Cheating English in Japan

I obtained a job as sensei at this juku in Japan. They did provide me with a round trip ticket beforehand, so when things went badly, I wasn't stuck. (Some other schools wait to give you the return ticket until you've fulfilled your commitment). The owner was a former college classmate and it seemed like a great opportunity. I was told to fly over on a tourist visa as it would be easier to get a work permit once I was in country. However, since this was a rural area, the designated official was an elderly gentleman who was accustomed to checking the manifests of ships -- not immigration matters. So, I went in for my interview to obtain my work permit, my Bachelor's degree in hand as requested, but he denied my application. Why?? Because my certificate did not have the word 'graduated'. I attempted to explain that 'awarded the degree of Bachelor of Arts' did indicate that I had graduated, but to no avail.
The end result was that the school's owner believed I had lied to him about graduating (even though he had attended the same college and should have understood) and so I was fired. I ended up working for another school for a few weeks, but decided not to risk deportation, and came home early.
The 'cheating' part? The owner already had TWO American teachers in his juku - the law states that each juku can only have ONE foreign teacher in order to keep things equal. He had his friend 'sponsor' me and they planned to 'share' me between the two jukus.