It's said that the bigger they come, the harder they fall, and it's difficult to imagine a harder fall than Nova's.

Following Nova Corp.'s well-documented troubles over the last few months, Japan's biggest language school chain is now in the hands of administrators, and is likely to be declared bankrupt next month unless a backer is found. Students and teachers have been left in the lurch, unsure of when or if they will ever receive money they are owed by the company.

But how long has the crash been coming? If the company's pay policy is any indication, for quite a while. According to instructors who were with Nova around 2000, annual raises of ¥10-15,000 a month were handed out almost as a matter of routine. However, this has changed in recent years; while pro rata starting salaries have remained unchanged, most new instructors were hired on reduced-hour contracts (34 or 37 lessons a week, rather than 40) with a lower base salary to match. Annual raises were also cut back, to generally no more than ¥5,000, usually less.