Hmmm, just read the entire thread. I currently live in Japan, been here for three years, doing one more and going home. Some info for you:
VISA: a tourist visa is stamped in your passport when you hit immigration. It's good for 90 days, and you need to show a return/on-going ticket to your next destination outside of Japan within that timeframe. Tell them you're looking for work and you'll be headed home on the next flight. Overstay this visa and go to jail. Japanese do not like foreigners who show up and look for work. Stand in line with the rest of China/Korea/Thailand/Brazil/Malaysia/Indonesia and all the other people lined up.
WORK VISA: you MUST have at least a two-year degree to get a job, period, unless you are married to a Japanese woman and have a spouse visa. If you want to work for any mainstream English program, you need a bachelor's degree. If you want to work at some chichi -n- haha English teaching joint, you still need a two-year degree. NEED A DEGREE TO LIVE IN JAPAN (I have a A.A.S. in electronics, any subject will probably work, but fine arts is better...I also had a serious hookup into a good, reputable company)
Notes: it is possible to get a job while here on a toursit visa, however, the company that hires you will have to have a contract made up for you with a term of commitment, and you will have to submit this paperwork to a Japanese consolate OUTSIDE of Japan...so figure for taking a minimum five day trip home or to Guam or Singapore or someplace before you get it. There is no work-around for this. This was my situation (I was in the States and needed too quickly for the proper paperwork to be filed, as a I had six days between being called out of the blue for the job and leaving. I came to Japan and left after 89 days and spent five weeks getting it sorted out in the States before I came back).
LANGUAGE: I don't speak Japanese, though I'm learning, and my wife is Japanese (married last March), but I will probably never be fluent. Fluency takes at least 4 years of serious study, even Japanese have difficulty with kanji (which takes twenty years to master) and I've been here three years and know basically how to shop and order food. Phone conversations are still out of the question. I work too much to seriously study, and my workplace is half-American/Japanese, so I rarely speak Japanese. It's more of a kind of pigeon-Japanese, anyway. Forget jobs in translating or Japanese voiceovers, those are reserved for either bi-lingual Japanese (from birth, basically) or really famous foreigners (i.e., Bob Sapp). Probably the most used western language here besides English is Portuguese. There are lots of Brazilians here.
HOUSING: Usually provided by your contracted company. If you're here on a tourist visa, gooooooood luck, but seriously, head to a hostel or a hotel. Permanent housing is out of the question. I pay $800/month for a two bedroom apartment in northern Japan where living is relatively cheap. Tokyo is twice as expensive. The wife and I just wasted $1800 on a three day trip there. We did not live exorbitantly, and stayed in middle-class hotels. Everything posted above about housing cost is absolutely correct. Luckily, my company picked up the tab.
TRAVEL: Japan is the most expensive country in the world to travel in. If you're coming on a tourist visa, get a Japan Rail Pass, good for a few days and all Japan Railways (JR) travel is free. Otherwise, empty your wallet at the Midori-no-madoguchi and get on the train. Local trains and subways are pretty good. Taxi's are spendy. Buses are decent. Shinkansen's are expensive, and air travel is more so. Driving takes a pile of money, especially when figuring car costs (dealer takes a large whack in fees, government takes a large whack in taxes, the rest of the money you spend on $4/gallon gasoline) and road charges (expressways are big $$$, about $100 to go 350 miles).
THE LADIES: Ohhhhh, they dig ya. Afterall, they're thinking, you got into Japan, so you're either military (diggin' the uni) or have a four-year degree from Princeton, a suave job, and a free ticket with spousal visa to the U.S. in hand.
THE END OF THE WORLD: You'll be livin' next to Kim Jong-ILL and his nukes. And the Japanese HATE North Korea and dislike most other Asians. And North Korea HATES Japan, and most other Asian countries dislike Japan, but not for the fact that that's where their money comes from. And Japan is heading to the end just like the rest. I'm surprised what I've seen in three years here.
So, my advice? Come to play, man. Blow that money, see if you like it, if you do, get a degree and come back. Maybe you'll get a hookup. Who knows? Hope my rant helps.