Apply for a spouse Visa in Japan or out?

I'll soon be married to my Japanese partner in Australia. We'll then be registering the marriage with the embassy here. Six months after that her visa will expire and we'll be moving to Japan. At this point I have the option of applying for the CoE here or going to Japan as a tourist and swapping my status. I've done a lot of looking around but get nothing but conflicting information. Does anyone know which is easier/more hassle free or more likely to be approved?

My main concern is that upon arrival in Japan we will be both unemployed as we have been living in Australia for 2 years. I am not worried about this because I run an online business which will remain active in Australia. I also have over 50k in the bank. But they may perhaps knock my partner back as a sponsor because of it. Her mother is happy to back that up mind you.

The general consensus is that applying outside Japan is safer, but it makes more sense that applying in person would be easier, especially considering we can get the documents without having to play mail tag. Anyway, does anyone have any experience with one or the other? Let me know!

Contact the Japanese Embassy in Australia to get the best answer.

Yeah that's the obvious answer and I'll be doing that when I notify Japan of the marriage. The point was to gather opinions from those who have experienced these processes.

If you ask the Embassy of Japan in Australia, the official answer would be to ggo the CoE path, from outside Japan.h To get the terminology precisely: either you apply for CoE and get a visa from outside Japan, or you come to Japan on Temporary Visitor, and apply for a gchange of resident status.h

The disadvantage of going the CoE – visa path is you donft know how long that is going to take, so that you canft really plan the flight & the relocation ahead of time.
On the other hand, once you do come to Japan already married, and apply for Change of Resident Status (from Temporary Visitor to Spouse of Japanese National), and once your application is accepted, you can stay with your spouse in Japan while you wait.

When it comes to the documents and guarantor/income issue, no matter what the financial situation is, your Japanese wife will be the one to sign the guarantee letter (form letter provided), in the sense of ensuring that she will make sure youfd abide by the laws of Japan, and in case you need to leave Japan she would be responsible for the travel expenses (as the gsponsorh for you, so to say, because she is the reason you are applying for the visa/resident status). In addition to that, you need to show that you (and/or your wife) will be able to ensure income enough to support yourselves going forward. This may come in the form of a financial guarantor (by a relative, in-law, for example), or you writing out a letter describing your business/skills that would enable you to make a living.

At least, writing up a letter describing our prospect was what we had to do when we changed from an employer-sponsored work resident status which my non-Japanese husband had in Japan to gspouseh status, when his contract didnft get renewed. He was out of work, and I was only doing very limited work back then.

This may be somewhat old, but maybe a remotely related thread, and I gave a longer answer there.
https://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+159380

Best wishes.

Thank you so much for the detailed response. It sounds like traveling to Japan on a tourist visa and then changing my status is going to be easiest. I should have plenty of money to satisfy the requirements and my partner's mother will happily be a guarantor. I'm glad they consider written submissions as well, that should help :)