Spouse visa to working visa before divorce

I'm a foreigner working in Japan as an engineer, married to a Japanese national. After living together for almost a year, I want to get divorced. The person I married has become demanding, obnoxious and does not take care about her physical appearance anymore. In less than three months my spouse visa will expire, so my wife wants me to renew it. I instead want to get divorced and have my company sponsor me a working visa, since I have a 4 year bachelor's engineering degree (and I know other foreigners at the company were also sponsored).

Im worried that maybe my wife won't cooperate with the divorce (like signing papers) and I run out of time and get kicked out of Japan.

All the information I find online about getting divorce say to first get divorced, then notify the immigration office, and finally change the visa.
Is it possible to first have my company sponsor my visa to change it from spouse visa to working visa and AFTER that get divorced? That way I could go through the divorce with peace of mind knowing that I can stay in Japan no problem.

Yes to pretty much all you questions. Immigration can touch on the finer details. You'll need to talk to them anyway for your change of status.

Being married to a Japanese person does not disqualify you from a work-related residency status. Your wife can refuse to co-operate with the divorce and make your life difficult in some regards, but she has no power over your residency status if your employer can sponsor you. You could even get the ball rolling in secret if you think that would be better, but it's not necessary since your immigration and your employer are the only ones who can decide whether or not you can stay in Japan for work. Good luck.

If your employer is willing to cooperate, and by that I mean sponsor you, that should be possible to change your resident status from �gspouse of Japanese national�h to �gengineer,�h employer-sponsored one, provided you meet the requirements for the �gengineer�h resident status. Also you�fd need to be ready with certain documents needed for employer-sponsored resident status, such as graduation certificate.
The immigration authorities will probably wonder why you want to go from one that has no restriction on work to one that limits you to a certain scope of work, so you should be ready with a concise, truthful answer.

There is one thing I�fm not absolutely sure about: once you apply for a change, I don�ft know if you will be allowed to work until you get the new status granted. In your case, it �gshould�h be OK as both the �gspouse�h and �gengineer�h status allow you to work, though.

On the other hand, if your wife wants you to renew the current �gspouse of Japanese national�h resident status that you have, and since you are married now and I assume you are living together still, you �gcould�h gain some time by getting it renewed first, then talk to your employer about your wish to have yourself sponsored by them. I don�ft know the duration of your current resident status, but this should get you at least one more year to look into things. Best wishes.