"Foreigners" as in western speaking English foreigners make up only a very very small percentage of the over all foreigners working in Japan.

My Chinese friend, speaks decent Japanese, speaks OK english works in a restaurant.

I don't think it's wrong to say that a bar owned by foreigners or visited often by english speakers doesn't hire foreign speaking staff, they certainly do, especially in places like Roppongi.

There are a lot of English teachers that are on the JET programme (about 6000 thousand countrywide), however I doubt that they comprise the majority of English teachers in Japan. Its definitely a big chunk but there are plenty of people doing similar jobs in other programs as well as the eikaiwa industry.

You wouldn't be allowed to teach english without the proper credits.

The proper credentials are native English ability and a visa that allows you to work (work, spouse, working holiday, etc.)

I guess you can help with the harvests and stuff like that with the WH visa.

if they are not teaching english they are working in clubs or bars, even though it's not really allowed.

a small number of people do WWOOFing / farm work / ski resort, agricultural, rural work. it's not that common but you do come across the occasional western gaijin whv holder in the middle of nowhere working on a farm. along with a bazillion other foreigners from the various asian countries.

then there's a small subset of people on whv's that work in illegal places like hostess bars and etc.. this is not good.

for non native english speaking whv holders, most work in bars, some teach their native language if they can find someone to hire them. if their english is good enough they can get a job in some companies but others will be more picky.

Winterwolf not sure where you get your information but that is so far from the truth it's not funny.

they're not all fantastic high salary jobs, but if you can't get a job teaching english in or near tokyo, osaka, kyoto, kobe, nagoya, sendai, hiroshima, fukuoka, or sapporo, you have major issues with your resume or interviewing skills.

i don't know any foreigners who are having trouble finding work teaching english if they are motivated. i do notice a lot of unmotivated people who don't really want to work, just complain, are still unemployed. if they wanted to work they could find some work.

japan's unemployment rate is still LOWER than the unemployment rate is in most western countries especially the US and Canada. if you can find a job back home and can't find a job here you're doing something seriously wrong.