Working holiday visa - delaying approval

I want to take a year out to go travelling from July and I am looking at the working holiday visa.

As I understand it, the application process takes 3 weeks maximum and the visa expires 1 year after the date it is granted (I'm a UK citizen).

The problem I have is that if I am refused the working holiday visa then I still want to go to Japan on a holiday visa, then on to Australia and New Zealand. So my plans and the flights I buy are very much dependant upon being granted or refused the working holiday visa. I don't want to apply now and lose 4 months on the visa, but I can't delay travel arrangements around Australia/NZ until a few weeks before I go.

Is there any pre-approval process for the WHV, or any way of delaying the start of the visa until I am ready to go?

Isn't it that once you are granted the visa you have to "enter" Japan within a year's time? And once you enter, it should be valid for six months or one year (I don't know the exact duration for UK nationals), counting from the day when you enter Japan.

As far as I know (and I also originally came to Japan on a WHV), AK is correct. Once the visa is issued, you have until the expiry date to enter Japan, and then you will be given 6 months initially, extendable for another 6 months. The clock does not ticking on the amount of time you can stay in Japan until you actually arrive.

The confusion is due to the word "visa", which is often used in a wrong way in common language.

Technically speaking a "visa" is a document that grants you entry into a country as opposed to permission to stay in a country. A visa expires as soon as you enter the country. It will be replaced by a sticker that grants you a "status of residence" for the duration stated on the visa (typically between 3 month and 3 years).

So, as AK explained, the fact that your visa expires within one year only means that you need to enter Japan within one year after your visa was issued.

I had hoped that was the case. For the Australian work visa, it clearly states that once granted you have X amount of time to enter the country and then you can stay for X amount of time. The explanation for the Japanese visa was not as clear on the Japanese embassy website, it just stated 12 month expiry from being granted.

Thanks for clearing that up for me.