Bi-lingual
From Eikaiwa Wiki
Bi-lingual (also informally known as 'the pink school") ceased operations on July 31st and declared bankruptcy on August 31st, 1994. It was at one point the fourth largest English school in Japan. At it's peak, Bi-lingual had approximately 90 or more branches (close to the 120 branches that NOVA had at that time) and the main branch was located at Namba. The company started paying teachers late, closing branches, and then they collapsed and went under. The premise was that they were too big to go under and so somebody would step in and help out or take over or something.
Hiroko Minami first published her own set of rather cheaply binded text books in May 1987, titled "New Picture Cards" (even though there had been no previously published cards), "Basic Vocabulary and Idioms" and "Vocabulary and Idioms Dialog". Bi-lingual's head office and self-publishing location was: Rosebay Akasaka Building, 2-21-25 Akasaka, Minato-Ku, Tokyo 107
In 1994, June and July salaries went unpaid and it culminated with the announcement of "big" news that would be delivered by the President of Bi-Lingual, Hiroko Minami. There was no big news as it turned out, just an attempt to explain some charts that supposedly mapped out a restructuring of sorts. One person observed:
- "Well, big, turned to small which turned to bad, which then turned ugly. Within 20 minutes of the beginning of Ms. Minami's presentation, paper and other debris started flying across the room in Ms. Minami's direction along with demands for salaries to be paid, prompting her to break down into tears.End of meeting. End of company. The weekend passed and the company folded before anyone knew it."
It was common knowledge that Minami over-invested in real-estate during the lucrative bubble economy. When real-estate prices plummeted, Minami was forced to sell off several properties at a loss and it was speculated that she sacrificed the company for her own debts which eventually grew too heavy. There is some speculation that Minami actually escaped formal charges and is living in New York, where she had owned an expensive apartment in Manhatten.
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[edit] Analysis of the bankruptcy
Bi-Lingual's main debt stemmed from bad investments in real-estate. At first wages were paid late, then not at all. Some teachers called in sick, but most kept working. The company got behind on the rent, the Ginza branch had a notice of nonpayment on the wall from the building management which was subsequently covered it up with a poster. There were rumors of investors buying the company and there was supposed to be an announcement, but when the announcement came it was about the bankruptcy.
[edit] Reports of the bankruptcy
[edit] Services
15000 for a 90 minute private lesson
