Two weeks ago the Nova Group, one of the major private English teaching companies in Japan (once holding 66% of the market in Japan and hiring some 5000 foreign teachers annually) declared bankruptcy. Most of the teachers are not getting paid and many are now returning to their home countries.  The Japanese government (DOJ) declared their practices illegal for making more promises than they can deliver. So lots of foreign teachers are out of work. And lots of Japanese students are looking for places to learn English. For Japanese and other Asian young adults we have a great immersion English and discipleship program (SYME) that may fill the gap for a few of these students. We also could be a fit for some of the teachers who are looking to return to or stay in Japan in a ministry capacity. Anyway, this is an interesting development. For more on this you can look at that following links:

Japan Times: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/fl20070925zg.html

BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7063205.stm

Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/92cd2da8-85b1-11dc-8170-0000779fd2ac.html