日本有名補習學校減少校舍數目

A few weeks ago the Yomiuri News on-line reported the following:

代ゼミ、２０拠点閉鎖へ…少子化で７拠点に集約

2014年08月23日 09時03分

　大手予備校「代々木ゼミナール」（本部・東京都渋谷区）が、全国の２７拠点を本部など７拠点に集約する方針を講師らに通告したことがわかった。

　仙台や横浜、京都など２０拠点を来年３月末に閉鎖するとみられる。代ゼミは大学入試センター試験の成績分析や全国模試を行っており、業務が縮小された場合、受験業界への影響が大きい。

　代ゼミ関係者によると、８月２０日付で、講師らに対して事業展開の見直しが通知された。高宮英郎理事長名の通知によると、来年４月以降も存続するのは、本部のほかに、札幌、新潟、名古屋、大阪南、福岡、造形学校（東京）。「昨今の少子化に伴う受験人口の減少と現役志向の強まりの中で、これまでのサービスを維持することが困難となり、全国一律の校舎運営、事業展開を根本より見直さざるを得ない状況」としている。

(試譯文)

   It was understood that a major prep school the "Yoyogi Seminar" (headquarters: Shibuya district, Tokyo) had given notice to lecturers about a plan to combine 27 bases all over the country into seven bases and the headquarters.

   It was expected that 20 bases at locations such as Sendai, Yokohama and Kyoto would be closed by the end of March next year. Yoyogi Seminar all along conducted analysis on results of university entrance examinations, and held nationwide mock examinations. When its business was reduced, the influence on the examination-taking industry would be great.

   According to the Yoyogi Seminar staff, lecturers were notified on August 20 about a review on business deployment. According to the notice issued in the name of the chairman of the-board-of-directors Hideo Takamiya, besides the headquarters, locations at Sapporo, Niigata, Nagoya, the Osaka south, Fukuoka, and the modeling school (Tokyo) would continue after April next year. It was said that "these days there is a reduction in examination taking population accompanying by a decrease in the birthrate; and the intention to become active student is strong. As such it becomes difficult to maintain the present service. It cannot help but to reconsider the situation fundamentally about its country wide uniform school building management and business deployment".

It seems that the impact of a decrease in birthrate in Japan has surfaced.