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In April of 2021, NIS Co., Ltd. and Genki Global Co., Ltd went through a merger and I was given the honour of being the new company's representative director. Although it is a difficult task and there is much to learn, I will do my utmost to help the company to develop and grow.

Global With us Co., Ltd puts Japanese language schools at the centre of its business. One of our management philosophies is: "Applying our expertise and experience in education to connect Japan to the world and contribute to the growth and development of the global society."

This connection is even more essential now, in today's increasingly globalised society. The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted travel and stopped people from going to foreign countries. However, with the use of ICT (Information Communication Technology), we can connect with people from all over the world anywhere, anytime! In such an age, we want to contribute to the international community by connecting Japan to the world through language education and by helping develop cross-cultural understanding.

In addition, to offset the effects of the declining birthrate and ageing population in Japan, a new status of residence was introduced in April of 2019, the "Specified Skills" residence programme. This programme aims to welcome more than 340,000 foreign nationals to Japan in the near future.

Our aim is to provide Japanese language education to the participants of the programme, as it is becoming more and more important for these people to learn Japanese to live in Japan. It has been fast 5 years since the former NIS Co., Ltd. became a member of the With us group, a group that is in the education business and listed on the JASDAQ Tokyo Stock Exchange.

During these changing times, we will continue to adapt and help our customers, our employees and the society at large, to grow through Japanese language education! We will develop into a company that is essential in the next 10 to 20 years.