[spoonybard]

Actually, if you want to be in Japan, no matter what country you're from, you absolutely must have a reason to be there and a visa to prove it. You're a tourist, you must have a visa; you're a student, you need to have a student visa; you want to work, you need a work visa given to you by a Japanese embassy/consulate outside Japan. The only difference is the process by which people from various countries have to go through to get the visa(for example, they might require extra documentation).