Work options for an architect

Since I had a lot of positive experiences on this site so far when travelling Japan I thought I'd try my luck again.

Basically I've always been interested in Japan. Wanted to go there for most of my life and finally went there in spring. Planned for 3 weeks but ended up staying for 6. First mostly touristy stuff, but the extension mainly consisted of meeting people, talking to random drunk salarymen and spending time with my girlfriend I met there.
I absolutely fell in love with the country. Love the cities, love the countryside, love the people, love how organized and friendly everything is, love the food, love the culture, the lifestyle...everything. I just felt at "home" right away.

Ever since coming back home something is missing and I need to go back to Japan.
So now I'm looking for ways to get over there.

I'm 29, European and work as an architect (MA degree in sustainability) with a couple years of experience.
My options/difficulties are:
- Working as an English teacher: The most cliche way to get a visa. But I'm not a native speaker, which makes recruitment difficult, I have absolutely no teaching experience and obviously the conditions pretty much sucks.
- Get some other work: My Japanese abilities are quite bad. My speaking sucks at JLPT4-5, but reading and writing is pretty decent and above that. So working as an architect would be quite difficult, if not impossible.
- Working holiday visa are not available for my country, so I need a job and a sponsor.

Anyone got any ideas of what might be the best way to get over there? Basically the visa is the most important part. With a working visa I could do some silly part-time work or whatever while looking for a better job at least.

Apply for MEXT scholarship, get into Ph.D. course(possibily in University of Tokyo or Kyoto), once you have obtain your Ph.D, it can be easier to find a well known work place in field of architecure and/or design office in Tokyo.
There are large number of well known international architects in Tokyo who seek foreign architects speak fluent in both JP and English with architectural knowledges.
If you are not fluent JP speaker, nobody will hire you.

You got a girl friend right? Marry here and you are all set for visa
Just kidding
Before you move to Japan get a feel for work life in Japan
Pursue it only if you are ready to work 12 hours a day with max 1 week of vacation in a year and zero personal life

Good luck

Thanks.
How about attending a 1 or 1.5 year intensive course at a Japanese language school? Would probably burn through my savings, but with some part-time work (which is possible on a student visa) it would be ok.

You think that would be enough time to gain the necessary fluency to find "proper" work in Japan afterwards?

Japan as a tourist is much more attractive and agreeable than Japan as a worker. As a tourist, you're not privy to the possible difficulties you may encounter: discrimination, all the nuances of everyday living (housing, utilities, medical insurance, etc.) and the culture that is quite different than wherever you may live.

All the experiences you went through as a temporary visitor may not feel the same after a few months burning the midnight oil. I just want to give you a dose of reality, though I wish you the best of luck in attaining your goals!