Visa to join a Japanese company, but not as a regular employee?

Hi all, apologies if this has been thoroughly answered in other threads, but I thought there may be enough of a unique nuance to seek clarification.

tldr: My company is open to relocating me to their Japanese entity, but not with full Japanese employee rights. Is there another employee type that would make them happy (eg contractor) and also be eligible for a visa and residence?

I work for a startup outside Japan. A few years ago they were expanding into Japan and still retain a registered company and one or two employees there. I was hoping that this would allow me to relocate within the company and move to Japan (it’s a remote friendly role anyway).

They are okay with that in theory, however their Japan expansion stalled and they want to avoid taking on new employees there, largely due to the different regulations and employee rights etc. Basically, the company is still in flux and I think they want to feel free to make redundancies if needed.
This means that I would need to join the Japanese business as a contractor, or a role where their employer obligations are somewhat limited.

Getting a work visa (and residence status) for a contractor role doesn’t seem possible, but is there a way to make it work? Or is there another employment category that might be better suited?
How do Global Employment Organisations manage this, since they couldn’t possibly take everyone on with complete workers rights?

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And just to get it out of the way, it’d be somewhat preferable to go through this less stable company than look for a new job in Japan right off the bat, simply due to Japanese salaries generally being lower.

Thanks

by testsubject23

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