Don't work here: American School, A.I.E.S. in Nagoya, Japan

[stargazer]

To all of the other teachers, dont worry we are going to a higher court.
This is not the end.
Note* In Japanese civil court anything goes. It doesn't matter where the source of the information is coming from.

We will be away over the next three weeks but will keep you posted on other events that are unfolding.

Thank you to all of the people that are helping. You are awsome. Giant hug goes out to all of you.

[Ace]

I fully believe that the issues discussed in this thread are possible, as I have seen a school run by a couple almost as psycho as described in here. HOWEVER, the last poster talks about how everything they said has been backed up, yet I didn't see anything other than hearsay. You posted some stuff you claim to be mails sent by the school, and talk about court cases etc, but lets see some links to scans of documents etc. You could have made all that stuff up for all we know.

Again, I'm not saying you are lying. Im just saying that unless you back it up as you claim you have, then at least in my mind the information presented could be fake as easily as it could be real.

[stargazer]

Hi Ace:

I will post these within the next few weeks. My apologies I can't do it right now as I am leaving for another country and don't have access to a scanner. I do not have access to the most recent ruling but will have someone from Japan fax it to me. I had received a phone call from a third party involved who informed me of the judgement.

If you have any particular documents you would like to see please e-mail or ask for them here.
When I get to where I am going, I will set up a link where you can view all documents and police reports.

Make something like this up? I don't have the time but I do understand where you are coming from.

Stargazer

[i hope they change]

Like most people I was excited to come to Japan.

I looked on the internet and found a plethora of job opportunities.
Of course there was Nova and ECC, and many other contemporary institutions that I could work but there were also many private English schools.

There were many things to think about, income, accommodation, location, holidays, completion bonus and working conditions.

Finally I chose American School/AIES in Nagoya.
I was met at the airport and taken to an apartment owned by the company.
The company has a few apartments, for teachers to rent. Some are one room apartments that are fine for single teachers and they also have larger two room apartments.
Although the single and double bedroom apartments are small, they are neat and comfortable.

When I arrived I just wanted to sleep but Dan (school principle) insisted that I come to school immediately. He took me to American school and just kept talking about the classes and what gadgets the school has. "Look we have Apple computers in the rooms" and "we have this and that" but I soon found out they had no curriculum, no plans, and relied totally on the teachers to plan everything.

I was taken to AIES. This is a second school that they own; again all Dan wanted to show me was projectors in the rooms that didn’t work properly and his Apple computers but still nothing about curriculum.

What I did notice was cameras in every room. When I asked what the cameras were for Dan said “just for parents to watch their children”. I later learned that Dan and Hitomi continually watch every class every lunch break and every conversation teachers have.

I was then told that I would be teaching from the next morning. I told him there was no way as I am tied; it was then that I saw the first real personality of Dan and Hitomi. (wife and manager)
“We will picked you up and the class starts tomorrow morning, if you don’t start your pay will be adjusted”

I should have gone back to the apartment, packed my bags and got another job but I didn’t.

I started the next day and found out that nearly everything Dan and Hitomi had told us was lies. There was no curriculum, there was no professionally run English school but rather a business that focused on making money through deception and lies, which was only able to continue due to the unbelievable hard work of the teachers.

Make No mistake Dan and Hitomi are husband and wife but they don’t have a typical husband wife relationship, it is purely business. At American school and AIES, Hitomi is the Manager and Dan is just an employee, Hitomi makes every decision and Dan does as he is told.

Dan or Hitomi will not deny or confirm the following; even in this post Dan will not confirm school ownership or his marital status.
American school/AIES is not owned by Dan or Hitomi. It is owned by Hitomi’s father, I found this out by doing a business search on the internet. (Unfortunately you must pay for the search) Hitomi is registered as the manager of the business at American school but I could not find any registration of AIES.
Now that doesn’t mean it is not registered but more than likely it is a paper business that exists but in fact all accounts are run through American school.

When I first started at American school, the very first day, most of the teachers I had met told me to leave straight away.

There were stories of abuse, (of many different types) stories of teachers leaving suddenly, fines, money being with held, Japanese laws being broken, illegal contracts, internet abuse, privacy abuse, letters of lies being sent home to parents about teachers who had opposed Dan and Hitomi, I could go on and on.

But I rationalized it away by saying that they were just stories, I thought I could stay, finish my year get my completion bonus, and stay out of trouble, but it’s impossible.


Dan and Htmoi tell new staff members that the reasons other staff have left is none of their business and so we should just do our work. While it sounds good it’s impossible to practice in reality.

If you hear story after story of people being abused, you will always be looking to see if it is true, so when something happens to confirm a story you start looking even harder.

If a teacher started work late and then got fined ￥1000 ($10) a minute for their absence, confirming a story, then you look at confirming other story’s.

The apartments teachers live are usually dirty when they move in yet the contract states that $350 will be deducted from your last pay check to have the apartment professionally cleaned.
You may think that is a fair request, but the units are not professionally cleaned before you shift in. The cleaning is done by Dan who is employed by his father in law and wife to look after the apartments. Instead of cleaning the unit he simply sweeps around items leaving filthy dust and rubbish every where. Both Dan and Hitomi will not compromise on this fee being extracted from your final pay packet, even if you have cleaned the apartment immaculately or if you have had paid to have it professionally cleaned.

Nearly every teacher working at American or AIES had gone to complain to the Labor office. Nagoya has an office where English speakers can go to make complaints several times a week.
Sadly in Japan even when you have written evidence and proof of your complaint the labor office will believe the school or business owner above your own, even when they are openly breaking the law.

Dan and Hitomi have discovered effective ways of opposing any complaint made against them to the Labor office.

Let’s set up a scenario.
You have been fined for doing something wrong at school.
You approach Dan and Hitomi and ask them why they did it and they say because of this and this. You tell them that they cannot do that and you will complain to the Labor office.
You also ask for the school rules to prove that you have broken something
They refuse to give you any rule or any answer except they can do it.
You go to the labor office and make a complaint.
The labor office agrees with you and promises they will have a meeting with Dan and Hitomi
Dan and hitomi do not show up at the planed meeting.
Several meetings are planed but they do not attend.
Finally they attend with a set of rules written in Japanese confirming that the employee has broken a law and they can fine then
The labor office rings you back and says that there is nothing they can do.

Dan and Hitomi delay the meetings with the Labor office to get their rules changed, or have additional rules included. They have a very good lawyer that writes the rules but here is what is wrong

The rules are in Japanese and so no one can read them. They labor office states that the company’s rules must be clearly displayed in English at the place of employment and lodged at the labor office but when I asked for the rules I was given a thick rule book written in Japanese, the rules were also not lodged at the labor office.

Sadly in Japan the Labor office will usually accept the company’s explanation, they know the stupid Gaijin will soon go back home to America and take their problems with them, yet they will have to continue a relationship with the company for many years.

But it’s not just the teachers that are affected by the abuse. The students and parents are also abused. While I worked at American school only 3 teachers finished their contracts, but not one left happy about their employment or without regret for staying or for not exposing the truth about what happens at the schools.

If a parent wants to remove their child from the school they must continue to pay for their child’s school fees for the remaining portion of the year, yet if a class or subject is cancelled the fee all ready paid by the parent is not returned. Many parents wanted to remove their children from the school while I was there.
At one period in time there was a group of parents that held meetings in one of their homes to discuss a mass revolt by removing an entire class from the school.
The parents actually went to another school to try and enroll their children but sadly the school did not have enough vacancies.

One parent told Dan and Hitomi that she was taking their child out of school. She was told that they still must pay all remaining school fees till the end of the year and if they didn’t they would sue them.

So a carefully planed story was made to remove a student from the school by his parents.
A parent told Dan and Hitmoi that their mother was gravely ill and that they must shift to another country to receive treatment.
The parents and the child are still in Nagoya while the child is attending another school.

The problem is that the threat of suing is always there by Dan and Hitmoi.
If you talk to students parents we will sue you
If you talk to anyone about our school we will sue you
If you don’t do what we tell you we will sue you
If you contact any parents after school we will sue you
The threat of being sued is always being used, so teachers, parents and employees say nothing but try and leave as fast as possible.

But for the teachers and office staff that do leave the trouble does not end.
If you use a computer in either school Dan and Hitomi have your passwords
They log on and read your emails. They check what you’re writing.
Dan will send emails from your accounts. He will use every power he knows of to continue his sick sense of retribution while using the internet because it is difficult for the police to trace him.

Yes he is an internet geek.
And then when you have left him the school and Japan, he will ring people you know and your parents and friends leaving stupid messages like you owe him money.

I could still go on and on and on.
Dan and Hitmoi may come on this site again and try and dispute what I’m saying but I dont think so I think he has learnt from his past failures on this site that all he showed was his continued stupidity.

But let me clear up a few more things in dispute.
Dan and Hitmoi do profess to be Mormons but are not practicing Mormons. They just use the name to attract students and employees.
Hitomi’s Father owns the business and all the property.
While I cannot confirm all the stories written by other posts I do not disbelieve any of them either.

It is my hope that past empoyees and parents of students will continue to write on this site to make people aware of what has and is happening.

[i hope they change]

Dan will probably send me a message asking who I am, like he has been asking other posts why? So he can sue them.

Dan and Hitmo have no or few friends. They live in a culture created by themselves. For them their schools are their life and they do not leave the safety of what they have created. If you oppose their word or try to change it they will fight you by every legal or illegal means possible.

If you have read all the posts and still choose to work at American school or AIES I wish you luck but be very aware of what awaits you. Both Dan and Hitomi are dangerous people. They act just out side the law but not enough for the law in Japan to act.

My advice to any person working at American school / AIES would be to leave as quickly as possible. Get a real job at a real school where the owners really care for the student’s education and for the teachers.

If you are thinking of working at American school/AIES DON’T!!!!!!!!!

Leaving American school/AIES and Japan has enabled me to live a normal life again within a family environment of people that care for me, but it has left me with a feeling of never wanting to return to Japan again even for a vacation. The memories of working for Dan and Hitomi still haunt me.

I was so angry when I left their schools but now I feel a great amount of sadness for Dan and Hitomi and pray that they realize what they are doing and have done and get some professional help. My greatest prayer would be that the schools will be bought by someone else to remove these people from the positions of power they hold.

But who then will employ two uneducated people with no degree or diploma except a high school certificate.
I hope no one!!!!!

[stargazer]

Hello: "I hope that they change": I am so sorry to hear that you had to work for these "mentally ill people". Everything you said is 100% accurate. Although, I don't know you, please don't let the thoughts of having worked for such warped people ruin your experience in Japan.
For the most part, Japanese people are so wonderful.

The best revenge on these kind of people is to simply go on and live your life to the fullest and look at them as something you never want to be.

I do want you to know this. These people are on the police radar in more than one country.

[samantha24]

Sheesh....thanks for that warning about this school. I had contact with them some time ago and thought about working for them. Glad I found this site!

Thanks guys!

[Sage]

This information will interest those of you that like investigative work. In fact, if you live in Japan, you can do some investigative work on your own to find an answer to the question.
If you will recall, in the past, the owner of American School likes to invade the privacy of people by hacking their e-mails and sending off e-mails or similar e-mails pretending to be them.
I am posting this information for a teacher who now lives happily in Europe with her boyfriend.

If you will recall, one teacher had her Ebay account defrauded of just under $5000.00 and the IP address for fraud on that account was 58.92.65.102

Please go to My IP - What is my IP address? and set up a free account. Then paste this IP into the satellite IP trace.
Done? Great! Next, the same teacher was assaulted by someone she believes is a friend of the owner of American School. She chose not to post the 7 e-mails in which she told him to get lost because she didn’t want to expose his name. On June 27th, he contacted her and again on September 22, 2007. His IP address is 123.48.152.216. Now enter this address into the IP trace. Do you see a pattern developing? The information goes to the exact same physical address.

Next, a person claiming to be a former teacher of American School contacted the same teacher over a year ago and has been in contact with her for all this time. The IP dating back to July 27th, 2007 from this character is
124.96.196.249. Now enter that IP address. See a definite pattern? Guess who the teacher is! You can change your IP and your server but you cannot move your house. The longitude and latitude matches all three IP addresses. Although there are two different ISP’s, the physical address is the same for all three IP addresses.

If you click on the top right hand corner where is says “hybrid” you can get a map and perhaps determine where the location is.

Since the Japanese police are incompetent and the laws in Japan, pathetic at best, I felt this was important information to add to this post. Why? It is just further evidence about how dangerous these characters are. They have no respect for anyone’s privacy and will go to any length to cause harm to anyone that opposes them or stands up for their legal rights or tries to protect children.

The teacher I am writing about left that school years ago and she is still be bothered by them. They really need to move forward and get a real life.

Is satellite IP tracing accurate? It is not a coincidence that all 3 IP’s have been traced to the same longitude and latitude. But this is the hacker or hacker’s home base.

[Dan Lewis]

Sage, aka Colleen,

You seem to be obsessed with trying to dig up dirt that doesn't exist. We won the court case. You and your partner lost. Time to move on.

[Sage]

That teacher has moved on, the dirt is there. I have all of the information.
If it isn't you Dan, then who? That is the question.
You didn't win anything sir. You need to move on.
My name is not Colleen.
Sage