Can a foreigner work in order to support yourself and pay your way through schooling in Japan?

Question:

Every single person I have ever talked to doing this seems to just have rich parents who will pay for them but I don't. And since I want to go to school there I will need income. I'm well aware that it's easy to find a job as an English teacher in Japan so please don't flood this question with JET Aeon Gaba Interac ECC and other ALT/Eikaiwa advertisements.

The part where it gets tricky is with things like loans and visas. A friend of mine tried to juggle work and school. It takes a very motivated person to work 40 hours a week and be a fulltime student but he had to do it in order to afford rent and tuition payments and due to visa complications he is being forced to return to the US. This was part of the message he sent me:

"You can't change to a student visa if you have had a work visa. Don't trust anything they say. They will not take care of you in anyway." And told me that you just need to have enough money to support yourself saved up before you go. Otherwise it will never work.

So obviously if he had had the funds he wouldn't have needed a job and could have just come as a student with no worries about money and no visa complications but that's not an option for everyone.

So if is is possible to support yourself while going to school in Japan, please tell me how. Thanks.

Answer:

No, it's not. You can only work part time as a student. And the work has to be approved.
Don't kid yourself, no job in Japan is easy to get. That includes teaching English. You need a BA / BS degree to qualify for a work visa. Competition for these jobs is much higher than it used to be.
So if you don't have the funds available, it's not going to happen.