Time in Japan

I learned a few days ago that one of my close friends back in the states broke up with his girlfriend.  What sucks is that this happened a few months ago.  It's sad because they had been going out for a few years and I thought they made a pretty good couple.

I like Japan but for the most part I'm not having any luck making Japanese friends like I had hoped.  Japanese people are a very group oriented people and as hard as it is to make friends, the ones I do make aren't interested in letting me into their groups, which makes it easy to drift away.

In contrast, back in the states, I do have some close friends.  It's not many, and as they all have their groups of friends it's more one on one than anything else, but I do have them.  But I feel like the longer I'm here the farther away I get from them, and that makes me sad.  I'm already not very good at social situations so trying to make new friends on my own does not sound like a fun task.

I don't think I can do more than 2 years in Japan.  If I didn't have any friends or family back in the states it would be an easy 5+ years.  But the lack of Japanese friends, lack of real job satisfaction and the drifting from my good friends back in the states makes it really hard to do more than 2 years.

I am also more in love with what Japan appears to promise, its potential, than I am with its reality.