Abe Sees No Problem With Education Minister Calling Japan ‘Homogeneous’

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday downplayed criticisms over his education minister’s remarks a day earlier and said there was nothing wrong with the minister calling Japan an “extremely homogenous” country. “I think he was referring to the fact that we have gotten along with each other fairly well so far,” Abe said when asked to comment on the remarks by education minister Bunmei Ibuki. “I don’t see any specific problem with that.”

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/400113

Japan ‘extremely homogenous’, extremely racialist

In 1986, [then] Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone described Japan as a “homogenous race” nation and faced strong criticism, mainly from Ainu indigenous people.

[Education minister Bunmei Ibuki] speaking at a convention of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s chapter in Nagasaki Prefecture, [echoed Nakasone by asserting], “Japan has been historically governed by the Yamato (Japanese) race. Japan is an extremely homogenous country.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070226a6.html

Immigration Officer Faces Charges

A local immigration official faces charges for driving government cars on about 250 occasions without a driver’s license, sources at the bureau said.

He was hired in January 1999 and was assigned to the Hiroshima Regional Immigration Bureau, where he was in charge of immigration control at Hiroshima Airport. He had been cracking down on illegal immigrants since he was transferred to the Osaka bureau in April last year.

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/national/news/20070224p2a00m0na013000c.html

Editor Claims Magazine on Foreigner Crimes Not Racist

On what are called “entertainment” pages, there are photographs of foreigners and Japanese women embracing on Tokyo streets. One photo of a black man and a Japanese woman has the caption, “Hey nigger!! Don’t touch that Japanese woman’s ass!!”

[Shigeki Saka, editor of the magazine Gaijin Hanzai Ura Fairu or ?Secret Foreigner Crime Files?] said that while he knew the term “nigger” is racist, he reckoned it would have a different nuance written in Japanese. “We used it as street slang, writing it in katakana. But if we had known that we would get such a huge reaction from foreigners, we might have refrained from using it,” he figured.

Saka said that although the book had been pulled from Family Mart, it is still available at some bookstores and on the Internet.

Hideki Morihara, secretary general of International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, said the magazine is only part of a wider problem for which the government is partially responsible.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070223f1.html

Nova searched in contract row

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

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

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

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

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

…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