State of teaching at the moment

I was reading some 2007 posts about teaching jobs being hard to come by especially with out a degree with the closure of nova and all. Is this still the case? Can i find a job teaching english without a degree in current times? Thanks.

Degrees are usually and I say "usually" or "most of the time" required by Immigration authorities in order to issue you a full fledge "Work Visa". So if you have no degree, and are not in Japan on any other visa status (other then temporary visitor/tourist) then It would be hard to get any sponsor, simply because they can't get you a Work Visa.
Even with work experience, its harder then to hire someone with a degree.

Now, if you are already in Japan under some other visa status (again other then Tourist/temporary visitor) and already have permission to work, then having or not having a degree becomes less of an issue, as all they are is you have a proper permit. Of course if you wanted to do university or higher levels yeah of course having degrees certificates etc is recommended.

I was going to do a work holiday visa and look at teaching children or adults so i guess il just rock up to tokyo and ask around .

What about for people with degree but no experience ? I've never taught an english class to anyone in my life. Do they put you in some kind of training or will they even take you?

Also, I'm Asian American. I heard the typical stereotypes are that MOST of the time they only would prefer a caucasian person because that's how Japanese people look at HAKUJIN as native english speakers.

The concept that English teachers should be Caucasian is getting pretty dated now. I know plenty of Japanese-Americans, Chinese-Australians, Pakistani-Canadians, Filipinos and Malaysians etc. teaching.

The vast majority of people arriving here to teach English have no experience. Schools/ companies will usually give you several days training in their methods.

As an American with no degree though, you are not eligible for any kind of full working visa, and there is no working holiday visa for US citizens (I'm guessing Adam is Australian). You would need to come over as a student and then you could apply for permission to work part time, but you need to show proof of a lot of funds to support yourself while studying.

Can you provide a few names of schools that provide training around tokyo? I know of the big chains but they require a degree.

Also, I'm Asian American. I heard the typical stereotypes are that MOST of the time they only would prefer a caucasian person because that's how Japanese people look at HAKUJIN as native english speakers.

I'm Asian American, I happen to know many other Asian/British and even Asian/Non Westerners teaching English. As long as you just don't start confusing the Japanese by saying "I'm Chinese/Korean etc dash - American" and just tell them "I'm from the US, eg New Jersey or whatever your home is" then you're fine, sometimes you might have to stress your English ability, but other times no, othertimes employers just care you can breath and have the right visa.
Are there some ignorant people out there? Of course, but thats everywhere including at home.