Jump to content

American Club (eikaiwa): Difference between revisions

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous edit
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Tidy up and remove maintenance tags that now no longer appear to apply
 
(29 intermediate revisions by 20 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
''For other uses, see [[American Club (disambiguation)]]''
{{other uses|American Club (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox company
{{Infobox_Company
| company_name = American Club
| name = American Club
| company_type = [[Kabushiki kaisha]]
| type = [[Kabushiki kaisha]]
| foundation = [[Utsunomiya, Tochigi]], Japan (July 15, 1986)
| foundation = [[Utsunomiya, Tochigi]], Japan (July 15, 1986)
| location = Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| location = Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
| industry = Language instruction, other
| industry = Language instruction, other
| key_people = Yasuki Yamauchi
| key_people = Yasuki Yamauchi
(山内泰樹''Yamauchi Yasuki'') current President
(山内泰樹''Yamauchi Yasuki'') current President
}}
}}


{{Nihongo|'''American Club'''|アメリカンクラブ株式会社}} is a company based in the Hiramatsuhonchō (平松本町) district of [[Utsunomiya, Tochigi]], Japan which has been involved in the "[[eikaiwa]]" (English conversation) business.
{{Nihongo|'''American Club'''|アメリカンクラブ株式会社}} is a company based in the Motoimaizumi district of [[Utsunomiya, Tochigi]], Japan, which has been involved in the "[[eikaiwa]]" (English conversation) business. It was sued for withheld wages twice, by two groups of employees. The first lawsuit took place in December 1994 and the second in January 1996. The wages sought in the lawsuits totaled the equivalent of over US$65,000.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts">[http://isaokonno.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20110516115155 「英会話教室の外国人講師ら」'''賃金支払い求め訴訟'''経営者不在のまま閉鎖」]''朝日新聞''　(''Asahi Shimbun''), Utsunomiya edition, Utsunomiya, Jan. 25, 1996</ref><ref name="ReferenceA">[http://acaux1.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20111027070101 「'''賃金支払い求め英会話学校訴え'''宇都宮地裁に講師ら」]''下野新聞'' (''Shimotsuke Shinbun''), Utsunomiya, Jan. 26, 1996</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">[http://mb520110508115544-7815802.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20110515124220 "The fall of American Club"] ''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, Feb. 1996</ref><ref>和解書　(Court agreement)、宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya courthouse), Dec. 26, 1994</ref>


Though published news reports indicated the American Club was closed,<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="ReferenceB">''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996</ref> and its directors ignored a court summons and subsequent court order to pay wages in the second lawsuit, its business registration indicates the company is still a legally operating entity, with 30 million yen in equity (approximately US$365,000 as of February 2011).<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration">[http://moriosugimoto.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20110516114404 アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記] (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011</ref> Furthermore, the business registration clearly states it is "not closed" (「...閉鎖されていない...」)<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration" /> and gives no indication it has ever been in a state of bankruptcy.<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration" />
Though the company primarily operated as an English school in the 1980s and '90s, according to its business registration it is also involved in numerous other business activities such as restaurants and bars, athletic clubs, hotels, printing/publishing, video and software rental and employment services.<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration">[http://moriosugimoto.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20110516114404 アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記] (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011</ref>

⚫
The business registration also indicates that the [[Shimotsuke Shinbun]], a newspaper that ran stories on the lawsuits,<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="acaux1.webstarts">[http://acaux1.webstarts.com/shimotsuke_shinbun_23_feb_1996.html?r=20111027065015 「'''講師の賃金支払い命令'''英会話学校へ宇地裁」]''下野新聞'' (''Shimotsuke Shinbun''), Utsunomiya, Feb. 23, 1996</ref> advertises the American Club's services in its pages.<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration">アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011</ref>

Though the company primarily operated as an English school in the 1980s and '90s, according to its business registration it is also involved in numerous other business activities such as restaurants and bars, athletic clubs, hotels, printing/publishing, video and software rental and employment services.<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration" />.


== Early history ==
== Early history ==
The American Club began operating on July 15, 1986,<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration" /><ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> and recruited students for English classes during the [[Japanese asset price bubble]] economy of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The classes were mainly taught by native English-speaking teachers from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. At its peak, it had a main school in [[Utsunomiya]], and six branch schools in [[Mibu]], [[Mooka, Tochigi|Mooka]], [[Oyama]], [[Tochigi]] City (all in [[Tochigi Prefecture]]), [[Koga]] (in [[Ibaraki Prefecture]]) and [[Sendai]] (in [[Miyagi Prefecture]]).
The American Club began operating on July 15, 1986,<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration"/><ref name="isaokonno.webstarts">[http://isaokonno.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20110516115155 「英会話教室の外国人講師ら」'''賃金支払い求め訴訟'''経営者不在のまま閉鎖」]''朝日新聞''　(''Asahi Shimbun''), Utsunomiya edition, Utsunomiya, Jan. 25, 1996</ref> and recruited students for English classes during the [[Japanese asset price bubble]] economy of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The classes were mainly taught by native English-speaking teachers from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. At its peak, it had a main school in [[Utsunomiya]], and six branch schools in [[Mibu]], [[Mooka, Tochigi|Mooka]], [[Oyama, Tochigi|Oyama]], [[Tochigi, Tochigi|Tochigi]] City (all in [[Tochigi Prefecture]]), [[Koga, Ibaraki|Koga]] (in [[Ibaraki Prefecture]]) and [[Sendai]] (in [[Miyagi Prefecture]]).


== Financial problems and first lawsuit over unpaid wages ==
== Financial problems and first lawsuit over unpaid wages ==
After the burst of Japan's [[bubble economy]] in the early 1990s, the American Club began to suffer.<ref name="和解書　Court agreement">和解書　(Court agreement), Dec. 1994</ref><ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> In summer 1994, employees' wages were late.<ref name="和解書　Court agreement">和解書　(Court agreement)</ref><ref name="ReferenceB" /> By October of that year, the school had stopped paying wages at all.<ref name="和解書　Court agreement" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /> A group of employees, led by Don MacLaren, subsequently organized, formed a branch union through Japan's [[National Union of General Workers]] and took the company's president, Hiroaki (aka "Morio") Sugimoto, and director, Isao (aka “Yasuaki”) Konno, to court.<ref name="和解書　Court agreement">Court agreement</ref><ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>National Union of General Workers Japan, Utsunomiya branch records, 1994-96</ref> These employees received three months in back wages on December 26, 1994, with a stipulation insisted on by Sugimoto that "teachers will refrain from damaging the company's reputation".<ref name="和解書　Court agreement" /><ref name="ReferenceB">''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Jan. 1996</ref>
After the burst of Japan's [[bubble economy]] in the early 1990s, the American Club began to suffer.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="和解書　Court agreement">和解書　(Court agreement), Dec. 1994</ref><ref name="ReferenceB">[http://www.donmaclaren.com/networking_-_page_1.html?r=20130828100811 "The fall of American Club"] ''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, Feb. 1996</ref> In summer 1994, employees' wages were late.<ref name="和解書　Court agreement"/><ref name="ReferenceB" /> By October of that year, the school had stopped paying wages at all.<ref name="和解書　Court agreement"/>
<ref name="ReferenceB" /> A group of employees, led by Don MacLaren, subsequently organized, formed a branch union through Japan's [[National Union of General Workers (Zenrokyo)|National Union of General Workers]] and took the company's president, Hiroaki (aka "Morio") Sugimoto, and director, Isao (aka "Yasuaki") Konno, to court.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="和解書　Court agreement"/>
<ref name="ReferenceB" />
<ref>National Union of General Workers Japan, Utsunomiya branch records, 1994-96</ref> These employees received three months in back wages on December 26, 1994, with a stipulation insisted on by Sugimoto that "teachers will refrain from damaging the company's reputation".<ref name="和解書　Court agreement"/>
<ref name="ReferenceB" />


Though the school had serious problems making its payroll between 1994 and 1996,<ref name="和解書　Court agreement" /><ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /> it continued to recruit and hire new employees (both before the December 1994 lawsuit and after it) from overseas through a broker in Vancouver, Canada, as well as from within Japan, through ''[[The Japan Times]]'' "help wanted" ads.<ref>American Club teachers' contracts, 1994-1995</ref><ref name="TheJapan">''The Japan Times'' help wanted ads, 1994-1995</ref> Many of ''The Japan Times''' ads were for positions at an affiliated school Sugimoto ran - International Business and Language [[Vocational School#Japan|Senmon Gakkou]] (aka IBL, which according to its business registration is, like American Club, still a legally functioning entity).<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 IBL Registration">IBL Business Registration, Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011</ref><ref name="TheJapan" />
Though the school had serious problems making its payroll between 1994 and 1996,<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="和解書　Court agreement"/>
<ref name="ReferenceB" /> it continued to recruit and hire new employees (both before the December 1994 lawsuit and after it) from overseas through a broker in Vancouver, Canada, as well as from within Japan, through ''[[The Japan Times]]'' "help wanted" ads.<ref>American Club teachers' contracts, 1994-1995</ref><ref name="TheJapan">''The Japan Times'' help wanted ads, 1994-1995</ref> Many of ''The Japan Times''' ads were for positions at an affiliated school Sugimoto ran - International Business and Language [[Vocational School#Japan|Senmon Gakkou]] (aka IBL, which according to its business registration is, like American Club, still a legally functioning entity).<ref name="TheJapan" /><ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 IBL Registration">IBL Business Registration, Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011</ref>


Sugimoto was the landlord of the American Club spaces in Utsunomiya, and collected rent from the American Club through another company he owns, Mimasu Shoji, when the schools' teachers and secretaries were not being paid.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>登記　(Business Registrations for real estate in Motoimaizumi, Utsunomiya), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Mar. 1998</ref>
Sugimoto was the landlord of the American Club spaces in Utsunomiya, and collected rent from the American Club through another company he owns, Mimasu Shoji, when the schools' teachers and secretaries were not being paid.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>登記　(Business Registrations for real estate in Motoimaizumi, Utsunomiya), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Mar. 1998</ref>
Line 30: Line 31:
By December 1995 the school was again three months late paying employees' wages.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> By this time Sugimoto had legally resigned his position as president of the company, and Konno became its president.<ref name="Jan. 1996 Business Registration">アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Jan. 1996</ref> However, on the business registrations for the Oyama and Mooka schools, Sugimoto's name was the only one listed as being responsible for the school.<ref>アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Oyama Legal Records Office, November. 1995</ref><ref>アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Mooka Legal Records Office, Nov. 1995</ref>
By December 1995 the school was again three months late paying employees' wages.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> By this time Sugimoto had legally resigned his position as president of the company, and Konno became its president.<ref name="Jan. 1996 Business Registration">アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Jan. 1996</ref> However, on the business registrations for the Oyama and Mooka schools, Sugimoto's name was the only one listed as being responsible for the school.<ref>アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Oyama Legal Records Office, November. 1995</ref><ref>アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Mooka Legal Records Office, Nov. 1995</ref>


After the 1996 New Year's holidays, Konno fled.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="ReferenceB">''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Mar. 1996</ref> In a letter to an American Club employee he claimed Sugimoto had threatened him and his (Konno's) wife with harassment from [[sound trucks in Japan|sound trucks]] operated by [[Uyoku dantai|right wing]] organizations if Konno tried to declare bankruptcy for the American Club. In the letter Konno explained that because Sugimoto relied on the financial solvency of the American Club in order to obtain business loans, he (Sugimoto) could not afford to have the American Club be declared bankrupt by its own president.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>Konno, Isao, Letter to American Club, Feb. 1996</ref><ref name="yasukiyamauchi.webstarts">[http://yasukiyamauchi.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20111027071802 "AC Update: Threat"] ''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, Mar. 1996</ref>
After the 1996 New Year's holidays, Konno fled.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /> In a letter to an American Club employee he claimed Sugimoto had threatened him and his (Konno's) wife with harassment from [[sound trucks in Japan|sound trucks]] operated by [[Uyoku dantai|right wing]] organizations if Konno tried to declare bankruptcy for the American Club. In the letter Konno explained that because Sugimoto relied on the financial solvency of the American Club in order to obtain business loans, he (Sugimoto) could not afford to have the American Club be declared bankrupt by its own president.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>Konno, Isao, Letter to American Club, Feb. 1996</ref><ref name="yasukiyamauchi.webstarts">[http://yasukiyamauchi.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20111027071802 "AC Update: Threat"] ''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, Mar. 1996</ref>


After this, Yasuki Yamauchi of [[Fukuoka City]], more than 1,000 kilometers from Utsunomiya, assumed legal responsibility for the school.<ref name="Jan. 1996 Business Registration" /> According to a January 25, 1996 article on the American Club in the ''[[Asahi Shinbun]]'', a reporter from the newspaper made a call to the company's phone number in Fukuoka, but the person who answered the phone hung up on the reporter.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> None of the teachers met Yamauchi, and with no one coming forward to take charge of the company, the teachers eventually stopped working for it. However, after the American Club stopped holding English classes in 1996, Sugimoto continued to run IBL (which was government-supported).<ref>インタナショナルビジネスランゲージ専門学校登記 (International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Dec. 1996</ref>
After this, Yasuki Yamauchi of [[Fukuoka City]], more than 1,000 kilometers from Utsunomiya, assumed legal responsibility for the school.<ref name="Jan. 1996 Business Registration" /> According to a January 25, 1996, article on the American Club in the ''[[Asahi Shimbun]]'', a reporter from the newspaper made a call to the company's phone number in Fukuoka, but the person who answered the phone hung up on the reporter.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> None of the teachers met Yamauchi, and with no one coming forward to take charge of the company, the teachers eventually stopped working for it. However, after the American Club stopped holding English classes in 1996, Sugimoto continued to run IBL (which was government-supported).<ref>インタナショナルビジネスランゲージ専門学校登記 (International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Dec. 1996</ref>


== Second lawsuit over unpaid wages ==
== Second lawsuit over unpaid wages ==
A second lawsuit was filed by employees for three months in unpaid wages in January 1996,<ref>Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya Courthouse), Jan. 1996</ref> but none of the company's directors showed up in court and they ignored the subsequent court order to pay. Eventually the employees received 80% of their back wages through the Labor Standards Office of the Japanese government.<ref>Payments through Labor Standards Office, Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996-Sep. 1996</ref>
A second lawsuit was filed by employees for three months in unpaid wages in January 1996,<ref>Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya Courthouse), Jan. 22, 1996</ref> but none of the company's directors showed up in court and they ignored the subsequent court order to pay. Eventually the employees received 80% of their back wages through the Labor Standards Office of the Japanese government.<ref>Payments through Labor Standards Office, Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996-Sep. 1996</ref>


With no income received after three months, many teachers returned to their home countries. The total amount of delinquent wages owed all employees during the lawsuits totaled the equivalent of more than US$100,000. Also, students, who had paid in advance for as much as a year's worth of classes, lost an undetermined amount of money.<ref>Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya courthouse), Jan. 1996</ref><ref name="ReferenceB" /> In addition, rent on the company’s spaces in branch schools, as well as rent on the teachers’ apartments (which had been deducted by the company from teachers’ pay) was as much as a year in arrears by the time of the second lawsuit.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" />
With no income received after three months, many teachers returned to their home countries. The total amount of delinquent wages owed all employees during the lawsuits totaled the equivalent of more than US$100,000. Also, students, who had paid in advance for as much as a year's worth of classes, lost an undetermined amount of money.<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya courthouse), Jan. 22, 1996</ref> In addition, rent on the company's spaces in branch schools, as well as rent on the teachers’ apartments (which had been deducted by the company from teachers’ pay) was as much as a year in arrears by the time of the second lawsuit.<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" />


== News reports ==
== News reports ==
During the course of the second lawsuit, in January 1996, articles were run in the local edition of Japanese language newspapers: The [[Asahi Shinbun]]<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> and the [[Shimotsuke Shinbun]].<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="acaux1.webstarts" /> Articles were also run by a local English language newspaper: Networking<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="yasukiyamauchi.webstarts" /> (now defunct). The Networking articles outlined the root causes of the lawsuits (specifically the events leading up to the first lawsuit) and focused on the immigrant employees involved. Later, MacLaren wrote several essays, which were published in the [[letters to the editor]] sections in [[BusinessWeek]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.businessweek.com/1998/49/b3607181.htm |title=Corruption is de rigueur in corporate Japan |publisher=''BusinessWeek'' |date=1998-12-07 |accessdate=2011-05-09}}</ref>[[The Japan Times]]<ref>[http://laborscofflaws.webstarts.com/human_rights.html "Labor scofflaws often go unpunished"] ''The Japan Times'', Tokyo, December 14, 1997</ref><ref>"Labor scofflaws still running amok," ''The Japan Times'', Tokyo, April 4, 1999</ref> and the [[Mainichi Daily News]].<ref>"Pros and cons of Japan bashing," ''Mainichi Daily News'', Tokyo, October 31, 1998</ref><ref>"The back-wages of sin," ''Mainichi Daily News'', Tokyo, April 19, 1999</ref> MacLaren also provided The Japan Times with a list of organizations he had contacted in order to help resolve the pay problems, which the Japan Times subsequently published numerous times.<ref>"Useful telephone numbers," ''The Japan Times'', Tokyo, 1997-2001</ref>
During the course of the second lawsuit, in January 1996, articles were run in the local edition of Japanese language newspapers: The [[Asahi Shimbun]]<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /> and the [[Shimotsuke Shinbun]].<ref name="ReferenceA">[http://acaux1.webstarts.com/index.html?r=20111027070101 「'''賃金支払い求め英会話学校訴え'''宇都宮地裁に講師ら」]''下野新聞'' (''Shimotsuke Shinbun''), Utsunomiya, Jan. 26, 1996</ref><ref name="acaux1.webstarts" /> Articles were also run by a local English language newspaper: Networking<ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref name="yasukiyamauchi.webstarts" /> (now defunct). The Networking articles outlined the root causes of the lawsuits (specifically the events leading up to the first lawsuit) and focused on the immigrant employees involved. Later, several letters and essays MacLaren wrote were published in journals such as [[BusinessWeek]] and [[The Japan Times]].<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/1998-12-07/corruption-is-de-rigueur-in-corporate-japan |title=Corruption is de rigueur in corporate Japan |magazine=BusinessWeek |date=1998-12-07 |accessdate=2018-06-14}}</ref><ref>[http://laborscofflaws.webstarts.com/human_rights.html "Labor scofflaws often go unpunished"] ''The Japan Times'', Tokyo, December 14, 1997</ref><ref>"Labor scofflaws still running amok," ''The Japan Times'', Tokyo, April 4, 1999</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2011/12/01/reader-mail/dont-count-on-a-reformation/#.XCiHXM8zbMI |title=Don't count on a reformation |newspaper=The Japan Times |date=2011-12-01 |accessdate=2012-12-30}}</ref><ref>[http://www.whlreview.com/no-5.2/essay/DonMacLaren.pdf "The American Club and the Vermin of the Wilderness"] ''Wilderness House Literary Review'', summer, 2010</ref><ref>"Pros and cons of Japan bashing," ''Mainichi Daily News'', Tokyo, October 31, 1998</ref><ref>[http://jbash.webstarts.com/the_back_wages_of_sin.html "The back-wages of sin"] ''Mainichi Daily News'', Tokyo, April 19, 1999</ref> MacLaren also provided The Japan Times with a list of organizations he had contacted in order to help resolve the pay problems, which the newspaper subsequently published on numerous occasions.<ref>"Useful telephone numbers," ''The Japan Times'', Tokyo, 1997-2001</ref>

== Current status ==
Though published news reports indicated the American Club was closed,<ref name="isaokonno.webstarts" /><ref name="ReferenceB" /><ref>''Networking'', Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996</ref> and its directors ignored a court summons and subsequent court order to pay wages in the second lawsuit, its business registration indicates the company is still a legally operating entity, with 30 million yen in equity.<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration"/>

⚫
The business registration indicates that the [[Shimotsuke Shinbun]], a newspaper that ran stories on the lawsuits,<ref name="ReferenceA" /><ref name="acaux1.webstarts">[http://acaux1.webstarts.com/shimotsuke_shinbun_23_feb_1996.html?r=20111027065015 「'''講師の賃金支払い命令'''英会話学校へ宇地裁」]''下野新聞'' (''Shimotsuke Shinbun''), Utsunomiya, Feb. 23, 1996</ref> advertises American Club's services in its pages.<ref name="Feb. 10, 2011 Business Registration"/>


==References==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{Reflist}}


{{Eikaiwa}}
{{Eikaiwa}}
{{Coord missing|Japan}}
{{Coord missing|Tochigi Prefecture}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:American Club (Eikaiwa)}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:American Club (Eikaiwa)}}

Latest revision as of 01:15, 16 December 2021

For other uses, see American Club (disambiguation).
American Club
Company typeKabushiki kaisha
IndustryLanguage instruction, other
FoundedUtsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan (July 15, 1986)
HeadquartersUtsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
Key people
Yasuki Yamauchi (山内泰樹Yamauchi Yasuki) current President

American Club (アメリカンクラブ株式会社) is a company based in the Hiramatsuhonchō (平松本町) district of Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan which has been involved in the "eikaiwa" (English conversation) business.

Though the company primarily operated as an English school in the 1980s and '90s, according to its business registration it is also involved in numerous other business activities such as restaurants and bars, athletic clubs, hotels, printing/publishing, video and software rental and employment services.[1]

Early history

[edit]

The American Club began operating on July 15, 1986,[1][2] and recruited students for English classes during the Japanese asset price bubble economy of the late 1980s and early 1990s. The classes were mainly taught by native English-speaking teachers from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, Australia and New Zealand. At its peak, it had a main school in Utsunomiya, and six branch schools in Mibu, Mooka, Oyama, Tochigi City (all in Tochigi Prefecture), Koga (in Ibaraki Prefecture) and Sendai (in Miyagi Prefecture).

Financial problems and first lawsuit over unpaid wages

[edit]

After the burst of Japan's bubble economy in the early 1990s, the American Club began to suffer.[2][3][4] In summer 1994, employees' wages were late.[3][4] By October of that year, the school had stopped paying wages at all.[3] [4] A group of employees, led by Don MacLaren, subsequently organized, formed a branch union through Japan's National Union of General Workers and took the company's president, Hiroaki (aka "Morio") Sugimoto, and director, Isao (aka "Yasuaki") Konno, to court.[2][3] [4] [5] These employees received three months in back wages on December 26, 1994, with a stipulation insisted on by Sugimoto that "teachers will refrain from damaging the company's reputation".[3] [4]

Though the school had serious problems making its payroll between 1994 and 1996,[2][3] [4] it continued to recruit and hire new employees (both before the December 1994 lawsuit and after it) from overseas through a broker in Vancouver, Canada, as well as from within Japan, through The Japan Times "help wanted" ads.[6][7] Many of The Japan Times' ads were for positions at an affiliated school Sugimoto ran - International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou (aka IBL, which according to its business registration is, like American Club, still a legally functioning entity).[7][8]

Sugimoto was the landlord of the American Club spaces in Utsunomiya, and collected rent from the American Club through another company he owns, Mimasu Shoji, when the schools' teachers and secretaries were not being paid.[4][9]

By December 1995 the school was again three months late paying employees' wages.[2] By this time Sugimoto had legally resigned his position as president of the company, and Konno became its president.[10] However, on the business registrations for the Oyama and Mooka schools, Sugimoto's name was the only one listed as being responsible for the school.[11][12]

After the 1996 New Year's holidays, Konno fled.[2][4] In a letter to an American Club employee he claimed Sugimoto had threatened him and his (Konno's) wife with harassment from sound trucks operated by right wing organizations if Konno tried to declare bankruptcy for the American Club. In the letter Konno explained that because Sugimoto relied on the financial solvency of the American Club in order to obtain business loans, he (Sugimoto) could not afford to have the American Club be declared bankrupt by its own president.[4][13][14]

After this, Yasuki Yamauchi of Fukuoka City, more than 1,000 kilometers from Utsunomiya, assumed legal responsibility for the school.[10] According to a January 25, 1996, article on the American Club in the Asahi Shimbun, a reporter from the newspaper made a call to the company's phone number in Fukuoka, but the person who answered the phone hung up on the reporter.[2] None of the teachers met Yamauchi, and with no one coming forward to take charge of the company, the teachers eventually stopped working for it. However, after the American Club stopped holding English classes in 1996, Sugimoto continued to run IBL (which was government-supported).[15]

Second lawsuit over unpaid wages

[edit]

A second lawsuit was filed by employees for three months in unpaid wages in January 1996,[16] but none of the company's directors showed up in court and they ignored the subsequent court order to pay. Eventually the employees received 80% of their back wages through the Labor Standards Office of the Japanese government.[17]

With no income received after three months, many teachers returned to their home countries. The total amount of delinquent wages owed all employees during the lawsuits totaled the equivalent of more than US$100,000. Also, students, who had paid in advance for as much as a year's worth of classes, lost an undetermined amount of money.[4][18] In addition, rent on the company's spaces in branch schools, as well as rent on the teachers’ apartments (which had been deducted by the company from teachers’ pay) was as much as a year in arrears by the time of the second lawsuit.[2]

News reports

[edit]

During the course of the second lawsuit, in January 1996, articles were run in the local edition of Japanese language newspapers: The Asahi Shimbun[2] and the Shimotsuke Shinbun.[19][20] Articles were also run by a local English language newspaper: Networking[4][14] (now defunct). The Networking articles outlined the root causes of the lawsuits (specifically the events leading up to the first lawsuit) and focused on the immigrant employees involved. Later, several letters and essays MacLaren wrote were published in journals such as BusinessWeek and The Japan Times.[21][22][23][24][25][26][27] MacLaren also provided The Japan Times with a list of organizations he had contacted in order to help resolve the pay problems, which the newspaper subsequently published on numerous occasions.[28]

Current status

[edit]

Though published news reports indicated the American Club was closed,[2][4][29] and its directors ignored a court summons and subsequent court order to pay wages in the second lawsuit, its business registration indicates the company is still a legally operating entity, with 30 million yen in equity.[1]

The business registration indicates that the Shimotsuke Shinbun, a newspaper that ran stories on the lawsuits,[19][20] advertises American Club's services in its pages.[1]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 「英会話教室の外国人講師ら」賃金支払い求め訴訟経営者不在のまま閉鎖」朝日新聞　(Asahi Shimbun), Utsunomiya edition, Utsunomiya, Jan. 25, 1996
  3. ^ a b c d e f 和解書　(Court agreement), Dec. 1994
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "The fall of American Club" Networking, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, Feb. 1996
  5. ^ National Union of General Workers Japan, Utsunomiya branch records, 1994-96
  6. ^ American Club teachers' contracts, 1994-1995
  7. ^ a b The Japan Times help wanted ads, 1994-1995
  8. ^ IBL Business Registration, Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Feb. 10, 2011
  9. ^ 登記　(Business Registrations for real estate in Motoimaizumi, Utsunomiya), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Mar. 1998
  10. ^ a b アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Jan. 1996
  11. ^ アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Oyama Legal Records Office, November. 1995
  12. ^ アメリカンクラブ株式会社登記 (American Club Business Registration), Mooka Legal Records Office, Nov. 1995
  13. ^ Konno, Isao, Letter to American Club, Feb. 1996
  14. ^ a b "AC Update: Threat" Networking, Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan, Mar. 1996
  15. ^ インタナショナルビジネスランゲージ専門学校登記 (International Business and Language Senmon Gakkou Business Registration), Utsunomiya Legal Records Office, Dec. 1996
  16. ^ Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya Courthouse), Jan. 22, 1996
  17. ^ Payments through Labor Standards Office, Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996-Sep. 1996
  18. ^ Court ruling, 宇都宮裁判所 (Utsunomiya courthouse), Jan. 22, 1996
  19. ^ a b 「賃金支払い求め英会話学校訴え宇都宮地裁に講師ら」下野新聞 (Shimotsuke Shinbun), Utsunomiya, Jan. 26, 1996
  20. ^ a b 「講師の賃金支払い命令英会話学校へ宇地裁」下野新聞 (Shimotsuke Shinbun), Utsunomiya, Feb. 23, 1996
  21. ^ "Corruption is de rigueur in corporate Japan". BusinessWeek. 1998-12-07. Retrieved 2018-06-14.
  22. ^ "Labor scofflaws often go unpunished" The Japan Times, Tokyo, December 14, 1997
  23. ^ "Labor scofflaws still running amok," The Japan Times, Tokyo, April 4, 1999
  24. ^ "Don't count on a reformation". The Japan Times. 2011-12-01. Retrieved 2012-12-30.
  25. ^ "The American Club and the Vermin of the Wilderness" Wilderness House Literary Review, summer, 2010
  26. ^ "Pros and cons of Japan bashing," Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, October 31, 1998
  27. ^ "The back-wages of sin" Mainichi Daily News, Tokyo, April 19, 1999
  28. ^ "Useful telephone numbers," The Japan Times, Tokyo, 1997-2001
  29. ^ Networking, Utsunomiya, Feb. 1996

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=American_Club_(eikaiwa)&oldid=1060518942"