Life is like soccer. If there's no goals, it's just playing around with friends. But as soon as goals appear, half the people become your enemy, and the other half are just co-workers.
Isn't it interesting how one's attitude towards a person can change, depending on what they think of them? It's a lot like the placebo effect in medicine: even if it doesn't really work, you'll still feel better. Or the opposite: the nocebo: if you think a treatment doesn't work your condition actually becomes worse. I find that if one tries to think of people as nice, good people, it's very easy to get along with them. But if you can only think of them as bad people, then it's very hard to change their opinion. No matter how nice you try to be to them, they will still see you as a bad person. I admit I too have felt like this in the past on one or two occasions. It's a good feeling. ... but at least consider the other guy's feelings. If you don't want to be treated this way, then don't treat others this way!
The one thing I enjoyed most since I came to Japan is this: nobody tells me what to do. Or at least I can choose not to listen and nothing bad happens. This feeling is gone right now, both at work and outside of work. Once I regain this feeling I know I will be happy. Yeah.