Skilled Laborer Visa

I'm trying to figure out the requirements of a Skilled Laborer visa.

I'm going to be going to Le Cordon Bleu within the next year and taking their pastry and bakery course and was maybe going to spend a year or two working to get experience and save up money.. I was wondering what I'd need to do/have to get a skilled laborer visa? Just to work at like... a hotel or something.

I tried looking online (and at MOFA's website which didn't have requirements, just what you need to send in with a visa application) and I found sites that you need a diploma (a certificate wouldn't cut it right?) or 3 years or 5 years or 10 years of experience, some sites say 3, 5, or 10 years of experience, and some say strictly 10 years of experience.

I'm kind of (really) confused...help please?

I believe that Skilled Laborer visa requires an employer in Japan to sponsor you for the visa - so you need to build up enough experience elsewhere first, then look around for a job in Japan, and only when the potential employer is interested in your skills as a chef that they are willing to sponsor you for a visa so that you can work for them, you will be able to start the visa application process (or the company does that on your behalf).

The requirements for employer-sponsored work visa are either (1) a bachelor's degree, or (2) 3, 5, or more years of work experiences in the relevant field. Since chefs come with skills and experiences, (2) would be more applicable. And the "3 years" seems to apply mostly to native English speakers wishing to teach English in Japan.

Um, just looking up information on the internet on questions from restaurants who want to hire non-Japanese chefs, the guideline (from law firms, at least) seems to be that you need to have 10 years of experience as chef of non-Japanese cuisine, including the time you spend at the school in that field as well.

The necessary amount of experience you usually hear for chefs is 10 years. I am afraid it is unlikely to be something you can do straight out of school.

Are you under 31 and from a country with a working holiday agreement with Japan? (The US is not one of them). If you are, that is another possibility.

I'm in my early 20's and I'm in the US so I can't get my hands on a WHV sadly.

I was looking into going to language school then to the Tokyo branch of LCB but even though they offer 'diploma' programs I doubt that'd be good enough to get a visa.

guess I will have to teach english if I want to live and work in Japan then.