Transport authorities launched a full-fledged investigation Sunday into the derailment of a bullet train on the Akita Shinkansen Line in Daisen, Akita Prefecture, on Saturday afternoon.
It's a dangerous, unpredictable world. Twice in January Chinese warships in the East China Sea challenged Japan's Maritime Self Defense Forces patrols in a manner deemed threatening. And on Feb. 12 came North Korea's nuclear test.
Here's an open secret: Japanese men have a bad international reputation on the romance front.
SELLING WOMEN: Prostitution, Markets and the Household in Early Modern Japan, by Amy Stanley. University of California Press, 2012, 282 pp., $49.95 (hardcover) In the vast cultural landscape, Japan fascinates the mainstream with manga and anime, the martial arts, Zen and kimono. Of course, ...
Kenta Maeda shook off worries about his form with five shutout innings as Japan beat China 5-2 in first-round Pool A of the World Baseball Classic on Sunday at Fukuoka Dome. Japan improved to 2-0 following a tough win over Brazil in Saturday evening’s ...
This year marked the fifth anniversary of the collapse of English language school giant Nova, which filed for bankruptcy protection on Oct. 26, 2007. Under the guidance of Nagoya-based G.Communication, the cram school and restaurant operator that initially bailed out the company, Nova was ...
Ask any ordinary person what significance Oct. 26 holds and you might find them struggling for an answer, but for many involved in Japan’s beleaguered English teaching industry, it was the day the nation’s premier operator fell into administration and took much of the ...
As an eikaiwa owner and operator in Osaka, it was refreshing to read Mr. Richard Smart’s views in his article “Small schools offer hope amid eikaiwa slump” (Zeit Gist, Nov. 2). For over a year now, I and a dedicated group of eikaiwa owner/operators ...
RICHARD SMART Special to The Japan Times A chain of English conversation schools is closed down. Thousands of employees are left worrying whether they will get paid or keep their jobs. Students are told refunds will not be given on advance payments for lessons. ...
Elise Ferreira Translator (Dutch) Learning English allows people to travel the world and enjoy other cultures more. Language schools are useful, but with the way the schools are now, private lessons may be a better way for students to reach their goals. Jonas Ronneguard, ...
‘All the schools are closed.’ That’s the text message I received on the morning of Oct. 26, 2007, from a fellow Nova teacher. I went to my school later that day to find the lights off, the doors locked and no one around. Like ...
Too big, too fast, and with too little quality — that’s the consensus view of many industry analysts on former language-school market leader Nova Corp., whose collapse left over 420,000 students and 4,000 non-Japanese instructors without an “eikaiwa” home. The Nova affair has already ...
Following are responses from readers on the collapse of language school chain Nova Corp. and last week’s Zeit Gist article, “Nova crash adds to ‘eikaiwa’ wage woes”: Company run on exploitation Sadly, I’m not surprised Nova has come to such an end. I was ...
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 ...
Jisu OhStudent (South Korea)Nova’s closure has made me think that it is better to just make friends so I can exchange culture as well as language with other people. I can’t pay for another school. Chika MezakiHousewife, 44 I asked staff to pay back ...
Globalization, the Internet and increased mobility have made the planet a smaller place. The world is now often referred to as a global community, and its lingua franca is undoubtedly English. It is the official language of air traffic control and the de facto ...
While exact figures are unavailable, but it is fair to assume that a large number of foreigners who work in Japan will spend at least some of their time teaching in a language school. But should you lose yourself in the facelessness of a ...
