BTW, I’m reminded now of a very strange Frenchman I once met at a party in Osaka, a corpulent fellow who had been working as a fake wedding minister for 13 years, and claimed to have never paid any taxes in his entire life. He also claimed to have spent none of that time in Japan on a legitimate visa, with one of his scams having actually gotten a work visa claiming to be a butler to his friend who worked at the French Consul in Osaka. His friend lived alone in a 4 tatami room in a dormitory, but noone checked that…

http://www.planetultra.com/civil.html

According to Wikipedia, civil twilight is about 3 lx and a family living room is about 50 lx, so I suppose the regulatory cutoff is in the “pretty dark” range—i.e. club dark, not bar dark.

一 　キヤバレーその他設備を設けて客にダンスをさせ、かつ、客の接待をして客に飲食をさせる営業
二 　待合、料理店、カフエーその他設備を設けて客の接待をして客に遊興又は飲食をさせる営業（前号に該当する営業を除く。）
三 　ナイトクラブその他設備を設けて客にダンスをさせ、かつ、客に飲食をさせる営業（第一号に該当する営業を除く。）
四 　ダンスホールその他設備を設けて客にダンスをさせる営業（第一号若しくは前号に該当する営業又は客にダンスを教授するための営業のうちダンスを教授する者（政令で定めるダンスの教授に関する講習を受けその課程を修了した者その他ダンスを正規に教授する能力を有する者として政令で定める者に限る。）が客にダンスを教授する場合にのみ客にダンスをさせる営業を除く。）
五 　喫茶店、バーその他設備を設けて客に飲食をさせる営業で、国家公安委員会規則で定めるところにより計つた客席における照度を十ルクス以下として営むもの（第一号から第三号までに掲げる営業として営むものを除く。）
六 　喫茶店、バーその他設備を設けて客に飲食をさせる営業で、他から見通すことが困難であり、かつ、その広さが五平方メートル以下である客席を設けて営むもの
七 　まあじやん屋、ぱちんこ屋その他設備を設けて客に射幸心をそそるおそれのある遊技をさせる営業
八 　スロットマシン、テレビゲーム機その他の遊技設備で本来の用途以外の用途として射幸心をそそるおそれのある遊技に用いることができるもの（国家公安委員会規則で定めるものに限る。）を備える店舗その他これに類する区画された施設（旅館業その他の営業の用に供し、又はこれに随伴する施設で政令で定めるものを除く。）において当該遊技設備により客に遊技をさせる営業（前号に該当する営業を除く。）

source

BTW, students are allowed to work up to 8 hours per day during certain vacation periods.

A diploma or a certificate of graduation with a major in a subject relating to the activity of the person concerned, and documents certifying his or her professional career.

Would this be an actual degree? He has a 3 year diploma (not technically a degree) in Japanese from a fairly well-know Italian college, and should be getting the Italian equivalent of the TOEFL this year.

Well, set up a partnership agreement, or establish non-voting shares in an Italian company, or anything that establishes what looks on paper to be a real relationship between the two cross-border entities. I’ve seen worse—a music-degree holding “engineer” from a 2nd world country, with a Japanese K.K. run by 2nd worlders, with a ridiculous share transfer agreement between the KK and a 2nd world entity, used to bring workers into Japan.

Visas under the category of “research” or “Entertainment” don’t really work…

There are also restrictions on the type of work you can do with a work permit based on a student visa. Interestingly, however, in March this year, a Chinese student successfully challenged a deportation order which had been issued because she had been working as a hostess and Immigration decided she had earned more money than necessary for her to live in Japan. The judge said “The woman was studying as much as average university students, if not more. Education, separate from her night job, was valuable for her.”

Most of the long-term foreign (white) bartenders are on spouse visas or even hold permanent residence. There are also some civilians working for the US military who own and work in bars although I believe their military contracts forbid this and the old “blind-eye policy”has been tightened up considerably recently.