Majority of the discussion here has been about getting 'proper' work while in Japan but I was wondering what it's like from a backpacker point of view?

I mean in Australia last year I did all sorts of odd jobs here and there for a month or two at a time (Handing out leaflets, working in hostel cleaning etc) just to top up my spending money when staying in a place for more than a few weeks and I was wondering if this sort of thing is possible over in Japan with only a limited amount of Japanese Language (enough to get by).

Problem is I think it's one of those things that unless you have done it I doubt there's much information as I didn't know how to live like that until I had to

Regards,
Leon