[sarasi]

Don't waste time thinking about permanent residency in Japan at this point. Unless you marry a Japanese national you are probably actually looking at 10 years here before you can apply- the 5 years is for people who have made an outstanding contribution to Japanese society in some way. If you marry a Japanese national then PR can sometimes be obtained in 3 years, but all of that is putting the cart before the horse.

As I said above- first think about how you are going to get a job and whether you will actually like living in Japan. How many forms you will need to fill out years down the track when you might apply for permanent residence is not something you need to be concerned about- the requirements/process are likely to have changed by then in any case.

Incidentally, I have lived in Japan 12 years and have just recently started to think about applying for PR. I have only seen 2 pages of forms to fill out on the Japanese government Immigration site, so I'm not sure where the 7 came from.

As for working visas, yes, companies have to do some of the paperwork related to getting you a visa as they are the sponsors. The companies do not assist with getting PR as that is based on individual merit.

You mentioned going to see "the area" to look for potential places to live- which area would that be- Tokyo? Bear in mind that where you live is going to be dictated more by where you can find a job, not the other way around. Popular areas like Tokyo and Kyoto are harder to get a job in these days.