Moving to Japan but GF is not Japanese

As my question states, I'm a 24 year old, half-Japanese/half British guy currently working in London as a shipbroker and my company plans to send me to work in our Tokyo office sometime this year. This is extremely exciting and I cannot wait to move out there as I really enjoy living in Japan (born and raised in Tokyo for 10 odd years + 1 year abroad for uni in Osaka).

The only problem is my girlfriend, who I've been dating for just over 2 years now and we love each other very much. We currently live together here in London and she is finishing up her degree at university, due to graduate this summer. She is Malaysian so is living in the UK under her student visa which also happens to expire this year too. She is willing to move over to Japan with me but we're struggling to see how she can be eligible for a visa. We are not married, she does not want to study in Japan and is not confident enough to be an English teacher there either.

We're not sure what to do really and I'd hate for us to engage in a long distance relationship after 1.5 years of living together. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated, thank you.

Since there is no �gfiancé/fiancée�h visa for Japan, if you get married, (if you are Japanese) she would be eligible for �gspouse of Japanese national�h and (if you are not) she would be eligible for �gdependent�h visa.

Does she have any idea what she might want to do in Japan?

I guess�c since her student visa in the UK is expiring too, it might�c be time to think about your long-term prospect, in any country? (I assume she�fd have to be married to you, UK resident, to be able to stay in the UK, unless she finds employment in the UK right away.)

Like AK said, there's no fiance visa for Japan, and from your post, it doesn't sound like you and your girlfriend are engaged yet anyway. Really, the key issue is this:
�ushe does not want to study in Japan and is not confident enough to be an English teacher there either.�v

When you say she "is not confident enough to be an English teacher there," I'm guessing that means that she's also not confident enough in her Japanese-language skills to work a regular office job. That would usually mean the only jobs left would be low-level service industry jobs, but the Japanese government doesn't really give out work visas for those kinds of positions.

So the question becomes what does she plan to do in Japan, if she's not there to study and she's not there to work? That's what the immigration bureau will want an answer to, and unfortunately "I just want to be with my boyfriend" isn't going to be enough. She wouldn't be there out of a societal need to study or work, and she'd pretty much be reliant on you while she's in Japan. But if the two of you aren't married, you don't have any legal obligation to support her, so from the bureau's perspective they have to consider what would happen if you broke up, and now they have a foreign national who's living in Japan with no means to support herself and who isn't in the process of going to school to acquire those means either.

Of course, married couples sometimes break up too and get divorced. But in general, marriages are more committed relationships than just dating, so the risk is lower, which is why Japan will issue spousal visas, but not fiance ones, and definitely not boyfriend/girlfriend ones.

To sum it up, there are basically three visa routes:
1. Student visa: She doesn't want one
2. Work visa: She can't get one
3. Spousal visa: You could give it to her if you were married

Again, as AK mentioned, it might be time for the two of you to have a serious discussion about whether or not you're ready to get married and/or if you think your relationship could survive a long-distance period. Those kinds of talks aren't always easy, but as a lot of people on this forum can attest to, they're discussions just about every international couple has to have sooner or later.

Hmmm, a related question - you are half Japanese, half British - what is your citizenship as Japanese cannot have dual citizenships (you have to choose). If you are in England as a British citizen, then even if you were married a spouse visa wouldn't apply and your company (and you) need the correct visa to work in Japan.
As to your question/problem, as others have pointed out, if you GF wants to go to Japan, they need their own visa - they cannot just go and visit/live. And currently, for the foreseeable future, Japan is being very restrictive on granting visas, and for the time being has suspended issuing/processing all visas for non-residents.