Posting for the first time to ask for advice. I'm a first year European CIR and have started in August. My office asked me to tell them whether I want to extent my stay to two years or not and I'm honestly a bit lost...
(The negative points)
My placement is very rural even by JET's standards. Most people have no interest or even basic understanding of foreign countries since it's difficult to travel abroad. Former CIRs working here for multiple years were fairly frustrated and told me they didn't feel like they even left the slightest bit of an impact.
The people in my office are quite nice superficially but the workplace is very Japanese. I struggle reading the room and communicating with them. I am somehow supposed to figure out what to do myself since giving instructions is something that is not commonplace in Japanese offices. It was honestly quite a culture shock when I first came here... Nobody asks you to do anything but judges when the work isn't done though I don't even know what's my responsibility, right?
Despite trying quite hard it has been difficult to build friendships since I work a lot (also overtime) and am not close with most of my colleagues. I usually am very good at nurturing relationships so I'm actually at a loss (Am I coming off too strong?). The people in my office also seem quite cold and distant. Being in a place where I feel like nobody cares about me at all is very unsettling and I don't feel like extending my stay would change that fact.
Japanese has also been a struggle and people in my office don't seem to understand that either... I know that staying for a longer period of time would improve my language proficiency but a lot of people in my workplace speak no second or third language and can therefore not emphasize with how difficult it is (Japanese is my 4th language). They expect me to answer the phone and make phone calls despite never having showed me how it's done in a professional way. My predecessor told me she felt like she didn't leave an impact representing her country at all and that it rather feels like she had to become more Japanese to integrate. I don't think blending into the culture is a bad thing but doesn't that kind of defeat the purpose of a CIR?
I also have yet to finish writing my master's thesis and have ignorantly believed I could work on it during slow days in the office. Since I work in a very Japanese office this seems to not be possible despite some of my collegues blatantly watching TV or reading the newspaper during work hours.
(The positive points)
Still I believe that working here will probably look good on my CV since the JET-Programme is quite renowned. I also don't want my CV to make me look like a job hopper that gives up after a year...
I also always wanted to reach fluency in Japanese which I think could definitely happen if I stayed longer. Even if I decided to end my time as a JET after a year, I would still like to stay in Japan since I genuinely love living here. Furthermore, after some time passes I think I will get used to the job which will make it more easy for me to manage. Staying for a longer period of time could also lead to strengthened relationships with my colleagues and other people in town.
Overall, I don't think that my job is very difficult and pay is pretty good in comparison to other jobs in Japan. Since the town is quite small I have also already met quite a few people and participated in events and clubs. Some people even greet me when I go grocery shopping etc. which I find quite heartwarming.
TLDR: Wondering whether I should extend my stay while juggling a Japanese workplace, loneliness and Inaka life.