Life-time employment is sort of on the decline in Japan, and it was never as big as the popular press had it, but be that as it may I have a job which implies lifetime employment and am considered fairly valuable to my company (particularly for my age).  I was pretty honest with them when I started that I could promise them 2 ~ 3 years and we'd reevaluate where we were then, and it has been 2.5 years and I have reevaluated.<p>That said, they've been good to me and I don't want to burn bridges or poison the well for their next foreign employee.  (By, for example, doing what I'm entitled to under Japanese labor law and just giving them two weeks.  Sure, the contract says I can do that, but the social relationship is the real contract.  One thing I've learned over the years is that that is true in America, too, but we're less cognizant about it.)<p>So, if they want me to stick around a little while to help them finish a project or two, I'm inclined to attempt to be flexible.