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[medway garage]

I wrote this on the Eikaiwa Wiki but it applies just as much here to any future employees of this school;

http://wiki.letsjapan.org/Kitty_Club

I was working [part time 17.5 hrs teaching and 3 hours office work] for nearly a year at this school [Kitty Club International school] at various locations [Futako Tamagawa,Jiyugaoka,Hatanodai,Todoroki and Kakinokizaka [Toritsu-Daigaku].In August 2008 my mother passed away in the UK while i was visiting the UK during the school holiday,I was told by the teachers manager Kasumi Iseda 'If I wasn't back within a week, I would lose my job.'

I returned to work on the agreed day, 1st September 2008.I kept the school informed and they had cover for my lessons When i returned back to work i was obviously upset but managed to teach the kids classes without a problem. While working in the office on the second day back I provided proof to the manager [death certificate and family tributes from the local paper],it was brushed aside `I don`t need to see that` the manager said abruptly.I was then told by the manager 'If I couldn't smile in the office, they would have to look for another teacher.' I found this comment extremely offensive and complained to the company president's wife. She sided with the manager and is apparently related.

So from this moment on I was being victimized by the manager.On Tues 9th Sept, I was told I needed to see the manager for another office meeting. She told me some of the parents had been taking their children out of my lessons.This was a blatent lie, but something i could't prove without talking to the parents,although the register told another tale !

I was asked by the Japanese front staff to go to the head office after my Thursday 11th September, Futako Tamagawa lesson. I could not make this as I had to travel to Shinyurigaoka for a Japanese language lesson after work. I immediately thought something strange was happening, so i bought a tape recorder to take to this upcoming meeting,just in case !

I received a fax from the manager [before my morning lesson on 12th Sept.] which read, 'After Futako lesson I'd like to have a talk in the office.Would you come there?' I did as she said and went to the office, only to be asked to go into the classroom on arrival [where the meeting was videotaped]. there were three member of staff present, Chihiro Saito, the bosses daughter; Mitchell Francis, [an Australian native staff member] and the manager,Kasumi Iseda.I was handed a letter which said 'Dismissal' at the top and asked to read it. I asked why there were three people present and why there was no one there to represent me.I asked if this was legal under Japanese law. They said it was a Kitty rule, i.e that the law doesn't apply to them!

I was then asked over and over if I accepted the dismissal. Of course I said `No !`. The manager then asked me if I had said the various statements on the dismissal letter. I said no to some and asked for proof. She replied, 'I don't want to discuss it like this.' She kept asking me over and over, 'Are you going to take it further,' 'What do you want to do,' and 'You need to tell me." I reminded her I didn't need to tell her anything as she had just dismissed me!

She asked for the keys to Futako Tamagawa school. I said OK, but i wanted a receipt. She wrote it in Japanese. I asked her to write it in English. She refused [she managed to write the fax in English OK,earlier in the day]. I wrote it for her and asked her to sign. She refused.I tape recorded the entire meeting, even putting the recorder in front of them after a few minutes.

I was also owed money for the time worked. In fact, in their contract it states that Kitty Club gives 1 month's notice before dismissal. I phoned the office and asked the manager. She said there is an exception because according to her, it was 'failure to perform duties.' I told her i thought that was illegal. She told me she would phone me back and check.I never recieved that phone call! Here is the dismissal notice in full:


I regretfully confirm that your employment with us is immediately terminated.

Kitty Club finds your failure to perform your duties as an English teacher.Your performance,attitude and effort are unsatisfactory.

The company has been informed that you have been saying unfavorable statements about Kitty Club.

-Suing Kitty Club, the company logo is copyright infringement.

-Complaining about Japanese staff, making some feel uncomfortable, e.g all Japanese staff are spies.

-Interrupting Japanese and foreign staff work duties, e.g. complaining and chatting.

-Ignored our advice about your performance in the lesson, e.g. skipping the homework check. *I always did the homework check,if every lesson was videotaped i`d asked to see proof,it was never provided*

-Ignored advice from past meetings about improving your performance, e.g. communication with mothers and class closures. *I wasn't told this before 9th Sept., so that's two days to improve,strange that this was never mentioned before !*


From President Mr Hiroshi Saito

Teacher`s Manager Kasumi Iseda



I handed in my timecard and got a receipt for the keys to Futako Tamagawa school on Saturday 13th September from Chihiro Saito,I thought it wise to do this as who knows what allegations they might make [this was proved to be very much the case with something else that was to happen.I filed a complaint with the Labour Standards Office and got my union involved,Freeter Union http://freeter-union.org/union/ The school refused to meet with the union [illegal under Japanese law],giving weak reasons for this-no space to meet,owner too ill, etc.The union reminded them that they were breaking the law by refusing to do this. Kitty Club got scared.They lodged a seven page document at the Shinjuku government building,In the arbetration office highlights included that I had`threatened to kill the managers baby` and `didn't want me around the schools in case I kidnapped any of the kids` !!!!!!! Of course these were all lies and VERY SERIOUS SLANDER.I went to the arbitration office with the union and accepted this document. The union read it and said, 'I see no mention of the fact that our member was dismissed illegally.' The arbitration office was amazed. They thought I was blackmailing Kitty Club! they wanted to see the owner of Kitty Club [Hiroshi Saito] straight away.

I got a letter translated into Japanese to hand out to the mothers at Kitty Club,I thought It only fair so the mothers knew why I was no longer teaching their children,I handed out one letter,further up the street to Kitty Club,so I wasn`t trespassing on their property,as I was talking to a mother,the manager Kasumi Iseda walks along and sees me,she grabs me and I walk away in the opposite direction,I warn her to let go otherwise I will consider it as an assault,she then let go,I walked around the block and back to my original position,I could see a lot of activity,the mother being escorted to the office and eventually back to her car,where she was given a deep bow by the manager,Kasumi Iseda.I decided to leave then,which was the correct decision,as a friend who was still working for the company,told me Kitty Club had called the Police and were apparentely seaching the streets around the school for me !

I had an arbitration meeting on Tues 18th Oct. I attended the meeting with 4 members of the freeter union,Kitty Club offered me my job back [a bit difficult really when they had just employed two new staff members to take my position! Also, if I was to have agreed to this there was a large chance my contract wouldn't be extended, which was due to expire the following month in November, not to mention THOSE allegations, so I politely declined their generous offer!].I was offered �300,000 to settle the case, which was frankly an insult. They also said they were paying my unemployment insurance,easily disproved by showing my payslip,which showed no such payment.The arbitration staff left the room to talk to the owner of Kitty Club to see if he was willing to meet with the union [I thought they were phoning him, but this turned out not to be the case]. The next thing I knew, we were filing into another room and there he was, Hiroshi Saito, the owner of Kitty Club.[looking very stressed,I might add,I felt a bit sorry for him,but this didn't last for long as he couldn't look me in the eye]. The meeting was conducted in Japanese, so here's the highlights as told to me afterwards by the union.

He said he stood by the dismissal and said it was correct.The union told him it was 100% illegal. The union then started to go though the seven page document he lodged with arbitration, which included some very serious slander against me [threatening to kill the managers baby,didn`t want me around the schools in case I kidnapped children etc]. The union asked him if the document I handed out to one of the mothers was slander. He said it was. They asked him if he had seen the document. 'Err, no`,was the reply. The union asked me for the letter. They handed it to Mr Saito. 'Is it slander?' 'Err no.' They tore him to pieces, going though each and every accusation in this document and demolished it. Very impressive ! On some points. Mr. Saito closed his eyes with a pained expression on his face [a bit like when you've got really bad a migraine] and we waited for him to answer,but he never did. He just stayed there with his head in his hands.This is what happens when you put trust in a manager like Kasumi Iseda [who also should have been at the meeting, but was absent for some reason?] Mr Saito said he took sole responsibility for the company. Not an enviable position to be in when your manager can't get her facts straight.The union asked him to apologise to me and the arbitration staff for wasting our time, as he had brought us all here for collective bargaining, something he had been unwilling to do so far. The union then left him with this: 'We think this case is so serious that it should be brought to the attention of the Japanese public'[the look on Mr Saito's face was a picture to behold!]. With that, the union got up to leave. They gave Mr Saito one last chance for collective bargaining on 7th November.


I'm glad to report that this is now settled. It took a 4hr 1/2 meeting at arbitration [even my union said this was a record for collective bargaining!],but I hung on until I was happy with the settlement. They tried offering a small amount, but I knew I was in a strong position. I eventually received �700,000, so it was worth it. The union did a really good job. If it wasn't for them, I would've lost. The General Union on the other hand did not want to know.! Shameful ! I hope Kitty Club has learned a lesson from all this,on how to treat teachers,but I seriously doubt it!

I'm now back in the UK and much happier for it BUT before i left i did give Kitty a nice surprise,I realised I had quite a few photos gathering dust ,such as Hiroshi Saito's car with a large picture of Donald Duck [and Kitty Club's website address underneath];
http://www.imagebam.com/image/e60c3366537565
http://www.imagebam.com/image/434c7e66537566

I also came acoss some photos I took inside the schools with various Disney characters;
http://www.imagebam.com/image/91f47a66537575
http://www.imagebam.com/image/7a224766637578

Now the only problem with this is, It's VERY ILLEGAL ! unless you've paid Disney and got permission to use the characters,I was told when I did my TESOL course in London to be VERY careful when teaching with copyrighted items.So after some debating I decided to do the decent thing,only problem was I couldn't find a contact email address to send my bounty, not letting this deter me I asked on a film forum If anyone knew how to contact the company, apparentely Disney do not give out emails of their legal dept, due to the high level of spam they might receive.So armed with the correct address;

Walt Disney World Legal Department
Attn: Copyright Dept
Post Office Box 10000
Lake Buena Vista, FL 32830-1000

I printed the photos, giving details such as the school addresses and phone No's of the manager Kasumi Iseda and the owner Hiroshi Saito.I sent all this in an envelope via registered mail and didn't really expect to hear anymore, that was until I received this email ;

Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

Thank you for your correspondence. We want you to know that we
appreciate the time you took to bring this matter to our attention. We
protect our intellectual property rights vigorously and we take reports
of suspected infringement seriously. However, as you can appreciate,
investigations are confidential. We neither reveal our sources nor
generally correspond further with them about any investigations.

Please feel free to use our email address ([email protected]) or
our Antipiracy voice mail hotline, 818-560-3300, if you want to provide
more information about the suspected infringement or to report a
suspected infringement in the future.

Very truly yours,
Antipiracy Group, Corporate Legal
The Walt Disney Company
500 South Buena Vista Street
Burbank, CA 91521-0527

I received this email at the end of March, oh to of been a fly on the wall at Kitty Club the day that Disney got in contact !