Dear Minister of Education Hakubun Shimomura,

Let me begin by expressing my strong support in principle for the Japanese government's ongoing efforts to increase the number of foreign students in Japan from the current 140,000 to 300,000 students by 2020. This exchange cannot but enrich all participants.

I use the words "in principle" because in April of this year I was forced to make one of the most difficult decisions of my teaching career at the tertiary level: I was forced to recommend to the university authorities where I was employed that they postpone their planned Study Abroad Program in Japan scheduled for the fall of 2013.