Japan Ichiban! Number One!

6th Annual March in March
Sunday, March 7th, 2010 12:00PM-

Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward, Hibiya Park Small Amphitheater
Hundreds of foreign and Japanese people staged a rally Sunday in Tokyo demanding better working conditions and employment benefits for foreign residents.

At the annual “March in March” event at Hibiya Park in Chiyoda Ward, Louis Carlet, deputy general secretary of the National Union of General Workers Tokyo Nambu, said foreign workers have a great need for job security and health care.

The March in March is a multinational gathering and protest march that takes place each March. It began with foreign workers calling for job security and an end to discrimination, but with the deteriorating work environment in Japan “job security and equality” have become the goals of not only foreigners but all who work in Japan. The government claims to have created jobs, but the ranks of working poor and unstable jobs (dispatch, part-time, temp, contract, subcontract, freelance) have increased. The young, the elderly, foreigners and women live with anxiety about their futures. Workaholic men work themselves literally to death. Inequality and disparity do not make workers happy.

The March in March is open to anyone who works or lives in Japan. Together, let’s make sure our voices are heard, let’s make sure the powers that be get the message loud and clear. The March in March will begin in Hibiya Park at 1:00pm on Sunday, March 7, 2010.

Last year, over 400 people took to the streets in Tokyo to demand a stable work environment, free from illegal dismissals, unpaid wages, or discrimination.

To get involved, contact Louis Carlet or phon

The Japanese will finally hear about this movie now.
Will be interesting to see what public reaction there is. So far, it’s been a ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ approach.

The Cove wins best documentary March 7, 2010.
The Cove won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.

The Cove is a 2009 Academy Award winning American documentary film about the annual killing of dolphins in a National Park at Taiji, Wakayama, in Japan. The film highlights that the number of dolphins killed is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and claims that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year. The migrating dolphins are herded into a hidden cove where they are netted and killed by means of spears and knives over the side of small fishing boats.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan’s most recent progress report 1,569 cetaceans in Taiji were killed during the 2007 season, including methods other than drive hunting. Only 1,239 cetaceans were killed by drive hunting. A total of 13,080 cetaceans were killed throughout Japan in 2007.
The film was directed by former National Geographic photographer Louie Psihoyos, and portions were filmed secretly during 2007 using underwater microphones and high-definition cameras disguised as rocks.
The documentary won the U.S. Audience Award at the 25th annual Sundance Film Festival in January 2009. It was selected out of the 879 submissions in the category.
On March 7, 2010 The Cove won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.

第８２回アカデミー賞の長編ドキュメンタリー賞は、和歌山県太地町のイルカ漁を隠し撮りした米映画「ザ・コーヴ」が受賞した。
　オスカーを受賞した製作陣は「みんなを啓蒙することができました。人類全体のインスピレーションになりました」と喜びの言葉を述べた

We are always on top at Japan’s Top Sites.

Japanichiban Friends Network will be upgraded shortly.
I’m very glad to tell you WorldFriends Networks (WFN) service will be upgraded to version 3.5 next week. In the coming release, we are SNS-nifying the community to a higher stage by enhancing the layout of the member homepage -
Newsfeeds of your 1st degree friends will be displayed on your homepage. We hope this change can make a more enjoyable part of your clicks through Japanichiban Friends Network.

Last year Japanichiban personally supported the The Mongol Car Rally team of Scott and Collin for a kindergarten to be built in Mongolia.
The kindergarten has already opened.

Besides that we chipped in to help a friend’s website in Australia In Byron Bay Today after they had $7000 worth of camera gear stolen.

Japanichiban will be on the look out for more charitable opportunities this year and we also encourage you to look into this one below.

Help Japan Ichiban’s Friends Network.tv reduce world hunger by making a donation to the the United Nations’ World Food Program.
Among the Millennium Development Goals which the United Nations has set for the 21st century, halving the proportion of hungry people in the world is top of the list. The World Food Program (WFP) is the largest international food aid organization in the world and the UN’s frontline agency in the fight against hunger. Every year, WFP feeds an average of 90 million people, more than half of them children, in over 80 countries.
WFP relies entirely on voluntary contributions to operate. It is the only UN agency that does not receive regular allocations from the UN budget. Contributions come from governments, corporations, organizations, and individuals.
To make a donation or get more information, click here.

Just stumbled across this charity organisation Bicycles For Humanity.

Bicycles for Humanity – Tokyo (B4H-Tokyo) is a charitable organization founded by Andrew Eickhoff to further the mission of Bicycles For Humanity (B4H) to empower the people of Africa by helping them solve the basic problem of mobility. A bicycle allows a healthcare worker to visit 3 to 4 times the number of patients in a day, it allows a mother to transport water and get her goods to market. For students living a long way from schools, it allows them more time and energy for studies and helping at home.

The basic idea is to raise around ¥70,0000, collect 400 used bicycles, buy a shipping crate and send it to Africa. Together we can make it!

A bike can change a life in a poor country. Yet for millions of people on the lowest incomes, a new bicycle is financially out of reach.

Meanwhile, millions of perfectly good bicycles lie unused in North America, Europe, Japan and elsewhere in the world.

Bicycles for Humanity began in September 2005 with the simple aim of enabling people to raise funds and collect unwanted bicycles to send to reliable partners in developing countries.

In developing countries, Bicycles for Humanity, in partnership with organizations in that country, provides resources and support to make the process accountable and efficient. In developing countries, it works at the grassroots level to ensure that disadvantaged people are empowered through improved access to food and water, employment, healthcare, education and social opportunities.

Our movement continues to grow for 3 simple reasons:

1. It empowers caring entrepreneurial-minded people in Africa to step up and make a difference in their communities.

2. It links people here with like-minded people in Africa. Together, they tell the story of the need, collect the bikes and raise the funds to empower whole communities.

3. Accountability, honesty and humanity are the foundation of our movement. The more the people of Africa demonstrate this, the more support comes forward.

Our focus in 2008 was on distributing the Bicycling Empowerment Centre (BEC), a complete package that addresses bicycle delivery to remote areas, access to tools, training and spare parts.

The Bicycle Empowerment Centre (BEC) program was a huge success with now over twelve of them placed across all of Namibia. In 2009 we will launch Top UP, a program designed to send more bikes to communities that already have a BEC.

On this site, you will find information about volunteering, collections and developing country projects. You will come to know the people we empower and the many ways that recipients use bicycles to create new opportunities for themselves, their families, and their communities.

You will also find ways that you or your community group, service club, school, sport club, religious organization or business can get involved. There are opportunities to support our projects by working within your community and through direct connections with partners in a developing countries. Help send a BEC to a community in need.

Please visit our Humanity Rocks Initiative to find out more about how you can join and become a part of this grassroots movement.

Bicycles for Humanity On Facebook too:

Why Australian GEOS Schools closed
As the former DoS, as of yesterday, of one of the GEOS schools in Australia, I can say with authority, that if it hadn’t been for the fact that Japan was in financial trouble and as such sifening off millions of dollars from Australia to try and save operations there, we would still be opperational. The Australian schools all had plenty of students and were making money, but all of that money has found its way to Japan with the biggest problem being they have also taken the fees paid by future students, leaving nothing to pay for the running costs here! It makes me incredibly angry that Japan are claiming no responsibility for this, but of course it is also no big surprise. However with the cash cow now gone I can’t see that the rest of the GEOS opperations can last. If you have anything to do with them in Japan or another country I would strongly advise getting out now!

The rumors were true.
The dominoes are falling.
Won’t be long now. More homeless unemployed English teachers to hit the streets soon.
First cracks in Japan will be that students upon hearing of the Australian closure will quit and demand refunds.
Existing and new students will not re-sign their next contracts.
New customers will steer well clear of GEOS.
If they are still running by the end of next month it will be purely on the fumes of an oily rag.

Eight English language schools in limbo January 29, 2010
AAP

Eight English language schools operated in Australia by the GEOS group have gone into voluntary administration, leaving about 2300 foreign students unsure of their future.

Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins of Ernst & Young have been appointed administrators to nine companies operating the schools in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Gold Coast and Cairns.

They have about 390 employees and international students from a number of different countries.

“The financial position of the companies is such that the directors appointed voluntary administrators,” Mr Walsh and Mr Nikitins said in a statement on Friday.

“School operations have been temporarily suspended while the financial situation of the companies and ability to fund future operations of the schools is assessed over the next few days.”

The companies under administration are: GEOS Melbourne Pty Ltd, GEOS Adelaide Pty Ltd, GEOS Sydney Pty Ltd, GEOS Cairns Pty Ltd, GEOS Gold Coast Pty Ltd, GEOS Perth Pty Ltd, GEOS Brisbane Pty Ltd, GEOS Management Services Pty Ltd and GEOS National English Academy Pty Ltd.

The administrators said a better understanding of the financial situation and a decision on future operations should be known by the close of business on February 1.

“Employees, students and creditors will be advised as soon as possible,” they said.

© 2010 AAP

ANOTHER private English college has closed on the northern beaches leaving teachers and students in the dark over their future.

At 4pm last Friday GEOS Sydney’s Manly Campus was closed and the administrators brought in. Campus doors were locked, with the only information available to the 80 students and eight teachers a note stuck to the window.

It read: “Unfortunately GEOS Australia will be closed from Monday 1st February until further notice. As soon as we have more information regarding the future of the school you will be contacted by person.”

It is the second English language college to close on the northern beaches inside three months after Maewill English College in Brookvale entered voluntary administration last November.

Justin Walsh and Adam Nikitins, of Ernst and Young, have been appointed voluntary administrators to the GEOS group which operate eight schools across Australia, with about 390 employees and about 2300 international students.

“The financial position of the companies is such that the directors appointed voluntary administrators,” a statement from the administrators said. “School operations have been temporarily suspended while the financial situation of the companies and ability to fund future operations is assessed.”

A teacher at GEOS Sydney, who did not wish to be named, said she was angry to learn of the closure. “It is going to be really difficult for people like me who only have $20 in the bank because I will have to find another job quickly,” she said.

“Normally when you lose your job you get a retrenchment or notice but we are getting nothing and it is appalling.”

She said last month the owners had quashed rumours that the school would be closing. “We got a letter closure rumours were hurting the business and that everything was okay.”

The college’s international students will be found alternative placements under the Tuition Assurance Scheme (TAS) which protects the interests of student’s studying in Australian on student visas.

Just in my mail box from ETJ (English Teacher’s Of Japan).

There have been rumors that Geos is in trouble since last September when a Geos spokesman admitted that sales were down and that the Nova collapse had caused ‘distrust among the public about English language schools’. The EL Gazette now reports that Geos is strongly denying the rumors.

According to the report, Chad Lafferty, Geos Teaching Ltd’s human resources director, said ‘Opening and closing locations is a normal part of business… The global recession has certainly impacted the way we do business but it would be wrong to say that any closures of the company are directly related to the recession.’ He went on to say that ‘Geos hasn’t laid off a single employee due to business results or the recession. Furthermore, we have no plans to do so.’

Click here to see the EL Gazette article (you will need to register). The digital version of EL Gazette, a news magazine for English language teachers around the world, is published monthly and can be accessed free of charge.

When Japanichiban started out many moons ago as a job support and advice organisation before the internet was even getting off the ground, we had an ad in the old Tokyo Classifieds advertising our services. It was a phone in help line and I remember our first person to use the service was a young lady from Geos on the verge of suicide. That was close to 15 years ago now and Geos are still ticking.

Let’s Japan started out their site also from Geos experiences as an outlet for teachers to debunk the myths of teaching English in Japan, especially for Geos.

Nova fell as have countless other English schools but Geos just keep on ticking away.

This latest news? Could this really be the end?

From Wiki!

An article in The Japan Times noted the deplorable working conditions of GEOS staff. In 1999, the company was taken to court by fourteen of its managers over unpaid overtime. At the time of the case, the main plaintiff said that she was working a 72-hour week under constant unmanageable pressure to increase sales at her school. Even though the managers won their suit, costing GEOS 300 million yen in unpaid overtime, the media mostly overlooked the case. In the same article, managers noted high staff-turnover and long working hours. However, a spokeswoman for the company insisted that GEOS, and the language learning industry as a whole, provided women with rare opportunities to begin business careers.[6]
Recent economic woes have lead Geos to be late paying the Japanese staff in August and September 2009. It is further reported that foreign teachers working at the adult schools were not paid on time in October 2009. Geos is currently asking clients to pay as much as 5 months in advance for the following year’s lessons in a bid to raise the necessary funds to meet payroll obligations. This financial distress has led many Japanese staff members to resign.[7]
GEOS began closing some of its branches in Japan in 2007, with more than 10% of domestic branches shuttering their doors in under two years. At its height, GEOS maintained teacher recruitment centers in London, Melbourne, Toronto, and Vancouver. Melbourne closed in March 2004, London and Toronto in October 2006, and the Vancouver center closed in October 2008.

Falling birth rate raises problem for Japan

Japanese 20-year-olds celebrate their Coming of Age day all around the country. It is the age at which they are allowed to drink alcohol and vote in elections

Tokyo, Japan - Today is a joyous national holiday in Japan known as the Coming of Age Day. The day marks the time when girls and boys become women and men.

Young people celebrate Coming of Age Day in Tokyo.

All over Tokyo, young women who are turning 20 this fiscal year are decked out in the fanciest, brightest, and most expensive kimonos you’ll ever see. Young men show up in the sharpest (and likely their first) black suit. The women are adorned with all the stylings of youth: huge hair, flowers, furs and silk. You have to forgive them if they’ve gone a bit over the top — you only become an adult once in Japan.

At the Shibuya ward office, 1450 people arrived at the important Coming of Age Day this January 11, 2010. Compare that number to years past, and you get a glimpse into one of Japan’s most pressing economic problems.

Five years ago, Shibuya ward had 1,917 people turn 20. Ten years ago, that number was 2,462. Twenty years ago, it was 4,380. That’s a steady decline in 20 years, down almost 70 percent. The number of young people is declining, not just in Shibuya, but all over Japan.

The birth rate in Japan is 1.37, among the lowest in the world. Japanese women, in survey after survey, report they’re holding back from having children because of the lack of daycare, inequity of domestic duties in marriage, career concerns and the high cost of living in Japan.

At the same time, the number of elderly is growing. By 2050, Japan’s government predicts 40 percent of its population will be over the age of 65. It’s a crippling population problem which analysts say will make this current recession and recovery look like a brief hiccup.

Japan celebrates its young today. But the joy diminishes every year.

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Keeping in line with our recent focus on Japan related youtubers (J-vloggers), Japanichiban brings you

That Japanese Girl. (TJG for short).

TJG gives interesting youtube lessons on Kansai-ben, which is the dialect of Japanese spoken down and around Osaka & Kyoto. (The Kansai area).
She doesn’t just teach Kansai-ben though as some clips are not about language at all.

There is a band of Japan based vloggers who also make collaborations which are very entertaining and edited to perfection. These collaborations are good ways of seeing and being introduced to the other popular j-vloggers around. TJG is in a lot of these and they can be hysterical at times.

TJG has been at it about a year now and has a large following of about 5000 subscribers.
I’m sure she will double that number in no time.

To keep you in suspense TJG will sometimes do a quiz where the answer is not revealed till the next video. Students of Japanese then have a chance to try and answer the quiz in the comments section.

Even if you’re not interested in Kansai-ben I think you will still become addicted to watching her.
After watching one or two of her clips you’ll want to watch all of them.

Check out some TJG vlogs.
This is a good one that sums up her youtube story for 2009 with sub-titles.

Many photos of TJG in her photo booth here.
TJG’s youtube channel here.
TJG’s blog here.
You can follow TJG on twitter too.