Blogs On A Scandal

Big news today - seven NOVA teachers were arrested this week for possession of cocaine. Their school is quite a way across Japan from where I am, and that's all I know. However, it's been on the news here and all the students have been asking. We've been informed - duh - not to discuss it.

It reinforces a point that I've been meaning to explain for a while now. NOVA is a huge business here - with a branch next to nearly every train station in urban Japan.

One rather appropriate anecdote is when I was in central Tokyo one night and went up a building to see the skyline. From one particular window, I could see thousands upon thousands of buildings but the only billboard lit up was of NOVA.

It almost becomes impossible to escape the logo as wherever I travel, I spot it. I guess kind of like those check-list travelling books you have when you're a kid. I'm sure Dad and Barbara will back me up on this point.

Anyway, NOVA is extremely prominent within Japan - the name has a 100% recognition rate with the general population - and a story like this will leave a very sour aftertaste.