Category Archives: Nova

Four years after ‘Nova shock,’ eikaiwa is down but not out

December 20, 2011 in Eikaiwa, News, Nova

The instructor describes the current Nova management as “extremely poor,” and while it was not especially good at the old Nova, he feels that the people running the branches now are “much worse.”

English Conversation (Eikaiwa) is A Con Game? Engrish Lessons From Yakuza 3 (英会話が詐欺)

February 17, 2011 in Eikaiwa, News, Nova

What’s not well known is that a number of english conversation schools were and are still run by anti-social forces, some of them essentially being yakuza front companies. There are numerous ways these schools can be used as a semi-legal con-game.

Nova chief’s sentence shortened

December 3, 2010 in Eikaiwa, News, Nova

The Osaka High Court on Thursday shaved 18 months off the 3 1/2-year prison term of the founder and former president of Nova Corp., who was convicted of embezzling ¥320 million from the defunct English school chain’s employee benefit fund. The counsel for Nozomu Sahashi, 59, plans to appeal. Sahashi pleaded not guilty at his [...]

High Court Gives Ex-Nova President 2-Yr Jail Term For Embezzlement

December 2, 2010 in Eikaiwa, News, Nova

The Osaka High Court on Thursday sentenced the founder and former president of English conversation school operator Nova Corp. to two years in prison for embezzling 320 million yen of employees’ benefit funds, reducing a lower court sentence of three years and six months. The defense counsel for Nozomu Sahashi, 59, plans to appeal the [...]

Ex-Nova president sentenced to 2-year prison term for embezzlement

December 2, 2010 in Eikaiwa, News, Nova

The former president of English conversation school Nova was handed a two-year prison sentence for corporate embezzlement by the Osaka High Court on Dec. 2. Nozomu Sahashi, 59, had been convicted of the offence by a lower court and sentenced to a three-year, six-month prison term in August last year. The high court decision on [...]

Foreigners victims, perpetrators of sekuhara

October 28, 2010 in Eikaiwa, Harassment, News, Nova

Japan sees progress on sexual harassment, but stories suggest it still has a long way to go While the Equal Employment Opportunity Law (EEOL) was passed in 1985, it was not until 1999 that revisions to the law included definitions of sexual harassment and legal penalties for employers. These penalties, however, only allow for making [...]

50 Geos branches will be renamed

October 15, 2010 in Eikaiwa, GEOS, News, Nova

Nagoya-based investment fund Inayoshi Capital Partners said Thursday that about 50 of its 167 Geos foreign-language school branches will be renamed Nova X Geos after November. ICP also said it will close down about 20 Geos branches whose business areas are overlapping with those of Nova. The company said students of those schools will be [...]

Retooled English school chains set to launch Nova x Geos brand

October 15, 2010 in Eikaiwa, GEOS, News, Nova

Nova x Geos, a new English conversation school brand integrating branches from the Nova and Geos chains, is scheduled to be established on Nov. 1, according to the chains’ parent firm. Masaki Inayoshi, chairman of investment company Inayoshi Capital Partners, said Wednesday that about 50 of Geos’ 167 branches nationwide would adopt the new brand [...]

Language Schools Nova, Geos Get Yet Another New Owner

October 6, 2010 in Eikaiwa, GEOS, News, Nova

Restaurant operator G.communication Co. has sold its subsidiary that runs the language schools Nova and Geos to an investment fund managed by its founder and former chairman. The Oct. 1 transaction was apparently triggered by the fact that G.communication’s parent company, Foody’s Co., has been hit hard by the recent failure of Incubator Bank of [...]

Geos, Nova English schools change ownership once again

October 6, 2010 in Eikaiwa, GEOS, News, Nova

G.communication Co. has sold off the failed English conversation school chain Geos, which it took over in April, along with the Nova chain of English schools, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. An investment company led by Masaki Inayoshi, who formerly served as chairman of G.communication, purchased the subsidiary of the Nagoya-based firm that ran both [...]