The March to Inevitability

Hello Everyone,
I am writing this as my official last blog. As I reported in earlier blogs NOVA has been having major financial troubles and they have not gotten any better, in fact then have only worsened. As suspected (by myself and many other workers) payment was not received as scheduled on October 15th, and as I write this on October 22 no has been paid yet. Needless to say it is a very frustrating situation. When pay was delayed on Monday, October 15th I decided it was no longer in my best interest to continue work for a company that cannot pay me, thus I submitted my formal letter of resignation on Monday, October 15th after it was realized that payment would not be made. Long story short, my last day of work was Wednesday, October 17th and I will be coming home Thursday, October 25th to attempt to regroup and get my life back on track.

While I am excited to come home and see my family and friends it is also very bittersweet. I really wanted this opportunity to work out. It was a great chance to see a part of the world I had never seen before. I was really hoping accepting this position would give me the chance to travel around Japan, but I was not really able to travel much further than then immediate area Isesaki due to the fact that I could not afford to spend money on travel, I felt daily necessities were more important, and since I didn’t have a guaranteed paycheck I could not take a chance spending what little money I had on travel. Although I was not able to see all that I wanted my trip was not completely devoid of travel, as all of you who have read my previous blog entries are privy to.

To illustrate the reasons for severing ties with Nova I will provide a small timeline of the Nova news as I received it while I was in Japan Note: While Nova is a hierarchical agency, like any large company in the US; it lacks any sense of transparency. I am not sure if it is because of its large bureaucratic nature or simply massive ineptitude in the tops ranks, but there was simply no flow of information.

From the time I arrived in Japan I knew something was not right with NOVA. My first working day was September 12th, three days before payday, and already people were somewhat worried that they may not receive the wages due to them. September 15th came and all my coworkers were paid on time. I started to think alright maybe everything is OK. Then I realized the Titled Instructor (a Titled Instructor (TI) is basically a branch manager, they are one step above the regular instructor (me) and handle operations such as employees reviews and observations ) from my branch had not yet been paid.

My hopes that everything with Nova was “on the level” were very quickly dashed as I realized my TI had not been paid. There was no explanation as to why he (or any other TI) had not been paid. Something wasn’t right. In classic Nova style there was no information from the “top brass” as to why this pay was delayed. After the first delay TIs were told they would be paid within the next three days. When that promise didn’t materialize they were given another date; same result. TIs were given the run around like this for two weeks, until finally pay was deposited on September 27th, a full two weeks late.

The company was finally able to scrape together the capital to pay their TI’s (note: there are approx. 900 or less TI’s in Japan, as each branch generally has one) but no one knew how they did this, or where the money came from. There had been rumors floating around that branches were being closed in an attempt to save money, but what good would this do? Nova doesn’t own any of the space it used it only further into debt. Again the upper management at Nova shines through.

As the TIs are paid people begin to realize that we are a mere two weeks away from instructor payday on October 15th. If Nova had no money to pay the TI’s where were they going to find the money to pay nearly 7,000 instructors? With no means of communication from above many turned to internet forums to get any grain of information they could, but it didn’t take long to realize these sources of information were teeming with hearsay and false information, but it was some information that we all so desperately wanted.

So nearly every Nova employee marched on towards October 15th, many of them (myself included) developing contingency plans along the way. These plans ranged from heading home to recruiting Nova students for private lessons. During the week of October 8th branch morale seemed to be at an all time low. It had been over two months since the Japanese Staff (those who put together teaches schedules and perform the day to day activities to keep Nova running) had been paid. Everyone had the same sentiment, we will not be paid next Monday and our work was suffering because of it. It is extremely hard to enter a less and struggle to communicate with a very low level student when you are all but sure you will not be paid for your trouble, but at the same time it is impossible not to feel sympathy for the student who paid for the lesson you are teaching them 2+ years ago, when the company was flourishing.

Then came the nail in the coffin for me. One Friday, October 12th we received a fax from the top brass stating they could not come up with the fund to pay instructors as scheduled on October 15th. The fax embodied all the tact we have come expect from Nova over the past two month – 1. It contained no explanation from why payment was to be delayed and 2. It was sent at about 9:30pm, half an hour after all branches close for the day and employees are at home.

Saturday I went to work to see if the fax actually existed and it did. I saw this fax as my chance to get out of Nova. A binding clause of my contract states that I must give thirty days notice in order to resign from Nova, but another binding part of my contract states that I will be paid in full on the 15th of each month, Nova was in breach of my contract and I no longer had to honor it. The news was all the buzz at work on Saturday, but no one had any real plans, as it came as more of shock. It was one of those instances where we were all expecting some sort of news, but when it actually came it was still quite hard to swallow. For me the decision was simple and I made it on the spot. I was not going to have my first paycheck from a company be delayed; I mean this was my first paycheck, talk about starting off on a bad foot. I was going to wait until Monday, October 15th at 3pm (banks in Japan close at 3pm, thus any payment made on Monday would be posted by 3pm) and when the money was not in my bank account Nova would have officially breached its contract and I no longer had to honor it.

At about 5pm I faxed my official, hand written, letter of resignation to my area boss. She called to confirm that she had received it and sent me all the paperwork I would need to fill out in order to make this official. I filled it out on my break, as I wanted to get this done as soon as possible and faxed it back to her. I was finally free, as of 6:15pm on October 17th I would no longer be an employee of Nova.

As I write this, I have not been working for almost a week now. I have everything in place to come home, my plane ticket and bus ticket to the airport, now it’s just a matter of waiting for Thursday so I can come home (and trying to spend as little money as possible now that I have so much down time) To reiterate my pervious point, as I am sad to be leaving Japan without a very good chance to experience it to the fullest like I had planned, I am even more excited to get home, see my family and friends and begin to get my life back on track. What I am not looking forward to is the whole process of getting my life back on track (i.e. Job hunting and house hunting) so if anyone has any connections please let me know, I’m going to need all of the help I can get.

In closing, thank you very much for reading my blog, and all the messages and things you have sent me since I have been over here, it certainly made the transition much easier. I am sure I will be seeing many of you in the very near future.

So until then take care,
Adam

One of my Kids Classes

Here is a picture of one of my kids classes. The kids are pretty good, this is probably my best, most well-behaved class, but as always kids will be kids.



They are (L - R) Ayaka, Reika, Fuuki, Youhei (Click on the photo to make it larger)

Exploring Takasaki 10/11/07

Hello all,
Today was one of my days off so I decided to travel to Takasaki. First, a bit about Takasaki: Situated on the Kanto Plain approximately 100km north of Tokyo, Takasaki City covers an area of 330 square kilometers stretching from the border of Saitama Prefecture to the border of Nagano Prefecture. It's a city that encompasses vibrant commerce and industry found in the downtown district, as well as the peace and tranquility of nature found in the rural Kurabuchi district. Numerous concerts, city parks, festivals, and other events provide citizens with plenty of opportunities to relax and enjoy everything life has to offer. The city has a long history as a center of transportation and commerce. The remains of many ancient communities have been uncovered in Takasaki, proving that people thrived in the area more than 1400 years ago. During the Edo period (1600-1868), Takasaki's role as a castle town led to an influx of merchants and an increase in the population. Following the Second World War Takasaki continued to grow as an industrial city with an extensive transportation system. In January of 2006 Takasaki City merged with Gunma Town, Misato Town, Shinmachi Town and Kurabuchi Village to form the current city that is home to approximately 320,000 people. Its proximity to Tokyo, only 50 minutes by bullet train, continues to make the city a strategic location for transportation and commerce. Serviced by both the Joetsu and Nagano bullet train lines, a bullet train stops at Takasaki station every 15 to 30 minutes, making Takasaki a gateway to the entire prefecture as well as the Sea of Japan and Japanese Alps. It is also at the crossroads of the Kanetsu, Joshinetsu and Kita-Kanto Highways. The new Takasaki Municipal Office was constructed in May of 1998, being both of a modern design and accessible for its citizens. Takasaki City continues to strive towards creating an international society where both the environment and its citizens can co-exist in harmony together.

As far as stories go my trip to Takasaki was rather uneventful, I didn’t get lost or anything really exciting like that, but I did some great pictures, so long story short, the purpose of this post is to share some the pictures I took today with everyone.

A good view of Takasaki


Byakui Dai-kannon


In 1936 the Kannon statue, 41.8 meters high, was built by the local entrepreneur, Inoue Yasusaburo. He was concerned about the stagnant world of ideology at the time, and built the statue hoping to spread the virtuous deeds by the Kanzeon-bosatsu or the Goddess of Mercy to shed light on the ideological world.


A massive suspension bridge in Kannonyama Park


Me on the massive suspension bridge in Kannonyama Park

View from an overpass in Takasaki

Looking the opposite way on the overpass

Entrance to a Temple in Takasaki

The Temple itself, it seemed as though they were setting up for an event, as there were many folding chairs and tents to each side of the path.

Another good view of Takasaki

Takasaki Koen Park

A small waterfall in Takasaki Koen Park
A nice view of some hills/mountains from Takasaki Koen Park

Byakui Dai-kannon from Takasaki Koen Park (needless to say it was very long walk to the statue)

Another view of how far it was to Byakui Dai-kannon, you can just make it out, it's the tall object in the center of the picture way off in the distance (my feet hurt just looking at the picture)

Takasaki Koen Park had some very random cages with animals in them, like a monkey (here) as well as rabbits, chickens, swans, and peacocks, weird.

Another view of the massive suspension bridge in Konnonyama Park.


That is all for this time, I hope that you enjoy the pictures. I would really like to go back because Konnonyama is a very big park and I didn't have a lot of time to walk around, I feel there are many more cool things I could see there.

Still missing everyone back home,
Adam

Adventures in Isesaki

Hello Everyone,

I know it has been a while since I have last written, but I have been a little busy. As of last Thursday (October 4th) I have officially been in Japan for one month. I am beginning to get used to the culture (food and way of life), but it is still quite foreign to me. Each day I face many challenges, but none of them are as daunting as not being able to read or speak the language. The language barrier is a huge obstacle I face everyday, from simply asking someone directions, to deciding what I want to eat, but I am getting by, picking up very basic, functional Japanese.

As I mentioned in my last post my plan for last Thursday or Friday was to venture to the mountains via a train from Isesaki. I had no real plans as to which day I wanted to go, but when I woke up Thursday morning the weather looked quite clear, so I hopped on a train from Isesaki to Maebashi. Maebashi is the capital of Gunma and about a 15 min train ride from Isesaki. I had read online that if I got to Maebashi station I could get on a bus that would take me to Mt. Akagi (image left). Mt. Akagi is one of the Jomo Three Mountains, located in the eastern part of Gumma, is the generic name for mountains including Mt. Kurobi-san and Mt. Jizo-dake. The inside area of the outer rim of the mountain is designated as Akagi Prefectural Park. Near the mountaintop, between the central crater and outer rim, there is a crater lake, called Ono.

I arrived at Maebashi Station (which incidentally is the same stop I got off at when I first arrived in Japan, and was lost) and began to look for the bus I was to ride to Mt. Akagi (according the Internet it was about a 30min ride). That is where quest for Mt. Akagi ended, at Maebashi Station. I was unable to find anyone who could help me figure out which bus to get on to go to the mountain, and none of the buses were labeled. I decided I would not waste my trip and decided to walk around Maebashi. In the course of walking around I found out the Maebashi is the capital of Gunma, it has the Prefectural Office, as well as, the Prefectural Library, quite interesting. So for about 3 hours I wandered the street of Maebashi simply exploring. I could see Mt. Akagi the entire time, but it was about 30km away from the city, so needless to say walking to Akagi was not an option.

After an unsuccessful attempt to get to Mt. Akagi I decided it was time to head back towards Isesaki. So I got on a train from Maebashi from Isesaki, the train was completely packed, it was about the time that many Japanese people go home from work and school. I certainly was not expecting the train in Gunma to be packed, but it was alright and interesting.

After my adventures on Thursday I didn't have a whole lot planned for Friday, the only thing I really needed to do was get some shampoo at the local grocery store. I left my house at about 1:00pm to realize that it was an absolutely beautiful day, about 70 degrees and sunny. I looked all around me and was able to see some mountains, so I began to ride bike toward the mountain which looked to be the closest, which it turns out was quite far away, at least 15 miles, but I was determined to make it to the mountains this time. I rode my bike in the direction of the mountains for about two straight hours (it was quite windy and my bike does not have any gears, thus it was quite a challenge) making what seemed like very minimal progress, but it didn't really bother me because it was such a great day for a bike ride. I continued to ride my bike taking in all the sights in Isesaki (or what I thought was Isesaki). It turned out that I rode through many little towns and saw some interesting things along the way. Since Japan is such a small and cramped country they have grave sites and cemeteries in very random places. This one was simply on the side of the road next to some farm fields. It seems that many people have graveyards in their yards, much like families did in the past in the United States. Unlike the US many grave sites are very small with very few monuments.

Enough about grave sites in Japan, I had some mountains to ride to. I continued along the road riding towards the mountains. After quite a long bit of riding I could tell I was getting close to the mountains because it stated to get quite hard to pedal my bike, but the mountains still looked quite far away, and I was really far away from home and not quite sure how to get back home. I soon learned that I had arrived in a small town call Ogo. I finally decided that my attempt to ride my bike to the mountains was futile. Even if I was able to reach them, it would probably be dark by then (it gets dark in Japan around 5:30pm) and I would have no energy left in my legs to go climbing anyways. When I asked some of my co-workers where I was, none of them had any idea, all they knew is that it was nowhere close to Isesaki. This was about all the closer to the mountains I was able to get. This picture really doesn't do justice to how beautiful the mountains are, or how close I actually was to them. When it is clear (which has happened four times since I have arrived in Japan) I can see the mountains quite far in the distance while riding my bike to work, this only fuels my desire to visit them, and I am determined to do so before I leave Japan.

So now I realize that 1. I am not going to make it to the mountains today, and 2. In my ambition to get the mountains I had paid very little attention to where I was actually going - long story short I was lost - very lost. So began to ride back the way I thought I had come from, but I was sorely mistaken and after about 45min of riding I had no clue where I was, all I knew is that in about an hour and a half it was going to start getting dark, but I was not panicking, I just kept riding, hoping I would see something I recognized. Finally I got lucky, I saw a sign that said Isesaki and had an arrow pointing toward the city, so I began to ride having no idea how far it actually was. I had little choice but to keep riding until I recognized something, I know Isesaki well enough know when I am back in the city.

After about 20 min of ridng down Highway 103 I stumbled upon something I was not expecting, a really cool little park in the middle of nowhere. Its quite hard to see the name of the park, but it is Omuro Park, and I later found out that it is in Maebashi City. Unfortunately it was starting to get dark and I had very little time to explore the park, which I feel is pretty big, thus I intend to go back either this Thursday or Friday, given good weather.

This a picture of a very cool waterfall that was at the park I stopped at. Also, the first picture at the beginning of my post is me standing at the top of the waterfall (for some reason I was unable to move it to the bottom of the post)