on established fact,? Saka said. ?If we wanted to be racist, we could write it in a much more racist way,? he added, saying that the word ?nigger? was not considered offensive in Japan.

Details of well-known past crimes committed by foreigners are also given, such as last year?s kidnapping of the daughter of a wealthy plastic surgeon by a group including South Koreans and Chinese, and the 2003 murder of a family of four on the southern island of Kyushu by Chinese citizens.

The number of registered foreigners in Japan has swelled to more than two million, or 1.57 percent of the population, and some commentators recommend the country accept more immigrants to shore up its ageing and shrinking workforce.

Some in Japan, where crime rates are extremely low compared with Europe and the United States, are concerned about a possible increase in crime associated with an influx of foreigners, but mainstream media have not focussed on the issue in recent months.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?xfile=data/theworld/2007/February/theworld_February146.xml&section=theworld&col

One-third of major firms have workers who do at least 100 hours overtime a month

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One-third of major firms in Japan employ workers who are putting in 100 hours or more of overtime work a month, a survey by the Central Labor Relations Commission has found.

The survey, which comes as the government is pushing for the introduction of a “white-collar exemption” system to exempt salaried workers from regular working hours and abolish overtime pay, puts the spotlight on long working hours at Japanese companies.

The commission conducts surveys on wages every year. Every other year, it conducts surveys on the amount of time employees spend working. The latest survey, conducted in 2006, is the first to ask companies if any of their employees are doing 100 hours or more of overtime work each month.

Questioned in the survey were 373 firms employing 1,000 or more workers and having capital of at least 500 million yen. Responses were received from 247 firms.

The results showed that as of June 2006, a total of 33.2 percent of firms employed at least one worker who put in 100 hours or more of overtime each month. The average amount of time each worker put in a year, excluding overtime, stood at 1,881 hours, 54 minutes — a figure that remained practically unchanged compared with the previous survey.

The average wage revision resulting from regular wage hikes and raises reached 6,275 yen, an increase of 280 yen compared with the previous year. The average monthly wage fell 1,500 yen compared with the previous survey to 377,300 yen. However, monthly overtime pay rose 6,300 yen to hit 69,500 yen.

Workers who do 80 hours or more of overtime a month are considered to be at risk of dying from overwork. A standard for paying workers’ compensation due to death from overwork is acknowledging that the worker has performed 100 hours or more of overtime in the month immediately prior to his or her death. Performing 80 hours or more over overtime a month is accepted as a standard for diagnosing depression caused by excessive work.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070205p2a00m0na012000c.html