Another comment we feel we have to make is that not one teacher was invited on this trip. Are teachers not ‘staff’? Do they not contribute to the success of the company? Yes. Nichibei would look pretty silly without them, but not one teacher has been invited since 1991. Company president Mr Tamotsu Kanehisa maintains that the Japanese staff told him that they were tired of looking after foreigners on these trips, and therefore he stopped inviting the foreigners. One foreign teacher asked around and was told by all the Japanese staff he asked that none of them had ever said such a thing to Mr Kanehisa. Oh, and by the way, there are numerous Japanese teachers these days at Nichibei, but again, none of them was invited to Shirahama. On 9 June 2004, the union asked Mr Kanehisa in Collective Bargaining why teachers were not invited, and he replied, ‘Because teachers don’t want to go. Would you want to go?’ We said, ‘Yes, of course. At least teachers should be invited.’ but here we are 4 years on, and still no invitations… In a company without teachers’ meetings, without bonuses (we don’t regard the occasional 10,000 yen for particular teachers as a bonus!) with very few events (in Umeda School we have 1 party a year, at Christmas!), and with a very poor level of communication between management and employees, don’t you think, Mr Kanehisa, that inviting ALL your staff on a company trip once a year might be a nice gesture which might just help to improve morale? Join the union and let’s campaign together for improvements!