Major English-language schools and local governments said Wednesday that all of their non-Japanese teachers who had been unaccounted for in the wake of last month's massive tsunami disaster in the Indian Ocean are now safely back at work.
According to a tally by The Japan Times earlier this month, 45 English-language teachers at major language schools and local governments who teach under the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program, through which foreigners work at public schools, were unaccounted for.
At the time, Nova Co. was unable to contact 40 non-Japanese teachers, while Geos Corp and ECC Co. said they each had two teachers who were unaccounted for.
The Council of Local Authorities for International Relations, which oversees the JET program, had said it could not contact one of its teachers.
But a month after the disaster, all of the English-language teachers returned to work and resumed classes, organization officials said.
"I am very relieved that they have returned safely," a Nova spokesman said.
In all cases, school operators and local governments simply could not contact their non-Japanese employees who were vacationing in the disaster-hit region and elsewhere.
29 still missing
One month after the earthquake-triggered tsunamis caused massive devastation in Southern Asia, 29 Japanese nationals still remain unaccounted for, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima said Wednesday.
The ministry said it still could not contact about a dozen people on or near Thailand's resort island of Phuket, a few others in Sri Lanka and fewer than 10 people in other locations in Asia.
Twenty-five Japanese have been confirmed dead in the disaster so far, comprising 14 in Thailand and 11 others in Sri Lanka.