No Re-entry permit but valid visa, can I come back to Japan?

[kamikouchi]

Hi,

This is on behalf of my relative.

She came to Japan on student visa in April-2011 and had to return to her country due to financial problems in Dec-2011. Her student visa is till Jun-2012. Now the problem is, she had the single re-entry permit when she left Japan in Dec and she even returned her Alien Reg card at the airport.

Now suddenly she got a good opportunity to come back to Japan as a student again. The question is:

1. Is her student visa still valid?
2. Can she get re-entry permit while she is in her home country?
3. Or does she need to restart the visa process all over again starting from COE?

I appreciate your quick response.

Thanks!

[cflow]

1. no
2. no
3. yes