Nova Corp. President Nozomu Sahashi on Thursday refused to resign from the top post at the largest English-language school operator in Japan over a scandal involving exaggerated advertisements.
His refusal came in response to a call for his resignation from Nova shareholders who asked him at their annual meeting to resign to take responsibility for the scandal, which has led to a government order partially suspending Nova’s business operations.

“If I resign, the company will collapse,” Sahashi told the meeting in Osaka.

Sahashi apologized for causing the disciplinary action by the government and said Nova has created a management reform committee to investigate the scandal and consider how best to avoid scandals in the future.

The committee, consisting of four experts on corporate compliance, will compile an interim report by the end of July and a final one by the end of August, he said.

The committee is expected to look into Sahashi’s responsibility and other issues related to the scandal.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/070628/kyodo/d8q1pfhg3.html

Shortly before 9pm this evening our local at Credu inked a labor-management agreement (LMA) reinstating the local’s president. After three weeks of intense negotiations under steady threat of a business-busting strike, management gave in and reinstated Larnac with all back pay. The LMA also included a return to a better, earlier shift schedule for all three teachers.

The victory comes thanks to one factor: the solidarity of the three teachers. During talks, Lori and Marc threatened strike action if Larnac were not quickly reinstated. They also offered to take pay cuts in exchange for getting him back to work. Amazingly, the pay cuts were not in today’s agreement.

The branch has not even begun to negotiate its core late-shunto/founding demands. We expect management to continue to negotiate in good faith.

The slogan of high school sport associations could be: If you can’t beat ‘em, ban ‘em.

The associations have introduced tough restrictions on foreign students because they are trouncing the Japanese athletes in sports such as the ekiden relay marathon, basketball and table tennis.

The restrictions followed protests from Japanese fans who say the superior ability of the foreign students is making the sporting events dull.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200706290152.html

FUKUROI, Shizuoka Prefecture– Fearful that they would be inviting crime to their neighborhood, residents blocked an attempt by a Japanese-Brazilian man to buy land on which to build a house.

The local regional legal affairs bureau said their actions constituted a “violation of human rights” and told the parties involved that if a similar situation occurred in the future they should handle it better.

In the end, the man was forced to purchase property elsewhere.

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200706290148.html

Nova Corp President Nozomu Sahashi on Thursday refused to resign from the top post at the largest English-language school operator in Japan over a scandal involving exaggerated advertisements. His refusal came in response to a call for his resignation from Nova shareholders who asked him at their annual meeting to resign to take responsibility for the scandal, which has led to a government order partially suspending Nova’s business operations. “If I resign, the company will collapse,” Sahashi told the meeting in Osaka.

Sahashi apologized for causing the disciplinary action by the government and said Nova has created a management reform committee to investigate the scandal and consider how best to avoid scandals in the future. The committee, consisting of four experts on corporate compliance, will compile an interim report by the end of July and a final one by the end of August, he said.

http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/410876