SAKATA, Yamagata Pref. -- Jin Xianhua, a 26-year-old Chinese student, tossed and turned as if in a bad dream as she took the night express bus to the snow-clad Shonai Plains in the north.
She was going back to her school, Sakata Junior College in Yamagata Prefecture, which seems to be going through a bad dream of its own -- allegations of mass truancy, strike threats by staff and inspections by the education ministry.
And as Jin arrived in late January, she heard the two-year college, which caters mainly to students from China hoping to study management, was on the brink of bankruptcy with 300 million yen in debts. Meanwhile, her classmates are dropping out and working underground in Tokyo.