A Special Message

*for my full blog visit http://adelleM.wordpress.com

This morning I received this message from one of the Japanese staff I used to work with at Nova:

” i must tell bad news to you.

NOVA went bankrupt today.

its only this now to understand.

every staff is confused now.

i tell you immediately if i get some information about your salary.

sorry adelle.
dont dislike Japan.”

At one of my friend’s branches the staff had been spending their day calling students asking them to cancel lessons, because there were no teachers.

But it finally happened. Nova has declared bankruptcy. Late Thursday night the Nova board of directors ousted the president, Sahashi, and then declared bankruptcy on Friday. The company filed for protection under the Corporate Rehabilitation Law, nearly ¥44 million in debt. Nova’s shares on JASDAQ have been suspended from trading and it will be fully delisted by the end of November. At this point all of the Japanese staff and foreign teachers are missing a paycheck; the staff will surely get unemployment benefits from the Japanese government but it’s unclear if or when teachers will finally get paid. Unfortunately the goverment seems to be emphasizing the inconvenience to students, but this puts teachers in a really tight spot. Nobody has been paid since September 15th! Luckily for British and Australian teachers their governments are getting involved - there’s more information on that in my last Let’s Japan link below.

I’m going to try to get in contact with more of the staff and some of my former students to get a Japanese perspective on this. Until then, here are more sources:

From Let’s Japan
Coup d’Etat: Sahashi Fired
Nova’s X-Day Arrives
Media’s Reaction to Nova’s Bankruptcy

From Ken Worsley at Japan Economy & News, his piece in Metropolis.

The Collapse of a Giant

In about 1 hour it will be 12:01 am in Tokyo; the morning of October 25th, the day that Nova instructors have been promised their pay. Do I expect it? Of course not!

Rumors had been surrounding Nova for the entire time that I worked there. I began in a period of ‘contraction’. The company had expanded too rapidly and was scaling back… but that didn’t mean anything. Still, people hypothesized, conjectured and gossiped about Nova’s viability but every discussion ended with these claims:
*Nova has enough assests to weather any storm
*Nova has such a huge market share that it couldn’t collapse
*Nothing has happened yet…

I’ve talked with some friends still *teaching* in Tokyo, and most of them already ceased going to work. Some decided to call in sick, some just quit outright. One friend gave his business card to the students at his branch in hopes of acquiring some private students. I have other friends who are trying to get home but they can’t because flights are booked solid. Any way you look at it it’s over. Nova is being evicted left and right. Teachers are quitting en masse forcing schools to close. Whether or not bankruptcy is declared, whether or not the faxes promising paychecks keep coming, whether or not a small minority of teachers continue to go to work, Nova is over. It’s over.

The number of mis-steps and management faux-pas that it took to get to this point is staggering. Here are some of the latest stories:

• “A do-or-die situation” - students are confused, schools can’t operate because teachers have quit, and Osaka canceled its ALT contract with Nova.
• the government is finally making Sahashi explain himself. Whether or not this means anything is anyone’s guess.
• “Sahashi has all but signed Nova’s death warrant…” something about stocks…
• Shinjuku Honko closed! A Yakuza connection? And other bad news
• Sahashi readily admits that Nova lost its “cash flow mountain.”
• There are some really shady stock deals being made
• “Nova in Flames”

My question: where was the effort to retain students?? Contract cancellations are a huge part of this mess. Nova might have been able to survive with a significantly reduced cash flow but the loss of contracts put too much stress on the company. So why didn’t Sahashi do anything to keep students from leaving? How about free voice tickets? Bringing a friend to Nova for free? Having a month of free Level-Up lessons? Free special Ginganet lessons? Or heck, a free keitai charm? All these things should normally cost students extra money but in a situation like this is it not better to freeze profit but keep students? Then at least you’re not losing millions of yen in canceled contracts. Rather, Sahashi chose to lose money, lose students, essentially lose everything - and take all his employees down with him.

*all the above links are from Let’s Japan.org. Here are stories from the Japanese media:

• Cash Strapped Nova Fails to Honor Contract to Public Schools After Teacher Exodus - the Mainichi Daily News
• Labor Standard Watchdogs to Question Nova President Sahashi - Japan Today
• Nova Gets the Web Talking - the Japan Times

Part III: Life on the Other Side

I can buy magazines anywhere, I don’t have to go to a special store.

I can read menus and actually choose what I want to eat - I don’t just have to point to pictures!

People here voluntarily engage in conversation. I don’t have to pull it out of anyone.

Everyone speaks English!

I now understand what the obesity epidemic that I’ve heard about means. I’ve seen some OBESE people. It’s ridiculous. How do these people find clothes that fit?

I don’t wear shoes in the house anymore.

After sleeping on futons for over a year my soft mattress felt like a waterbed. Seriously.

Did I mention that everyone speaks English? It’s pretty cool.

Mexican food!!!

Twix and skittles! Apple pie!

My American cellphone can’t do as much as my Japanese cellphone. There’s no copy and paste function. There’s no colored, blinking light that tells me when I’m getting a message/call or when I have a message or a missed call. Comparable functions (like the internet) cost more in America. And the graphics/animations are woefully inadequate as tools to enhance my text messages.

My Japanese microwave was better too. It had a sensor and calibrated the cooking time to whatever was in the microwave. Here I actually have to enter the time in. It feels so tedious.

Navigating the video store is much easier - new releases are displayed so you can see the front; not just the spine.

I really miss my friends in Tokyo!

I miss 7-11 too, and the ABC boutique at the foot of Mitaka station.

I keep forgetting to change the time on my watch, but all I have to do is subtract an hour when I look at it.

I don’t look different. I don’t speak differently; but I feel different.

A Time of Great Transition, part II: The Leaving

*you can read the play-by-play or skip to the bold where the story gets good.

Leaving Japan proved to be quite an ordeal; leaving with all (or most) of my stuff, that is. Around 11pm last Monday night I sent an email to my friends and family declaring that I had 12 hours left before departing from my home, and had some serious packing to do before then. To myself I declared that by 3am I would be finished with my 2 suitcases and 2-3 boxes. In the preceding days and hours a couple of friends had come over to help me out, and as a result I had 1 suitcase and 2 boxes waiting by the door. Dispensing with the amount of stuff that remained in my room seemed slightly daunting but I sincerely believed in my ability to git ‘er done. I had to believe, because I had a laundry list of things to do before leaving my house at 11am.
Around 6am I began to wonder if it might be more cost effective to spend the money to check a 3rd suitcase rather than to send boxes through surface mail. After more than a few moments of dazed hesitation I undid the work that my friends and I had labored through not such a long time ago and transferred the contents of 2 boxes into a suitcase. After the fact I realized that wasn’t going to help me deal with the things that remained in my room. I hit a wall, mentally and strategically. At 7:30 it was time for a nap. I woke up at 9 mildly refreshed but even more stressed. Looking around I started to doubt my chances of making the 11:30 airport bus out of Kichijoji. At that point I decided to take the extra suitcase on the plane and ship boxes home. I hadn’t yet seriously considered how I might get the boxes to the post office, or how I might get my bags to Mitaka and on the Chuo line for Kichijoji.

Lucky for me I have awesome friends including one (Yuu) who happens to be my neighbor. He and his girlfriend (Sunao) came over the morning ready to help. Before setting out I mentioned that my plan had been to be on the 11:30 airport bus from Kichijoji; they looked at me, then we all laughed. There were 3 of us and three boxes - together we carried them to the post office and with Yuu and Sunao translating the process went pretty quickly. They even helped me fill out the customs forms - I filled out the information on the first form, they copied the writing for the other two.

Back at my house they had coffee and chilled with my housemate Tony while I, ahem, finished some last minute packing and cleaning. A good friend of mine, Sean, my Meidaimae twin, was taking over my room and I had wanted to clear everything out for him, but as it stood I left empty boxes, about 8 pairs of shoes, a couple of bags, a stack of clothes, a piece of artwork that cost too much to transport, and my walking stick from Mt. Fuji. So I vacuumed. He came over to get the house keys from me and then it was really time to say good-bye. I hugged Tony, holding back tears. I’m sure everyone would have understood if I started crying but I didn’t want to start something that could become uncontrollable. Including my carry-on I had 4 suitcases so together Yuu, Sunao, Sean and I wheeled them out to the main road so we could hail a cab to Mitaka station. We were able to fit the largest and smallest bags in the trunk, one in the front seat, and the 4th sitting across our laps. Before giving myself over to the cab, to my last departure from my home in Tokyo, I hugged my British brother, one of my longest running friends in Tokyo, and said good-bye.

All morning I was awash with gratefulness toward my friends who were helping me; it would have been physically impossible for me to transport 4 suitcases from the taxi, up to the station, through the turnstiles, down to the tracks, onto the train, out of the train, down from the tracks, out of the turnstiles and to the bus. I made it to the bus with one suitcase at 12:27, three minutes before departure. The doors to the baggage storage area underneath tbe bus were open and they were still accepting passengers. I looked behind me but I didn’t see my friends! How did we get separated in less than 30 seconds? I left my bag at the bus to dash into the station and look for Yuu and Sunao but I couldn’t find them. I went back to the bus, it was 12:29 and the baggage storage doors were closed. Yuu called - not knowing that I could buy my ticket on the bus they had gone to the ticket kiosk around the corner. The bus attendant was adamant that the bus would leave on time - with or without me, or possibly with me but not all of my bags. I tried to explain the situation but all I could muster was ‘my tomodachi have my suitcases, they are coming! My tomodachi! My tomodachi!’ accompanied by lots of frantic gesturing.

I heard a voice - “can I help you?” - and I turned around to see a woman leaning her head outside of the bus window. I explained to her that my friends had the rest of my suitcases, and they had mistakenly gone to the ticket kiosk but that they were coming any second now. She communicated that to the bus attendant and then relayed to me that he was already one minute late and wasn’t going to wait any longer. Just at that moment I saw my friends round the corner with my bags, shouting and waving their free arms, and I breathed out a huge sigh that I hadn’t even realized I was holding in. The attendant asked my friends how many bags. Four, they said. How many people? One. One?! One?! One person - 4 bags?!?!?! The man was seriously about to have a heart attack. He stood like he was ready to pounce, clutching his claim tags, hovering over the suitcases, eyes darting back and forth, totally overwhelmed by this turn of events. Finally he chose one, tagged it, and moved down the line. These were my last moments. I hugged my friends, thanked them profusely, and boarded the bus. Making my way towards an empty seat I saw the woman who had translated for me and I thanked her as well. She replied that she was just happy I got on the bus. I chose a seat where I could see Yuu and Sunao from the window and as the bus pulled away we waved at each other until we lost the line of sight. Then I started crying.

Oh, but there’s more. On the bus I got to thinking about my suitcases. I had forgotten to do a final weigh-in at my house, but I was dead sure that at least one of them would be over the 23kg weight limit. Unfortunately I had taken all but ¥277 (less than $3) from my Japanese bank account and after sending 3 boxes to the United States (not cheap!) I was left with ¥20,000 and some change. Just enough to get my 3rd suitcase on the plane, but not enough in case something was overweight. I had a card linked to my American account but it was a brand-new replacement after my last one expired and I hadn’t been able to activate it using a phone card. So… aside from the cash in my wallet I didn’t have access to any other money. Remembering a friend who had recently been in a similar predicament vis-a-vis overweight baggage and missed her flight, I thought to myself - I might not have enough money to get my suitcases on the plane… it’s quite possible that I might not be able to get on the plane in time… and if that happens I won’t even have enough money to leave the airport. My heart sank a thousand depths and I began hope and pray for something serendipitous. Then I fell asleep.

Once at the airport I had to pick up my tickets from the travel agent’s counter before going to the check-in. As I was wheeling my suitcase loaded cart up to the counter I glimpsed Amber, the friend that I was flying with, and her boyfriend Jim. She was talking with an airline staffperson but I called her phone, waved, and he came over. I was so SO relieved to see them. After I got my tickets we convened and she told me that checking a third bag would cost ¥22,000. I was like - oh, it’s not ¥20,000? Nope, she said. Do you have enough? I hope so! …I have some change in here. Well, just let me know if you need any. Ok, I said. Thanks!

20 kg. 25kg. 32kg. The airline staff lady ’serviced’ the second suitcase (didn’t charge me for it), but there was no getting around 32kg. My total was ¥25,000. I gave her ¥20,000 and showed her my ATM receipt displaying ¥277 left in the account. I told her sorry, this is all I have… and I can’t access my American account. She asked if I came with anybody who could give me money and the conversation I had with my friend 5 minutes earlier popped into my head. Yes! I said. Chotto mate… (just a minute). Amber was busy canceling her phone but I managed to get Jim’s attention. I explained to him that I needed ¥2000 more to get the third bag on the plane and ¥3000 because the bag was overweight; but, I added, I could just take stuff out of the bag instead of paying more money for it. He gave me ¥5000 in a heartbeat. Without him I’m not sure what I would have done.

The three of us spent a little more time together, just a few minutes of chatting, then Amber and I had to go. It had been hard for me to do my own farewells, but it was a different kind of difficult to watch Amber and Jim say good-bye. Going through immigration the officer was puzzled by my passport. I had a 3 year extension on my visa but no re-entry permit. Are you finished with your work? he asked. Yes, I replied. Holding his stamp he looked at my passport, looked at my Gaijin card, then back at my passport. He took the card, stamped my passport and let me through. We reached the gate just as they started to call for the first class passengers to board the plane. We stopped and stood in line chatting as if this were any place, any time but when they called our section Amber and I continued on, taking our last steps out of Japan.

The Fat Lady is Out, the Greek Chorus is In!

Damned If You Do, Damned If You Don’t

I’ve noticed that on a lot of online forums and message boards people criticize teachers who have not quit Nova, but that can be a tough call to make. Sure they’re not paying paying teachers so in that respect it behooves everyone to get another job. BUT if you voluntarily terminate your contract with Nova you are not eligible for unemployment benefits - even if the company’s situation indirectly drives you to unemployment because it’s a more secure position; at least you can spend your time looking for a job rather than wasting time in one that no longer pays. News reports and blog posts talk about how Nova must pay its staff, creditors/students and teachers. Somehow former teachers don’t seem to figure into this. Why we’re not considered creditors (they owe us for labor, according to the contract) or employees (again, they owe us according to the contract) I don’t know. Even when students cancel the contract they’re supposed to get the money that they are owed, so how come when teachers resign we don’t get the same rights and consideration? That seems like an unfair penalty for just trying to make a secure living. In American law you can ‘plead the 5th’ - that is, to engage in self-preservation by refusing to provide information that could incriminate you. It seems as though teachers will now be penalized for engaging in self-preservation, for refusing to work for a company that will not pay them.

In light of that I don’t find it so remarkable that some teachers are choosing not to quit.
Nova Update
Oh Nova. There is yet another development in the Nova story… there will continue to be developments until they finally file for bankruptcy and just end the suspense. Until then…

Teachers received another fax on Friday (oct 12) saying that paychecks would not come on the 15th (Monday) but would be delayed until the following Friday (Oct 19). Before this fax however, plans for a walkout were already being arranged through another wordpress blog, http://novawalkout.wordpress.com/. The walkout was scheduled in the case of non-payment by 3pm Monday. I can only assume it still happened; the last posted comment is at 1:36pm and by now its about 8pm there.

Just in case there was some glitch or slip-up I checked my Japanese account and sure enough nothing had been deposited. And just for the record, the union is planning “legal action to demand wage payment.”
Additionally, news about Nova in the Japanese press is increasingly being reported in crime section of various newspapers. Most recently, someone posted this information, from Yahoo Japan, at letsjapan.org:

“This guy named Nishida has been arrested for stock manipulation,and there are now strong suspicions that he has been involved “in an attempt to raise funds for a different JASDAQ-listed company this month.” (Any guesses as to what the name of that company might be?) This unnamed company “has been hit by scandal this year and seen its business suffer, with its share price at one point falling to just 15% of its 2007 high. The company has announced a massive injection of capital to take place this month in an opaque deal using two companies registered in the Virgin Islands.”

Also, “Prior to his arrest on the 11th, Nishida was scheduled to meet with the president of the company in Tokyo.”

Oh, and Nishida is reportedly involved with crime syndicates.”

That information exactly mirrors the details of Nova, although of course, without confirmation everything is more or less just speculation.

*a note about the title: I’m more or less referring to an earlier post at LetsJapan.org, “The Fat Lady Hums a Few Bars.” What/who is the Fat Lady? I’m thinking an official declaration of bankruptcy. The Greek Chorus is all the bloggers who provide the information that doesn’t come from Nova or the mainstream media. Maybe the Fat Lady is singing somewhere, softly; but the Greek Chorus is certainly drowning her out.

I Stand Corrected

Thanks to Garrett from TransPacific Radio who called me out on my How I learned to stop worrying and love Nova post (see his comment here). Apparently METI is being fair in prioritizing student refunds. Aaaand, I knew that Japanese staff had been regularly paid late for the past few months but I wasn’t aware that there were still outstanding paychecks for Japanese staff. Given all the mis-information that is out there I would hate to be another source of it. So Gaijin aren’t being targeted by METI, but am I right that the situation still sucks?

How I learned to Stop Worring and Love Nova

view my full blog at http://adelleM.wordpress.com

I’ve been asked by a number of people recently how things have turned out with Nova and getting my paycheck. Well, I won’t know anything for sure until October 15, but here is what I have recently learned:

This past Saturday I had lunch with one of my private students. She’s works for an international company and is a reliable source of business news. We talked about Nova for a little bit, and I mentioned that the day before Nova had to submit a report to JASDAQ (the Japanese NASDAQ) but as of Saturday afternoon I didn’t know how it had been received. She told me about something that came out in the Japanese press, (maybe the business press) but that I hadn’t been able to find in English. Apparently the government (presumably METI, the Ministry of Economics, Trade and Industry) basically told Nova to get it’s act together. It gave Nova these priorities: pay Japanese staff, pay customers refunds, then pay foreign teachers.

I got so angry when I heard that, and it still makes me angry. Pay foreign teachers last?! Without the teachers there is no product, no Nova. And if you don’t pay teachers and they walk out, well then you’re going to have more students cancel and you won’t be able to pay anybody!! Furthermore, neither the company nor METI should differentiate between employees like that. Either customers should come first or employees should. It’s wrong to disrespect and penalize foreign teachers in this way.

Nova’s still in hot water, and it seems close to boiling. According to a post from the Let’s Japan blog Nova’s president, Nozomu Sahashi, “just mortgaged the future of the company for 70 million yen.” And this money is not enough to cover the billions of yen the company needs to pay teachers. Here are two posts that provide more information about the current situation:
Nova All Out of Options at Let’s Japan.org
Nova Checkmated? at Japan Economy News & Blog
And coverage in the Japanese news:
Nova raises 70 million yen issuing share warrants in the Japan Times
Nova struggling to pay refunds, wages in the Daily Yomiuri

As of my last post my two most immediate options seemed to be to see a lawyer and go to a ‘bankruptcy watch consultation’ meeting offered by the Tokyo Nambu branch of the (Nova) General Union. I decided not to see the lawyer. The consultation would have been expensive, and I just wasn’t convinced that the laywer could provide more/different information to me that could warrant the price. I had planned on going to the union meeting, but honestly I just couldn’t wake up early enough to get out to Shimbashi on time. I kept pressing to snooze button and when I finally woke up it was after the meeting began.

Some people have asked me if I’m glad I came to Japan, or if I was happy to work for Nova. Yes and yes. I wouldn’t have done anything differently. After I graduated from college I wanted to experience a new environment and make money, and working for Nova allowed me to do both. It was a great opportunity to live in Japan. I got to live in Tokyo - for a year! I had a good job, met so many GREAT people, and had a year full of incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences. I learned early on that Nova, which some people say stands for NO VAcation, didn’t treat its employees well. Nova was out for Nova and you had to be out for you. The company had an almost unending supply of teachers and that was apparent in the way they treated their employees. It bothered me sometimes, but I signed the contract and both sides stuck to it. I signed away my right to sick days, government holidays and a number of other things, but at the end of the day I had a good job and a good one in Tokyo at that.

There are a lot of companies that mis-treat employees, but I don’t think that’s necessarily a formula for late- or non-payment of employees and possible bankruptcy. Without seeing the bigger picture - which, due to the language barrier and general lack of transparency was difficult - how could it be predicted?

The fact that I still have a Japanese bank account greatly increases the chance that I’ll see my last monthly paycheck from Nova, but at this point I’ve more or less resigned myself to the idea that I might not get paid. It was hard, because it goes against everything that I, and most people in the world have been taught. The only guaranteed way to make money is to have a job, right? It’s not like Nova teachers are out playing the stock market or buying and selling real estate. They’re putting in real time and labor. Since when does that not equal payment? What culture, religion or proverb does not teach its children that working hard is the way to succeed? Nova and METI would have you believe that your labor means nothing, especially if you’re a foreigner.

Back in the USA!

view my full blog at http://adelleM.wordpress.com

I’m back in America! Wow, I almost can’t believe it. When I think about my regular habits and haunts in Tokyo it seems so far away, like it was another world or another lifetime; well it practically was another world and lifetime.

Door to door - Mitaka to Chapel Hill - I was traveling about 22 hours, and the longest segment was the 11 hour flight from Tokyo to Houston. It was pretty sweet though, because not only did I get to sit next to a dear friend of mine, each person got their own tv screen in headrest in front of them! There were over 300 movies to choose from, and in addition to that we had access to hundreds of tv shows, musical albums, and even games! You could control everything by touching the screen or by using a remote control that popped out of your armrest. Man, I’m really living in the 21st century! I watched Chocolat, Edward Scissorhands, What Not To Wear, Everybody Hates Chris, Big Love and College Ladies. I started watching Motorcycle Diaries but I began to fall aleep, and it’s not the kind of movie you can watch while dozing off because it’s subtitled.

I was up all night packing. A couple of different friends had come over in the past few days to help me pack but I actually ended up unpacking the boxes, putting stuff into a 3rd suitcase, and then packing more stuff into different boxes… in the wee hours of the morning. I finally sent 3 boxes home, and checked 3 bags with a combined weight of 77kg (170 lbs). Quite luckily for me I had 2 friends who came over in the morning and helped me with all my boxes and bags; without them I really would have struggled!

At this point I’ve not had any reverse culture shock, but I haven’t even been in the country for 24 hours. I’ve spent most of the time so far sleeping, but I’m sure once I venture outside things will start to get wierd. Rest assured, I’ll blog about that too. ^_^

Nova Nova Nova, geez.

*see my full blog at http://adelleM.wordpress.com

Ever since September 15th when I found out that some Nova teachers hadn’t been paid trying to understand the situation and figure out a course of action has been a primary concern for me. Information comes slowly and from different sources… The initial shock seems to have passed, but Nova’s problems - and their serious effects on teachers - are nowhere near solved. The most immediate issue is teacher payment, but of course that is linked to questions of Nova’s viability as a company. Here is an update:

Titled Instructors (assistant trainers, block trainers, etc) were finally paid last Friday, I believe, 2 weeks late. That’s more than unacceptable for a monthly paycheck. Apparently Nova’s president Nozom Sahashi had to take out a loan or something to pay teachers. Part-time Japanese staff were recently paid on time, but full-time Japanese staff have not been, as of a couple of days ago. Nova has basically made it a priority to pay those who are most likely to walk out due to late payment; although in many cases that backfired with the titled instructors. Many - but not necessarily most - of the teachers I’ve spoken with think that they will probably get paid on Oct. 15… but at the same time they’re not holding their breath. My two (former) co-workers have both already began searching for other jobs and they currently have something worked out with another English school (Gaba) where they will work there part-time for the time being, and then when/if Nova does go under they can go full-time at Gaba. It’s my understanding that the majority of Gaba’s new applicants are current Nova teachers (even my former block trainer!) and even though Nova has not officially collapsed or declared bankruptcy the market is already flooded with teachers looking for work.

As for me, I’m pursuing a different field of inquiry. What a lot of people don’t seem to know (or care about?) is that Nova seems to have decided that former teachers don’t have to be paid. 3 former teachers that I’ve recently been in contact with have not been paid. 2 friends worked early in June, left later in the month, and are still owed the paycheck that should have been issued July 15. That paycheck is 2 months overdue. The 3rd friend left in the middle of July and has yet to receive payment for working in June or July. As I said before Nova is paying those teachers who are at-risk for walking out; late or non payment of former teachers carries absolutely no risk. Unfortunately for me, Sept. 29 was my last day on Nova’s payroll, so as of Sept. 30 I am a former teacher.

I’m trying to ascertain my chances of receiving my next and final paycheck, but that task seems to be ridiculously herculean. I have called the American Embassy - they told me to speak to a lawyer. A friend referred me to a legal clinic with reasonable rates (5000 yen consultation) and translation services for foreigners. I called but no one there spoke English - seriously not a word. I found a listing in English for a law office (10000 yen consultation) and I briefly went over the situation with the receptionist but she was unable to give me any information today. I mean, not even a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ as to if I could get a consultation. I don’t really want to speak with a lawyer though - I shouldn’t need one! I did the work, Nova needs to pay me… I’m not sure what a lawyer could accomplish. Would any of my law school friends like to comment on that?

I think I was lied to by someone in the payroll department today. I called and asked if I would be paid next month. I wasn’t expecting a straight answer but I figured I should go through the motions of asking. She told me that nobody had changed the date that paychecks are issued so I will receive it on the 15th. So then I mentioned my friends to her. I said, well… I’m asking because I’m no longer a teacher and I have three friends who are former teachers who left in June who have not received their final paychecks yet. She replied that I would get it immediately if deposited into a Japanese bank account, but that depositing into overseas accounts could take 1-2 months. I don’t believe her for 2 reasons: other former teachers I’ve spoken with say it does not take that long to receive the last paycheck, even with the overseas account factored in; and payroll has lied to employees before. In fact, when teachers in the countryside had not yet been paid earlier this month the stated reason was that it was taking longer to transfer the money because the teachers were in the countryside, and that supposedly delayed the bank transfer. That’s just not true. It was a bald-faced lie. There is one more option - I can attend a ‘Nova Bankruptcy Watch Consultation’ on Sunday.

At this point I don’t know what to think. Maybe I’ll be paid because I’ll still have my Japanese bank account. Given the situation, however, given that Nova’s priorities are to pay teachers and staff who might walk out, given that money had to be borrowed in order to pay teachers, and given that Nova has a negative cash flow, really what are my chances? I don’t want to be needlessly anxious, but I certainly don’t want to underestimate the potential for disaster.

Insolvency. Bankruptcy. Collapse. Since Sept. 15 these words have entered - and quite violently at that - my personal vernacular. So what is going on with Nova anyway? The question of assets is key. Most Nova teachers can be divided into two groups: those who think Nova has assets and those who don’t. I used to be in the first group until recently when I spoke to Ken Worsley (from Trans-Pacific Radio) about the issue. Because he’s more or less familiar with Nova’s official financial situation he was able to tell me that the company sold all of its assets between April and June of 2006. There have been countless rumors of buyouts and financial injections, and Ken does a great job of assessing those possibilities in his TPR blog. He also interviewed a number of Nova teachers (yours truly included) about the situation. You can listen to it here (I’m minutes 15-20), and big thanks to Ken for speaking with me and including my segment on his show!

So, that’s what’s up. If you know anything I invite you to comment.

Just an idea/Music executives are you listening?

you can get the basics here but see more at http://adelleM.wordpress.com

One of my favorite pastimes is browsing music at Tower Records, or really any music shop with a wide selection and plenty of headphones. I think I might be one of the few people left who enjoy buying cds. I like to buy cds, and I often do if a good one costs $15 or less; but I’m also completely wedded to my iPod and the 20GBs of music it lets me cart around every day. Buying through the iTunes music store is all well and good, but it lacks the immediacy and physicality of listening then buying at a store. So, here is what I think:

You should be able to buy music at a record store and have them immediately upload the music to your mp3 player. That way you can have all the fun of an afternoon at Tower while not giving up the convenience of digital mp3s. This could work even better at the Apple store. They could have a digital library of all the albums that they offer in the online store, and keep a few hard copies of the latest and/or most popular albums on display. They wouldn’t need to stock the cds so they could save so much space on inventory but you could have the fun of walking around and looking at albums.

… you saw it here first ^_^

Notes from the Tall Yellow TOWER (Records)

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Somehow on my way back to Mitaka from brunch in Harajuku/Omotesando I found myself listening to music at Tsutaya and Tower Records in Shibuya. I quickly passed a few hours listening to the latest from:

Kanye West, Common, Unkle Jam, Kelly Sweet, High School Musical 2, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, James Blunt, the Foo Fighters, Jill Scott, and New Found Glory, among others.

Kanye West/Graduation: I’m drawn to his song ‘Stronger’ because a) I love the Britney Spears anthem of the same name and b) he samples a song by Daft Punk that I enjoy - ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.’ I read what the Rolling Stone had to say about the album - they essentially said that you start out liking this album and then it grows on you. Honestly I wasn’t so impressed with the few tracks that I caught auralglimpes of but I do trust Kanye and his musical talent. I wasn’t moved to buy it.

Unkle Jam/Unkle Jam: This musical group has been featured on MTV Japan’s international hit list, but they haven’t made it into the U.S. iTunes music store. Which is too bad, cause this group is FABULOUS! They’re an example of what I consider a new trend in crossover dance music - various genres that produce quality tracks which you can also dance to. The best current day example I can think of is Under the Influence of Giants. I think the key element is the addition of funk to other genres; rock in the case of UIG, I’m not sure what the base genre of Unkle Jam is, Tower Records listed it as (I can’t quite remember) either soul/black or hip-hop/black. A good example from the past might be Sly and the Family Stone. But I’ll get on with it…

I jotted down notes on the first 5 tracks. The 1st track exemplifies why the music is so awesome: they combine falsetto singing with a good solid baseline and the upper range sounds often found on dance tracks. It works. The 2nd track provides a very interesting sound - but not so much so that it’s too distracting to dance to. In fact, it’s perfect to dance to because there is a beat for every dance ability! The beat is sub-divided and then the tracks laid on top of each other to create a kind of 3-part harmony. So instead of hearing 3 different tones you hear the same tone expressed in 3 different note lengths. It’s hard to describe, but absolutely brilliant to listen to! The 3rd track really sucked. A ballad, it sounds like it was sung by an earnest high schooler trying to express his elementary love for some cute girl at school who probably likes him back. The vocals are just bad, and the lyrics ridiculously cliched: “you are like a flower, girl, blooming in the garden.” To give the group credit some people can get away with songs like this (R. Kelly/Dream Girl from the Chocolate Factory), but they can’t. Ultimately it’s the type of song only a mother or doting girlfriend could appreciate.

Track 4 was good. Track 5 provided another ballad this time sung by a tortured soul, singing to express himself when he thinks no one can hear him. This soul can sing. Aaand I felt compelled to note the 11th track. Do you remember City High? It’s like most of their songs, but worse. Do you know that Black Eyed Peas song ‘Anxiety’ from Elephunk? That’s the level of quality I’m talking about here. The song starts off with a list of hurtful actions (presumably towards an ex-girlfriend) that the singer introduces with “I never meant to…” Sounds harmless enough but then the hook: “It’s something that I learned from daddy…” A little part of me vomited inside when I heard that. I mean, really… The tone of the song really didn’t fit the rest of the album, and if they were trying to make a social commentary on the lack of role models for young males they just came out sounding incredibly stupid. Great album though - I want to buy it.

High School Musical 2: I barely got to listen past the first song - which was AWESOME! What time is it? It’s summer time… Time for our vacation! Those days are long gone for me now, but I still love to hear about it. Surprised that I love this bubblegum pop? My favorite movie of all time is the Disney movie Newsies, and I have a soft spot in my heart for the Mighty Ducks (all 3) and the v-formation. I couldn’t finish listening because some 12 year old girl was standing -no- hovering behind me obviously trying to hurry me along. She was accompanied by a little sister and her father, who helped her out by reaching in front of me to grab the cd. I took the hint and left. Later I was listening to a more adult album and I saw that little girl creep up behind me. I shot her a look that said ‘hey little girl! Don’t even think about making me move.’ Or at least I just looked at her and she walked away.

Foo Fighters/Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace: Have you seen the music video for ‘The Pretender?’ It’s incredible, so powerful. But then again, the Foo Fighters are a powerful band. I only gave this a quick listen as I trust the Foo Fighters and was already won over by the first track (the Pretender). The Rolling Stone featured a quote from Dave Grohl talking about how the band moved beyond the basic rock sound to include other musical influences, which is usually a good move for mature bands. I bought it.

Jill Scott/Words and Sounds Vol. 3: I barely had a listen but I trust Jill Scott. Come to think of it, I trusted Joss Stone and was sorely disappointed by her sophomore album (Introducing…). But I really really trust Jill Scott. I’m not in a hurry to buy it but ultimately I would like to.

New Found Glory/Brian Setzer Orchestra: I forgot the album names for both groups, but they did essentially the same thing: provided new versions of previously recorded songs. NFG’s version of songs like ‘Kiss Me’ (Sixpence None the Richer), ‘It Ain’t Me’ (Johnny Cash), and ‘Stay’ (Lisa Loeb) were like empty calories: fun at the time but offering no real fulfillment. BSO on the other hand, gave the big band/swing music treatment to old classical favorites, and it works! I could easily recognize songs like ‘Fur Elise,’ ‘William Tell Overture,’ ‘Hall of the Mountain King,’ and ‘Eine Kleine Nachtmusik’ - they weren’t sampled or masked - they were played! I want to buy it ASAP, and I would right now if I were able to activate my new debit card.

Other albums I still really want (and that I may have previously reviewed): Timbaland/Shock Value; Chris Cornell/Carry On… and before I leave Japan - SMAP/Arigato.

Another bone-headed moment

I did an amazingly stupid thing yesterday. Something that usually only happens in movies - or so I thought.

I was eating dinner at one of my favorite places last night - Ootoya - and after I had finished I started rummaging around in my bag looking for my wallet. Although it's kind of big it often gets concealed underneath a fold or behind a notebook I always carry around. This time it wasn't there. My heart sank. I started having visions of washing dishes in the kitchen, or better yet creating a diversion then making a fast break - maybe to surreptitiously return with the money.

Instead I calmly walked up to the cashier and asked him if he spoke English. He didn't but another staff person did. I tried my best to explain the situation... uh, I need to pay but I left my wallet at home. I live nearby... can I give you something to make sure I'll come back? Then I'll go home and get it. I'll give you my Suica, my phone, my camera, my iPod... She took the Suica (my train pass, with my commuter information printed on it) then asked if I had any i.d. I told her that it was also at home - in my wallet. She looked at my Suica, which has my name on it, then at the other guy, and they both kind of nodded. She said ok, and I was like THANK YOU - I'll be right back. I probably should have thrown in a couple of 'suimasen' but my head was in English mode. Thankfully I was using my bicycle that evening so I rode home, grabbed my wallet and came right back. I gave them money, got my Suica back, and was on my way.