ICHIKAWA, Japan, Nov 8, 2007 (AFP) - For years Japan has welcomed young English teachers such as Kristen Moon with open arms to fill its many language schools but when industry giant Nova collapsed they found themselves on their own.

Critics say the fiasco has exposed the lack of an adequate safety net for foreign workers in Japan, even as the world's second-largest economy gradually opens its doors to cope with a shrinking workforce and an ageing population.

Moon arrived in Japan little more than six months before the nation's largest foreign language school filed for bankruptcy protection last month, leaving thousands of foreign teachers without jobs or pay.

Concerned for her welfare, Moon's students asked her to keep teaching them outside of the school and took her out for dinner or to sing karaoke.

Their generosity almost made up for the problems, she said, while sipping a coffee at a cafe in Ichikawa, on the eastern outskirts of Tokyo, one of the world's most expensive cities.

'I feel my cultural contribution to Japanese society through the teaching of English is valued by individuals, but the government has exploited this need and led to companies earning huge profits,' she said.

Moon, a 23-year-old American, is one of about 4,500 foreign teachers left jobless after the collapse of the country's largest language school.

About 2,000 Japanese workers were also left without jobs while an estimated 400,000 students were affected.

Teachers' hackles were raised further when local media showed the former Nova president's plush executive suite at the company's headquarters in Osaka complete with a dining room, bathroom with sauna and Japanese-style tea room.

The teachers, most of whom paid for their flights to Japan themselves and who find themselves without work or health insurance are now desperately trying to find new employment.

Some cannot afford a plane ticket home while others are offering individual lessons for food.

Despite the hardships, there is some hope for the teachers.

Nova's lawyers said Tuesday Japanese firm G.communication, which runs English classes in northern Japan, would start taking over the running of 30 Nova schools and try to manage up to 200, less than one-third of the total.

But, exhausted by anger and disappointment, some teachers are already packing their bags, giving up hope of getting the salaries they are owed.

'Because the company was telling us absolutely nothing, any new information was from media, or from the union or gossiping amongst ourselves,' said Julie Pidgeon, 26, who plans to go home. 'I was just sick of the limbo.'

Michelle Newton-Greene, 31, is also calling it quits.

'I've got to take some dignity home with me and start again,' she said.

Nova's blue-and-yellow signs, which famously advertised an experience akin to 'a study abroad trip,' are still dotted around Tokyo, but none of the hundreds of schools ubiquitous in Japan is now open for lessons.

Teaching English was once a high-paying job in the country, drawing tens of thousands of people from countries such as the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia, including many young people looking to spend a few years abroad.

As the Japanese economy stagnated in the 1990s and the yen became weaker, Nova began recruiting teachers more aggressively overseas, particularly through universities.

Moon said Japan's laws need to be changed to make the country more welcoming to the foreign workforce.