Is the JET Programme slowly being phased out?

I know this has been talked about before, but I never really paid attention since my prefecture wasn’t affected.. until now.

We were just told today that there won’t be any new JET ALTs coming in next year, and instead they’ll be hiring through private companies. I get that it probably saves money and cuts down on admin work.

For those of you in other prefectures, are you seeing the same shift? Do you think this is just a local decision, or is this where the programme is headed overall?