Declan Murphy wrote:
> And in the case of a spouse visa, since it is issued on the premise that 
> the holder is married to and living with a Japanese national, an 
> extended absence would result in the eventual termination of the visa - 
> the only exceptions being where the Japanese spouse was also absent for 
> the same/similar period.

What would happen in the reverse situation ? Foreign spouse living in 
Japon, but japanese spouse outside. I know that's strange, but I have 
met some people who I thought might have been tempted to do something 
like that.

What you say sounds similar to a mariage invalidation because the spouse 
do not live together, in fact something like that can happen in my own 
country but only during the first year of mariage.

Or the mariage is still perfectly valid, but the immigration will 
systematically refuse spouse visa ?
Would they do that in any case where they have strong reason to suspect 
the spouse do not live together ? What would they say when confronted to 
someone like Alexandra David-Neel ?