Vending machine costume for protection

A mate in Australia emailed me this link. Check it out, it's the type of wacky thing only the Japanese would think of.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/worldnews.html?in_article_id=489110&in_page_id=1811

Haha, only in Japan...

I wondered why the drink machine outside my apartment kept moving...

NOVA sux

NOVA officially declared bankruptcy last Friday. They were granted bankruptcy protection by Osaka District Court and the company has one month to find a sponsor that can provide financial backing and ultimately take them over with major restructuring. Internet company Yahoo is listed amongst the potential candidates.

An official announcement has been put on http://www.nova.ne.jp/ by newly appointed interim trustees responsible for finding a buyer for NOVA. They also have a Q & A sections regarding the current situation but they do not sound overly confident that a buyer will be found. If no partner is found within the one month time frame, the company will follow through will bankruptcy proceedings.

All branches are closed and business operations suspended until November 5th. It turns out that NOVA has rejected partner ship offers in the past and many companies are now reluctant to become involved with NOVA because of their enormous debt (50 billion Yen or something ridiculous). The huge loss is mainly blamed on the president of the company, who in recent years, over-expanded the company and made some bad business decisions (some of which were illegal). The president was actually forced to stand down by other board members on Friday, which came hand in hand with the bankruptcy declaration. he is being investigated by the authorities and may even end up in jail.

So i havn't been working for the last two weeks and i am owed about $3000 AU by NOVA. Some teachers are being evicted from NOVA rented housing, but so far, we have had no knock on our door telling us to leave. I have picked up some private lessons, earning enough money to keep going for a while. I'm planning to stay till January/February and then head back to Oz for vintage. Even if i just break even for the next few months i don't mind. As for my owed salary, everybody is hoping a buyer is found and salaries will be paid, but this is not a given. All we can do really is wait and cross our fingers. Despite all this, i've still had a good time in Japan and will have many fond memories when i leave and hopefully, one day, will return. Prehaps this time for a wine related job rather than teaching.

Well, thats all i have to say about that..

P.S. So yeah, i turned down the ski resort jobs offers. The timing wasn't very good to tie in with vintage, so it was a case of either going back this January or waiting a whole more year before returning home.

NOVA update

Payday was supposed to be on the 15th but noone has been paid yet. A lot of people have been callingin sick and refuseto go to work until they are paid. The company has promised to pay us on Friday, but i, along with most other teachers, don't believe this.

I am not going to work until i am paid. It costs me 900 yen per day to get to work (we are usually reinbursed for this in out paycheck) but i'm not prepared to cover this everyday because we may not receive another paycheck.

I have just landed a job in a ski resort in Hokkaido, starting November 19th. So, i just need my funds to last another month. The job is as a resort host- taking guests to their rooms etc. It is from November 19th till the end of March. We have the option of staying longer if it is a long snow season. Afterwards, i may return to Tokyo, i may return to Oz, or i may head to Europe for a vintage (grape harvest).

The pay is ok, not fantastic, but it includes a season lift pass. Needless to say, i'm looking forward to 4 months snowboarding- It's sad to leave Tokyo and the friends i have made here, but it will nice to see another side of Japan.

What am i doing on my days that i'm not going to work??

Going to the gym, studying Japanese, organising a few things and trying not to spend money! I am also going surfing tomorrow... Just what i need to get my mind off all this stuff

NOVA... Is this the end??

I havn't talked about this much because websites and forums are littered with discussions and reports concerning this topic, but NOVA is in very bad shape...

To cut a long story short, some teachers were paid up to two weeks late last pay day. There are others further up in management that still havn't been paid. People are quitting the company in droves, some returning home and others looking for other jobs. The English teaching market is becoming saturated as the 5,000 or so NOVA teachers begin to look for alternatives. It's not a great time to be working for NOVA.

In further news, AACE, the company that does recruiting for NOVA in some Australian states, has cut all ties with NOVA after a 15 year partnership.

I'm weighing up my options of what to do. Man people think the company will go bust soon, and it is looking doubtful that we will even see our last pay check (due October 15th).

Anyways, i have to go to my Japanese lesson. For more info, check out the Gaijinpot link on this page, or have a look at http://www.letsjapan.org/forum/

To summarise: Don't come to Japan and work for NOVA.

Hiroshima

So i finally got around to putting some snaps of Hirioshima up...

I went not last weekend, but the one before, with one of my housemates Abdul (he is from London). We decided to take the bus as it was much chepaer than the Shinkansen or flying. There was a catch though... The bus took 12 hours each way.

We departed Tokyo Sat night and arrived Sunday moring. The seats were smaller than buses back home and it was very crowded. I am not overly tall but Abdul is and he was struggling, espeically with his legs. The other problem is that they stop every 2-3 hours so eveytime they stopped, the lights were turned on and everyone was woken up. In hindsight, it was definately worth the money we saved though.

We arrived about 7am Sun morning and after a bakery breakfast, made our way to the hostel. Check-in wasn't until 4pm so we left our bags there and began our sightseeing. We spent the day roaming the peace park, which contains the Atomic Bomb Museum and the Hiroshima Dome. The Hiroshima Dome is a building that was destroyed by the atomic bomb. It was obviously gutted by fire and heavily damaged but most of the walls remained erect after the attack, so the Japanese have left the building as a memorial for August 6th, 1945 and i suppose, the entire war. It is quite chilling to view this building up close. This feeling is reinforced by a visit to the museum. It is very graphic and reaccounts many first hand stories of the incident. The damage and devastation caused by a single bomb is phenomenal.

One of the saddest reaccounts is a story about a girl called Sadako. She was two years old at the time of the attack. She survived the bomb but was diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of eleven. There is an old Japanese legend that says that anyone who folds a thousand paper cranes is granted a wish. Sadako started folding cranes to get her wish to banish the disease. She actually exceed 1000 cranes but sadly died on October 25th, 1955 at the age of twelve. Ever year people from around the world fold paper cranes and send them to Hiroshima. They are displayed in glass cases in the park, beside the Sadako memorial state (4th photo).

In the evening we visited Hiroshima Castle and then had a meal of the renowned Hiroshima-yaki. Okonomiyaki is Japanese style pancake. It usually contains cabbage, bean sprouts and seafood or meat. The Hiroshima version is regarded as one of the best Okonomiyaki in Japan and is different in that it also contains noodles. Needless to say, it was oishii (delicious)!!!

On Monday we visited and Island called Miya-jima, which is located quite clse to Hiroshima. Transport is via a ferry. It is a beautiful place- i visited there last year and it is probably my favourite place in Japan. Miya-jima is covered in beatiful shrines, but it is most famous for the Itsukushima Shrine. The shrine is situated in a small bay on the island and although the legs are exposed in my photos, water surrounds the shrine at high tide, giving the illusion that it is floating. The shrine is most impresive at night when lights illuminate it and the surrounding water. BTW- Shrines are Shinto monuments and temples are Buddhist, the two dominant religions in Japan.

On Tuesday we travelled South to a city called Iwakuni. The city itself is not particularly attractive and fairly industrial. The one famous site near the city is a bridge called Kintai-Kyo. It spans the Nishiki River and has a distinct shape, consisting of five arches. The bridge is made entirely of wood and not a single nail was used in it's construction. The original was built in 1673 but it is rebuilt every 50 years for safety reasons- this version was rebuilt in 2004.

We borded our bus exhausted on Tuesday night. I slept pretty well on the bus and arrived in Tokyo 7am Wednesday morning. It was a great trip! A beautiful and peaceful city.

P.S. Jima is a suffix used with Island names and kyo is used on bridge names


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