I've racked my brain for months before starting my job search, even talking to coworkers and my manager. Basically it's a cultural issue, and I dont mean just company culture, but Korean culture. Not being Korean, I don't speak Korean fluently and I don't know the cultural norms. This means that I am unable to form any friendships or close relationships with the people I work with. Korean culture is heavily driven by relationships, and not being able to form them means it's hard to get things done. So it ends up that people route their jobs around me, talking to my direct reports or superiors instead of talking to me. Also, responses to my requests are slow or nonexistent, and I have to route my own requests around me also. These and other issues relegate me to the role of researcher and consultant, where I am on the periphery of the job I am supposed to be doing. If I had less ambition I might be perfectly happy to just coast here and collect the paycheck, but the lack of working towards something worthwhile is frankly giving me a mild case of depression.