Quote: (03-26-2018 06:41 PM)HermeticAlly Wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if the decline mentioned by the OP corresponded with the downfall of the Nova eikaiwa chain in the mid-2000s. This was a big scandal that made many people skeptical of English education and probably had fallout for how the foreign community was viewed (which isn't really fair since Japanese at the top of Nova were behind it.)
I think it did make some difference. Nova's strategy was to have a school at every major train station in Japan. With the physical locations and billboards everywhere, studying English was hugely visible. Now an eikaiwa is something you have to seek out, whereas before they were like Starbucks.
The Japanese guy who owned Nova was hilariously corrupt, when it went down I believe they found a huge sex cave in his office as well.
Dr Johnson rumbles with the RawGod. And lives to regret it.