I went out yesterday with a couple of the inspectors from the factory to their usual tachinomi joint. The vibe was pretty different this time around, and at first it wasn’t exactly clear why. One guy was completely off his game and left after 15 minutes, and the other hung in there but seemed a little down. They said that their next gig isn’t clear, and so they don’t know what will happen with their jobs in Japan after March/April. Possibly they will continue, possibly they will move to another country, and possibly they will go back home to the USA. A lot of uncertainty right now, so there was definitely an impact on the evening.
Their uncertain futures kind of mirror my own. My current contract will wrap up at the end of March, and I haven’t heard yet what the next step is. I’ve heard about some ideas being floated by my staffing company, but no response (that I’ve heard) from KHI. So we’ll wait and see. Lucky for me that if things don’t work out for a new contract I don’t have to leave the country – there are plenty more companies out there looking for training.
So this post ends with a big question mark… hopefully the answer will come soon.
