English teaching jobs affected in 2012?

My fiance and I are hoping to find English teaching jobs in Japan in the later half of 2012. We are hoping to find work somewhere in the Kansai region if possible.

My question is this; does anyone know how the English teaching job market will be affected over the coming year and a half? I know it's probably impossible to say, but would it be safe to assume that the demand will still be there? Or will there be less demand for such positions due to recent events?

Thanks.

Honestly I think right now the job market is going to open up, since quite a few instructors decided to leave Japan over (in my opinion irrational hysteria, but that's another story). The fact is, I hear there are going to be many who are going to lose their jobs for abandoning their posts.

Thanks for the input! I couldn't help but think the same, since many companies would be annoyed by those who just upped and left!

it is true that quite a few people from tokyo decided to leave japan. in kansai, however that number was much fewer. if anything i think your chances of getting a job have improved slightly although by the time you are planning to come i think things will be largely back to normal.

i work for a faily well-known school in kansai. even we lost some staff who decided to leave japan. the above poster mentioned the people who "temporarily ran away". i think most of those people will retain their jobs as there are simply too many to be made an example of, basically the companies need them back