How Kyoto Prefecture ALTs Won a Pay Raise by Striking / The “2026 Mondai” and the Coming University Shakeout

Chris Flynn

In this two-part session Chris Flynn will cover the following:

Part 1: How Kyoto Prefecture ALTs won a pay raise by striking

In 2025, dispatch ALTs working for the Kyoto Prefecture Board of Education saw their salary and bonus reduced—even as JET ALTs doing the same work at the same schools received a significant raise. In response, the dispatch ALTs took the rare step of going on strike. The result: they successfully won a pay raise. This talk looks at what happened, why it worked, and what battles are still ahead.

Part 2: The “2026 Mondai” and the coming university shakeout

Even though a high proportion of high school graduates continue into tertiary education, Japan’s demographics point to a sharp decline in 18-year-olds—setting up severe pressure across the university sector. Some estimates suggest 50–100 universities could disappear over the next decade.

A key warning sign is the annual list of universities that lose certification to offer “free tuition” support for students from low-income households (i.e., households so low-income they pay no municipal resident tax). This support is roughly equivalent to one national university’s annual tuition (~¥640,000). Losing the certification is a major red flag—a sign the institution is effectively on “life support.” This talk explains what the status is, why universities lose it (e.g., enrollment and viability issues), what it signals, and what can be done to avoid heading in that direction.

Chris Flynn is a member of the General Union Executive Committee and a Professor at Kyushu Institute of Information Sciences. He is active in labor advocacy and higher-education issues in Japan, with a focus on working conditions in language education and the structural challenges facing universities.