Thanks. I probably won't make a big deal out of it until I am physically separated from the day job. (I wrote this post at something like 2 AM and that line make it past my internal editor.)
My employers and I are negotiating the details of my departure. They'd prefer if I stayed until August, I'd rather leave in about April. (Strictly speaking my contract allows me to give them two weeks of notice rather than several months but I am quitting a job you just don't quit, and I don't want to burn any bridges or poison the well for their future foreign employees.)
The social norm for men who work in my status (seishain (正社員), company employee) is that we have essentially guaranteed employment to retirement and that in return for this we work extraordinarily diligently for our employers until retirement.
My relationship to this social norm as a foreigner is a little weird.
Now that's the article I look forward to reading. Sounds like a big step, so congrats and best wishes.