Visa extension and re-entry question

I left Japan a couple of months ago after staying with an tourist visa which I extended at the immigration office, my stay could've lasted 6 months but I left after 4. After calling the immigration office to enquire as to when I will be able to return on a tourist visa, they said usually you must wait 6 months out of Japan before returning on another tourist visa, to prevent visa runs I imagine. Because I left after 4, how long do I wait realistically before I am able to return? If I go back after 5 months of waiting, will I be denied entry? Not sure how strict this situation is in Japan. Thank you all.

Given immigration's official response, it would be silly for you to try going back in less than 6 months.

What a weird response. Who actually gave you that answer. It seems plain wrong to me and my experience.

So does anyone recognise this issue? What do you mean 'weird response'

Once you leave Japan, the visitor visa is over, and a reentry will start from scratch, not sure about 6 months, but most countries have 90 days.

Have you made visa runs before in Japan? It's "weird" because usually they don't care if you arrive and leave multiple times. What they care about is you doing something like working on a short term visa. If you have the yen you can come and go as many times as you want.

No I've never done anything like that before. But regarding the extension of the tourist visa, I'm not sure if one can leave after 6 months in Japan then immediately return for a further 6 months by extending it again at the immigration office. Maybe the woman on the phone was talking about not being able to do this until you wait for a period of time?

That sounds accurate. What she meant was you can't extend again until after six months. You could however have left to S. Korea for a weekend and then come back to Japan. You can do that as long as they let you.
They don't want someone to stay indefinitely on a short term visa by using infinite extensions.