Everything this person states above is true and then some. I recently lived in Japan and was hired by the school. At first, everything seemed fine but within a matter of weeks, the truth started to reveal itself.

I was hired along with 2 other teachers who had the sanity to leave within a few months. Our contracts stated they were required to give a 3 month notice to quit but Japanese law only dictates 2 weeks. They both gave two weeks and then during a meeting, in front of both of them, the Manager slammed them and threw them under the bus in front of the entire staff. She also did NOT pay them their final paychecks.

They do not appreciate ANY of the hard work you do - especially when you go above and beyond. I made a movie with my kindergarten class that required hours and hours of editing OUTSIDE of school. When I finally played the movie for the kids and parents for graduation, they cried and were overjoyed. The manager however, told me I must give her a copy of the movie in order for her to SELL it to the parents. I informed her that she could have all the video I shot with the school camera, but since the final product was a result of my work 'off the clock', that she would either have to pay me for my time or allow me to give the DVD to the children for free. She reluctantly allowed me to give it to them. The next week, she pulled me out of our weekly meeting to inform me that ALL THE TEACHERS that were currently working, didn't like the way I taught. I asked again to clarify her statement and she said again that everyone was unhappy with me. I asked her a third time and she continued to say the same thing. I knew this was false because I was very good friends with the majority of the teachers there. When I returned to the meeting, I stopped it and informed them what she had said and wanted some feedback about how I could be a better teacher. NONE of them said anything. They sat their with their mouths open...most of them saying they never said anything like that to her. She then, out of embarrassment said 'I never told you all the teachers were unhappy with you, Mr. Church', and I reiterated that she had told me 3 times they had.

I could go on and on about how she screwed me over in ways like that and others. When I finally decided to leave, I gave a 3 months notice as per our contract. She informed me that she would not honor it and that I would be leaving not only earlier, but she would be taking away my class (the one I had been prepping for all year long) and giving me a much more difficult class (as punishment). In the end, she cheated me out of over 2,000 dollars.

I went to the Labor Office, but unfortunately they told me that morally she was very wrong, but legally, she had covered her bases in the contract.

Do NOT trust Hitomi Ishizuka or her husband Dan Lewis. This is NOT a place you want to find yourself. If you have any other questions, please email me. pcvdlc@yahoo.com