[MMM]

According to what I am reading from Japanese government websites, the requirements to be an English teacher are getting tighter, not looser. There is no shortage of people 1) wanting to work in Japan and 2) have degrees and/or extended experience. Killyoself guessed 90% of English teachers in Japan have degrees. I would guess the % of Visa-carrying full-teachers (not tutors) with college degrees is probably well over 95%. All JETS have degrees. ECC, Geos and other schools are getting more strict to require degrees or a decade of experience. (I am guessing they have been burned in the past.) It is difficult in the US to get experience teaching without a degree. That leaves private schools, which are in the extreme minority in terms of volume of teachers in Japan. Of the handful of private school teachers I have met in Japan (working for someone else or starting their own school) all had college degrees.