Visa Question

My friend is currently here on a tourist visa but is wanting to switch to a working visa. Is it possible if a english teaching company sponsored him if he could switch to a tourist visa to a working visa without leaving the country? OR even apply for the working holiday visa while on a tourist visa?

Yes, it is possible.

Here are the steps to take:

1) Your friend's employer applies for a "certificate of eligibility". This requires some documents from your friend that prove that your friend has the qualifications for a working visa. It typically takes between 3 weeks and 2 months for a certificate of eligibility to be issued. If your friend's tourist visa expires during the waiting time, he/she will have to leave and re-enter Japan once.

2) Once you get the certificate of eligibility, you can bring it (together with some other documents) to the nearest immigration office in Japan and apply for a "change of status of residence". This typically takes a few days again. If your friend's tourist visa expires during this waiting time he/she can (actually has to) remain in Japan.

After the completion of this process, your friend's status of residence will have changed from "tourist" to "work".

Thanks, how much will it cost to change visas if a company is sponsoring you?

Changing the status of residence costs something like 5000 Yen. But I am not sure.