If your objective is work or a long-term stay

Working visa

Professor (Examples: university professor, assistant professor, assistant, etc.)
Artist (Examples: composers, songwriters, artists, sculptors, craftspeople, photographers, etc.)
Religious activities (Examples: religious people such as monks, bishops, missionaries, etc.)
Journalist (Examples: newspaper journalists, magazine journalists, editors, news cameramen, announcers, etc.)
Investor/business manager (Examples: company presidents, officers, etc.)
Legal/accounting services (Examples: attorneys, judicial scriveners, public accountants, tax accountants, etc. certified in Japan)
Medical services (Examples: physicians, dentists, pharmacists, nurses, etc. certified in Japan)
Researcher (Examples: researchers, investigators, etc. at research institutes, etc.)
Instructor (Examples: teachers, etc. at elementary schools, intermediate schools and high schools)
Engineer (Examples: scientific engineers, IT engineers, etc.)
Specialist in humanities/International Services (Examples: foreign language teachers, interpreters, copywriters, designers, etc.)
Intra-company transferee (Examples: people transferred to the Japanese branch (head office of the same company, etc.)
Entertainer (Examples: musicians, actors, singers, dancers, sportspeople, models, etc.)
Skilled labor (Examples: chefs specializing in the food of a foreign country, animal trainers, pilots, sports trainers, sommeliers, etc.)
Highly skilled foreign professional visa

Cultural activities (Examples: unpaid internships, people studying the tea ceremony or Japanese flower arranging, etc.)
College student (Examples: college students, pre-college students, etc.)
Training (Examples: trainees in a local government, etc.)
Family stays (Examples: The spouse and children, etc. of a foreign national on a long-term stay)
General visa: Technical intern training (i)(a)/(b)

Spouse, etc. of a Japanese national (Examples: spouse of a Japanese national, biological child of a Japanese national)
Spouse, etc. of a permanent resident (Examples: spouse of a permanent resident, biological child of a permanent resident)
Long-term resident (Examples: persons with Japanese ancestry, Indochinese refugee settlers, the spouse or children of Japanese nationals left behind in China, etc.)
Designated activities (Examples: foreign nationals who wish to enter Japan as personal help privately employed by diplomats, etc., foreign nationals who wish to enter Japan for a working holiday or for paid internships, candidate nurses and care workers who wish to enter Japan based on an EPA, etc.)

Diplomatic (Examples: constituent members of diplomatic mission, diplomatic couriers, etc.)

Official (Examples: administrative and technical employees of diplomatic missions and members of the service staff, etc.)