Permanent residence in japan

I'm currently a citizen of the uk, and i want to become a permanent resident of japan, i understand that i need to have been in the country for ten years as i am not married to a japanese national. The part that complicates me is wether or not i can get a work visa, despite having not been to university.
I'm 19 years old and have been thouroughly researching this matter but i'm struggling to understand all of the details, can anybody help me?

In your current situation all you can get is a working holiday visa (or a student visa if you have the funds to study here), which is for a maximum of a year, and does not lead to any other long-term stay visa in Japan unless you qualify for that visa.

To get a working visa you need either a degree, or 3 years related work experience if the job is English teaching or translating or similar. For other job fields usually around 10 years work experience is required.

Basically if you do want to live in Japan long term, get a degree- at UK universities it only takes 3 years to get a BA I believe. That might seem a long time to you now, but it will be well worth it as it will open up a lot more opportunities to you, one of them being the possibility of staying in Japan for more than a year. Perhaps look at doing some of your studies in Japan.

I am afraid there is no way around these restrictions- the Japanese government sets minimum education and/or work experience requirements for people wanting to migrate here, just like any other country has its own requirements.

In any case, before you set your heart on permanent residence in a country you have not spent much time in (have not yet been to?) why not come on a working holiday visa for a year and see if this really is a place you could live long term- many people find that a year is plenty, no matter how much they thought they loved Japanese culture before they arrived.