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Hi Travis !
This is flame again. I have now learnt to leave a comment here and not the old site hehe. 😁
Thank you for the reassurance in the last message but I have some sad news huhuhu. 😭
Turns out, the way my email was worded made me feel like I was being recommended to MEXT.
The mail included sentences like “The final selection results are scheduled to be available in June 2025. And please understand MEXT prohibits candidates to apply for the MEXT scholarship through multiple universities. Please note that in case MEXT found out you also have been recommended by another university, you will lose all candidacy as a MEXT scholar.” which made me think yess I am being recommended while infact only the Graduate School was sending my application to the head office for further screening.
I received a reply yesterday and I was not selected in the head office screenings. 😭😭😭
No worries though, I know the process is a marathon and not necessarily a sprint hehe
I just wanted to ask that while I applied for Masters, there are also candidates applying for PhD.
I know from your blogs that the university has a 3 candidate recommendation limit after the changes in the recent years.
So, I would like to ask you if you have the information about, if me and the PhD applicants are all evaluated within the same category of PG/Research Students or is it separate for Masters and separate for PhD ?
Also, I did not select the Masters up until PhD option in the application. Do you think maybe that might have made the committee skeptical regarding my commitments as my research plan is a bit broad in terms of timeline ?
I now plan to apply through the embassy track and wish to apply under the same research plan as I think it is a good plan given the time and effort that I have put into it and how far I went in the University Track. However, embassy usually says the research plan needs to be directly related to past study and I am afraid since I did not even pass the preliminary screening the last time. I would kindly like to request your advice/suggestions on this.
I did not think the question would be this long. Sorry for a very lengthy message. Thank you very much for everything that you are doing to help us. I appreciate it and I am grateful.
Wishing you well Travis. Take Care <3
Hi Flame,
I am very sorry to hear that! Based on the email contents, I would have reached the same conclusion that you did–that the university had decided to nominate you to MEXT.
However, I am happy to hear that you are determined to try again.
For the general category scholarship slots, they are not separated between Masters slots and Doctoral slots, or at least, MEXT does not separate them. Universities may decide to separate slots internally, or to prioritize certain faculties. (For Priority Graduate Programs, slots are designated separately for Masters and Doctorate.)
I don’t think that your selection of Masters only would have hurt you. That’s really just a reference question anyway and is not binding in any way. You can change your mind later. But if your research plan is too broad, that might have been an issue if you were competing against other applicants who had a more tightly focused plan. At the point where they are trying to select the final three nominees out of all of the applicants nominated by all of the graduate schools, it’s really hard to guess what could have made the final difference.
For the Embassy Track, you don’t need to match the names of your degree fields exactly, or anything that specific, but you do need to show that there is some logical connection/progression between your research topics.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis,
Thank you very much !
I appreciate your reply.
Take Care <3
Regards,
Flame
Hi Travis,
Sorry for the double comment 😛
I had already sent the previous one and was reminded I forgot to mention/ask a few things.
First, thank you I will look into my research plan.
With regards to I need to show that there is some logical connection/progression between my research topics, I would like to ask if my current interested/potential research topic revolves around the learnings from my current employment activity, Would it suffice ?
Again, thank you very much Travis.
It is honestly very hard to pick myself up again and go through the rigors of everything but I do hope I do well in the embassy track. 🤞
Take Care <3
Sincerely,
Flame
Hi Flame,
Thank you for your kind feedback. I can imagine how difficult it is to pick yourself up and prepare right away for the next application, and I admire you for making the effort.
The research topic relationship has to be to your previous degree, not to your working experience, but you could also connect your working experience, if appropriate. If you can show the progression from previous degree to working experience to topic in Japan, that could work, but they are still going to want to see some connection between your studies. If nothing else, they want to establish that you are going to be ready to start Masters level studies in the new field (i.e., you have the necessary academic background).
By the way, I didn’t mention this before, but you should definitely mention your connection with the university in Japan where you already applied so that they know there is a university and advisor prepared to accept you.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis !
Greetings.
Thank you for your clear answer. I understand it better now. Turns out I was still not in the clear regarding the Past field of study. I appreciate it very much.
The idea is so much clearer to me now, as if a knot has been unknotted.
Also, thank you very much for your advice. I had never thought regarding it or towards this being a possibility. I would be grateful and would like to kindly request if you could let me know how I might be able to / should mention mention regarding my connection with the university so as to let them know the university/graduate school and my advisor are prepared to accept me.
Thank you very much !
Also, I am getting over not being selected and feel better already with regards to preparing for the embassy track. You words of encouragements have been very helpful as well.
I am truly grateful.
Wishing you well as well. Take Care Travis. <3
Sincerely,
Flame
Hi Travis !
I was brushing my teeth today when it hit me, there are additional questions on the application form for Embassy track.
Being tooo into University track made me forget that. So, I now have an idea where I can do the mentioning as you have suggested.
Thank you very much for your advice. I will proceed accordingly.
Sincerely,
Flame
Hi Travis !
Greetings,
I have been double commenting time and again haha. I should really think things through before making a comment it seems. Yesterday, I could not think of a thing or any area in the application that I would be able to mention that, which is why I made that comment. I was having tunnel vision thinking about the research and study plan only.
This morning, while brushing my teeth, It suddenly hit me. What I am applying this time around is the Embassy Track and I have been too hung up on University Track so far. I remembered there are additional questions in the Application for the Embassy Track. Now I know where I should mention it.
Thank you very much for the advice. I will mention it in my application accordingly.
Lastly, I would love any tips and pointers that you might have on how to and how not to present things within the application.
Thank you once again. I am grateful as always.
Sincerely,
Flame
Hi Flame,
Sorry, I should have suggested the application form essay questions directly! I’m glad you figured it out though.
In the FSRPP, you can show “Studies in X led to my choosing a career in Y and my interest in studying Z”, but depending on the examples, that can be tenuous. Using the essay questions to explain your research topic as the reason you became interested in Japan or making the connection (including the connection to your particular university) in the essay about why Japan is the best place for your studies is also a great place to reinforce it.
My biggest piece of advice for what “not to do” in the essay questions is, don’t be general and boring. You are only writing one set of essays, but reviewers will be reading through dozens or more. So, you have to make the effort to stand out and not just offer bland statements that anyone else can write. I have more suggestion in my article about How to Complete the Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship Application Form, too.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello,
I’m a Japanese studies major trying to get MEXT Japanese studies (Nikkensei) scholarship. I don’t really expect this question to be answered since this website is mostly about graduate scholarship, but there is almost no information about this scholarship because its probably the least popular. So, i passed the exam and interview with no problems and got recommended by my embassy. My question is how likely am i to get the scholarship in the end with this program? With undergrad program and stuff like teachers training its pretty clear that rejection rate is pretty high even after the first screening and graduate applicants almost always get green light after getting LoA, but for Japanese studies… No clue at all. Most of the people who post about this scholarship usually get positive result in the end, but this might just be survivorship bias (people who get rejected just dont want to post about it anywhere). So if there is any info about second screening process/likelihood of success for this specific program, i’ll be very grateful. Thank you.
Hi Yashar,
As you feared, I’m afraid I do not have any insight into the selection process for Japanese Studies Scholars after embassy nomination, but perhaps other readers can add their experience.
When I handled inbound MEXT scholars at my previous university, we only got the list of Japanese Studies Scholars who had already passed the screenings. For what it’s worth, there is also a University-Recommended Japanese Studies Students application process and for that one, there is a predetermined number of slots allotted to each university, so that may also be the case with the Embassy process.
For programs like Teacher’s Training and Colleges of Technology, my understanding is that slots are not pre-allotted to specific countries (at least, not in all cases). Applicants compete for a pool of slots after passing their respective embassy screenings. For the graduate scholarship, on the other hand, each embassy has a pre-determined number of slots, so that is why it is not competitive after the embassy screening.
I hope other readers have experience that they can share that will provide more context.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your reply. I didn’t know that there is such thing as pre-determined number of slots. I don’t think that its a thing for embassy recommended program, because rejections are rare at second screening for japanese studies, but they do happen. I talked with a couple of people who got the scholarship and they all pretty much told me that rejections are rare and most of the nominees get the scholarship in the end. If ask me, my application is more than good enough for this program, but who knows what they want at MEXT, thats my main concern. Well, i guess i only have to wait at this point.
Hi Yeshar,
If there is a low rejection rate in the secondary screening, that suggests to me that there is a pre-determined number of slots given to each country. The low rejection rate would come from embassies only nominating the number of candidates that they know can be selected. In cases like that, MEXT is double-checking that the embassy did everything right and then handling the placement. The ministry would not be screening the contents of your application on a competitive basis.
That also means that the embassy screening is the strictest part of the evaluation so since you have passed that, I do not see why you would have any reason to worry about rejection at this point!
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your reply. I hope what you are saying is true, makes me less anxious. By the way, it looks like embassies became stricter in terms of selection this year for Nikkensei. In some european countries no one even passed exam stage even though in the last years embassies just took at least 3 people who did the best. Makes me think that there are some slot cut shenanigans going on at MEXT and thats why maybe there are less passing candidates from embassies this year. but thats just me overthinking. Thank you again!
Hi Travis!
I wanted to ask one more thing. While collecting my documents, to get pdf of medical certificate, i just googled “mext medical certificate 2025” and downloaded the first one i saw. Right now i think it was a bit foolish and i realized it only now. While looking at my embassy’s website out of boredom, i noticed that the version of medical certificate on the website is different from the one i submitted. This one was also for 2025 but it looks like they changed it? There are not so many differences (they added only vaccinations i think) but there are. The key things are still the same and my certificate says that i’m perfectly healthy and fit. Still, i’m worried that i submitted the wrong one, embassy didnt notice that and MEXT might reject me because of wrong document. Should i be worried? I mean, embassy saw that my document is different from other applicants and still greenlit me
Hi Yashar,
Since the embassy accepted the documents and sent them forward, I doubt MEXT would reject you over using the old form. Especially since the conclusion was that you are fit. If they see that conclusion, they probably won’t give the rest of the form more than a passing glance. If they notice the difference, they might as you to go back to your doctor and have the new sections completed, but that should be the worst of it.
But for anyone else reading this comment, this is why I recommend you always get the forms directly from the organization (embassy or university) that you will submit them to.
Good Luck
– Travis
Hi Travis,
Thank you for always being there and providing support for our studies.
I would like to know if it’s possible to invite my legally married spouse to Japan under a dependent visa, given that we don’t have a child yet.
Would the government and university only approve the application for an unavoidable reason (e.g., having a child)?
Thank you in advance for your help.
Hi Morningstar,
Yes, it is possible. Having a child together is not a requirement for applying for the dependent visa in any way.
You might see references to children or proving parent-child relationship in the dependent CoE paperwork description, but that is because you would use the same Dependent CoE application for a spouse or a child.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Dear Travis,
Thank you very much for your valuable information.
I have successfully passed the interview round, and the university has decided to propose me for the MEXT scholarship. However, they have requested me to resubmit my IELTS result, as my initial score was 7.0 overall, but my speaking score was only 5.0. Unfortunately, I am unable to improve my speaking score in time for the deadline.
In this situation, is there still any chance for me to proceed with the application? I would greatly appreciate your advice.
Best regards,
Harry
Hi Harry,
Congratulations on passing the university’s screening!
As far as I know, MEXT only really looks at the overall band score, not the individual skill scores, so this should be a university requirement, not a MEXT one, so I cannot give you a certain answer.
Is the reason you cannot improve your speaking score in time because you weren’t able to raise your score or because there wasn’t a testing opportunity in time to meet their resubmission deadline? In the latter case, you could make the case that they did not give you enough time between the initial request and the submission deadline (if that is true) and ask for an extension. If asking for an extension, make sure that you can tell them your expected test date and score release date.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Dear Travis,
Thank you for your reply. I have already requested an extension for the deadline but unfortunately, I was still unable to meet the requirement.
In this situation, Is there any chance if my professor could negotiate with the university on my behalf?
Thank again for your time and support.
Best regards,
Harry
Hi Harry,
Without seeing the history of the messages between you and the university, all I can do is guess.
While I am not particularly optimistic that your professor’s intervention could make a difference, if the university is insisting on the score submission as a condition to your nomination and you have no other options (including other tests you might take), then it sounds like there is nothing to lose by trying.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis!
I got your book and relied on the information on your blog/homepage and I was awarded with the MEXT in 2022 and have now progressed to my PhD studies, thank you so much!
I recently think I read a few months back that from April 2025, MEXT will make a change allow for parallel scholarships to be acquired by a MEXT scholar, but now I cannot find that information. Do you know anything about this, or is it still so that you can only receive the MEXT scholarship and nothing else (research grant money exempted).
Thank you for any insight!
best, Steven
Hi Steven,
Thank you for your kind feedback!
I never saw a specific announcement about MEXT scholars being able to obtain parallel scholarships, but I noticed that the application guidelines for the 2025 scholarship seems to allow it now.
Up through the 2024 application cycle, one of the disqualification criteria was that applicants who were receiving any other parallel scholarship that covered the same items as MEXT (e.g. tuition, living expenses, travel), would lose their eligibility. From the 2025 application cycle, it was changed to say that only parallel scholarships provided by the Japanese government or related organizations would make an applicant ineligible.
That change seems to support what you’re saying. Since I have only seen it in documentation for new applicants, I can’t say for certain that it would apply to ongoing awardees, but I cannot think of any reason why it would not.
Good Luck!
– Travis
As always, many thanks Travis! Please have a good weekend!
Hi,
I have a quick question about the MEXT Uni Recommendation Route.
Is it possible two apply for MEXT Uni Route for two school in the first place, then after they annouce the result (if I was selected/ nominated as a potential MEXT candidate by the school) I can still accept 1 and reject 1 and ultimately choose 1 of the school?
My situation: I apply for 2 grad school (let’s call it school A and B), school A said it will annouce result in 28/2, school B said it will be around March. I’ve yet to decide which school I should follow, I probably will after further investigation in the coming days. I’m just a bit afraid that, after seeing some websites saying I can’t apply for two school and might get reject for both. I do hope you can shed some light on my situation, since the school B do not have an exact date for annoucement of result, therefore I’m not sure how long school A will provide to let me accept/ reject the admission.
Additionally, for the MEXT form, if my situation is like above, question (9) ‘Are you applying for any other Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarships for which scholarship payments will begin in fiscal 2025? It is not allowed to apply for other Japanese government (MEXT) Scholarships at the same time.’ should be Yes or No (I’m not sure Fiscal here range from when to when)? School B required me to fill this form from the start, and I put No. However, now the school A also give me this form I’m not sure what to put.
Hope to hear from you soon
Hi Jonathan,
It is not possible to apply for two MEXT Scholarships as you have described and it sounds like you have already lied on one of your applications (when you answered “No” to Question 9 at School B despite applying to School A for the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship, as well.)
The answer to question 9 for both universities must be “Yes” in your case, since you are applying for two MEXT Scholarships that begin in FY2025.
If it is discovered that you have applied to multiple universities, then both applications could be rejected. And if, for some reason, you end up on the list of nominees for both universities, then MEXT could cancel all scholarships for all nominees from those two universities.
Besides that, by staying in contention, you are possibly denying another applicant the chance to win the scholarship and denying one of the universities the chance to receive their full quota of scholarships.
I think that the ethical and responsible choice would be to withdraw one of those applications now but I cannot tell you what to do.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your reponse.
If I also apply for school B ‘normal’ admission, then the best thing I should do, in this circumstance, should be withdraw the MEXT one of school B right? Since it should not affect MEXT in this case.
Additionally, could you clarify the ‘apply’ here means? The date of mentioned above is the school public annoucement who is select as a potential candidate, not the actual final result (it should be 2-3 months after that). The term ‘apply’ here could either means apply from the beginning (like submit everything at the start), or apply to the school (like accept the admission and go in to the school). I thought of the first 1, and we would have some time to ‘decide’ which if we do accept to be nominated or not at the annoucement date I mentioned (Even my supervisor who received MEXT a while back said this). Therefore, I’m very confused right now.
Hope to hear from you soon so I can make the right decision and not affect others 🙁
Hi Jonathan,
“Apply” means to submit the application in the very beginning. In the case of the MEXT scholarship, when they ask if you are applying to any other school, you should interpret it to include “intend to apply”. So, if you applied to school A for admission with consideration for the MEXT scholarship one day with the intent to also apply to school B for admission with consideration for the MEXT scholarship a day later, then even on school A’s application, you would have to indicate that you were applying for the MEXT scholarship at another university.
The other situation you described, “accept the admission offer” is exactly that. That could not be considered “application”, it is “accepting the offer”.
The only exception would be if you applied for self-financed admission (“normal admission”) to a university that does not have a separate MEXT scholarship application process but chooses their MEXT scholarship nominees from the top self-financed candidates. In that case, you would not be considered to be “applying” to the MEXT scholarship until the time that the university contacted you to say that you were one of the top candidates and therefore they would like to nominate you to MEXT. In that case you would be “applying” as soon as you accept their offer to nominate you and you could not have two active MEXT Scholarship applications at that time.
There is no need to withdraw your self-financed/normal application to school B, as long as you let them know that you are not making yourself a candidate for the MEXT Scholarship.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi Travis! I accidentally posted this same question on a unrelated article
I’ve been wanting to apply for the Undergraduate 2027 scholarship in Russia next year and have been learning Japanese with slow but great success, over the time I’ve had a few questions pile up due to my curiosity about the entire process and your blog posts have been able to answer most of them, but I had other questions pop up and I want to know your opinion and answers on them if you are able to
About the Application Process:
1. In the Instruction document, it said I should bring the school diploma and the uni diploma, if I have studied in college do I need to bring the diploma from college and school or do I need to bring just the school diploma?
2. If I will be studying in 2026 during the time the application for the year 2027 will be in process, would I have to bring the notice of finishing
education on a certain date from the education center or would be fine? Asking this because in the country i’m from it’s only 11 years of schooling compared to Japan’s 12.
3. If I’m from a very unpopular country where students apply like my country, would the applicants be not looked over as much due to the low amount of applicants there?
4. Do grades in school or uni/college matter? Does the more recent one matter more or they both do? I had bad grades in school but I’ve been improving in college.
About the the Interview itself:
1. If I’m gonna be apply for the Japanese Linguistics, would a Research Plan of improving the foreign language studies, the way it was studied by students and also teached, make sense?
2. Are interviews fully in English/Japanese or do they allow the interview to be done in the official language of the country the embassy is located in?(e.g. conducting the interview in Russian in the Russian Japanese Embassy)
I would appreciate it if you can answer any of those questions
Cheers!
Hi Michael,
My area of expertise is the MEXT Scholarship for graduate students and I am less familiar with the undergraduate process, but I will answer your questions as best as possible. I also recommend that you read the official application guidelines, since it seems you have some of the procedures confused with the graduate scholarship.
Application process:
1. You must submit the secondary school diploma and transcript plus any transcript or diploma from undergraduate studies if you have one.
2. You only need a certificate of expected graduation if you plan to finish the program in question before starting your MEXT Scholarship. If you will withdraw, then it isn’t necessary.
3. As long as the MEXT Scholarship for Undergraduate Students is available for application in your country, you are allowed to apply and your application will receive all due consideration. However, it appears that most countries do not have a pre-allocated number of scholarship places, so you may be competing with applicants from several other countries for a small pool of aggregate slots, which would make the competition much more intense!
4. I cannot be sure, but I assume that secondary school grades receive more attention, since that is the common factor for all applicants. If you had a completed undergraduate degree, that might get consideration, but in that case, you would be much better off applying for a graduate scholarship!
Interview questions
1. You do not need a research plan for the undergraduate scholarship, but you should be able to make a case for how the degree you will earn in Japan will help you contribute to society in a specific way.
2. The interview should be in English, with some Japanese to test your ability if you have indicated any in your application, but I have heard of some interviews also using the local language in cases, so I cannot be completely sure. I do not have any specific examples from Russia, but maybe someone else can chime in to share their experience!
Good Luck!
– Travis
Greetings again
About the college diploma question, in our country, colleges count as part of the secondary school depending on if students left school after the 9th class, thanks to that colleges are required to educate students who left school early all the basic studies in the 2 year period of what would be teached in the 10th and 11th class and that counts as second education as well as preparation for the profession.
I just was wondering if the more recent diploma would receive more attention than the one thats old since technically newer diplomas would state the more recent results of the students competence(not sure if this is a correct, or even a real word but what I meant is the students “will to study” and their “perfomance”). About the certificate of expected graduation, once I do show it, do I need to show the proper diploma before departure or after the first/second screening? Another question related to the screening process, from what I can gather, the second screening is competitive in the same way as the first one for undergraduates?
Anyways, thanks for clearing up alot of my original questions as well as the Research Plan question, I thought it was designated for Undergraduate scholarship as well and it was the main thing that would always make me worried since it meant I wouldve had to write up a large document and stuff, ofcourse I wouldve had some assistance from my English teacher, but luckly thats not the case, looks like less stress work for me for the time being and should worry about the interview questions.
Cheers!
Hi Michael,
I’m not familiar with the education systems in all countries, so thank you for clearing that up.
What matters is the diploma and transcript of grades from the last phase of your secondary schooling (in other words, the schooling that would give you the qualification to apply for a university/undergraduate degree in your country). If there are multiple steps to secondary schooling, then it is the last step that matters.
In Japan, that would be high school or upper secondary school, consisting of grades 10, 11, and 12, if that helps.
So, you need the certificate of graduation or expected graduation for that schooling as well as the transcript of grades.
If you have not finished your schooling at the time of application, you will need to submit the final transcript and certificate of graduation later. The embassy should provide more instructions once you pass the screenings.
For the undergraduate scholarship, my understanding is that the secondary screening is competitive unless your country is one that has a pre-determined number of slots. (We previously discussed that is not the case for you.) So, yes, expect competition at that screening, too.
I hope that helps. Sorry about the education system confusion earlier.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Dear Mr. Senzaki,
I hope this message finds you well. My name is Sara, and I am currently preparing my application for the MEXT scholarship. As part of the application requirements, I need to calculate my GPA according to the MEXT scale.
In Peru, the grading system is based on a scale from 0 to 20, where the minimum passing grade is 11.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could assist me by reviewing my grades and helping me determine my GPA based on the MEXT system. I have attached a document with all the relevant grades for your reference.
Additionally, I would like to ask if there are any different considerations for calculating GPA for applicants from Latin American countries, and if being in the fifth superior would be taken into account in the evaluation process.
Hi Sara,
I think you also sent me an email with the same question and your transcript attached. However, there is not enough information in your comment, email, or attachment for me to figure out how to convert your grades. You need to find an “explanation of the grading system”, as I described in my article about How to Convert Your Grades for the MEXT Scholarship.
Once you find the explanation of your grading system, you should be able to figure out the grade conversion yourself using that article or the article of examples. But if you are still struggling, the examples article linked above explains how you can submit the system to me so that I can add it to the article. (It may take me a while to get to it, though, so please do not expect an update right away.)
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello Travis,
First off, thank you for all the informational material you provide. It has been extremely helpful in my preparations for the MEXT scholarship.
What does keep deeply worrying me, is the research plan. While I do have a very general field and very long-term plans that would all tie it in, in an academical sense, I have no idea how to pick out a particular topic. I am an Astronomy student and plan on doing a PhD in Japan with the help of the MEXT scholarship. While Japan does have a wide range of possibilities for someone like myself, I have the problem of not being able to exactly define a particular topic, worrying that it will force me to do my doctorate in that exact topic. “Topic” here, I mean Radio Observations of far away objects, or Satellite Instrument development. The former is a more research focused topic, the later a more engineering related topic, while the former could also be tied in with particle physics and cosmology.
I have been contacting potential supervisors asking them if they would accept foreign graduate students and have even managed to narrow down my list of institutions to just three. But so far I had my e-mails either get ignored, indirectly declined (by being redirected to the institution’s recruitment rules – my e-mail clearly not being read) or directly declined (due to the professor leaving) and then ignored, after asking for other professors that work on similar topics.
The problem comes with writing the research plan and presenting a proper topic. Since it is for a doctorate, I will have to apply as a Research Student first, but does this also mean that the topic I present has to be something at the frontier of my field? My former supervisor also insists that I should try to contact potential PhD supervisors to consult with them before making a research plan, and that actually they should be the ones that give me a proper topic for my PhD. Is that correct, or are there some cultural differences at play here?
How do you properly contact a professor at a Japanese institution to ask him if he is interested in supervising your PhD in a general field? I am slightly worried that I might have used an improper tone and offended some. I do contact them in English by their title of Professor, since I am very uncertain about my Japanese capabilities.
Thanks.
Hi Piotr,
Thank you for your kind comments.
I literally wrote a book that answers your questions and I’m not sure that I can give a useful answer in any shorter form.
You should have a fully fledged research topic and plan ready to propose before contacting potential advisors in Japan, especially at the PhD level. Of course, be flexible to change it if the advisor demands, but if you come to them with nothing and ask them to help you develop a topic, of course they will ignore you. (Why would it be worth their time?)
Your research proposal should also be close to the professor’s topic, so you need to research them in advance as much as possible to decide if they would be a good fit or not.
I have much more advice included in the book (including how to research professors and how to contact them) and can’t fit all of it in a brief answer here. If the book is out of range price-wise, you could always ask your university library to buy it in paper or digital form so that you can read it for free, too.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hey, Travis!
I just got notified by my prospective academic advisor that I have been accepted as a MEXT scholar(Embassay recommedation). During my preparation process, I got a ton of help from your helpful insights and information. So, I just wanted to say thank you and I truly appreciate your help and what you are doing for current and future MEXT scholars.
Hi Won,
Congratulations and thank you for sharing this happy news!
I am thrilled to hear that you were successful and will be headed to Japan, soon.
(For anyone else reading this, advisors aren’t supposed to reveal that you have been selected before the official announcement, so if you haven’t heard anything yet, please don’t worry!)
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hi travis,
I wanted to apply through a university recommendation route but In the university website the course I am willing to apply is not associated with MEXT what should I do now? is there any other option I could get the scholarship?
Hi Rosy,
I’m not sure what you mean when you say the course is not associated with MEXT. Could you explain in more detail?
Even if the program that you want to apply to is not a PGP program, there may still be an opportunity to apply for it via the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship. But if the university you want to apply to has chosen not to accept applications for the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship at all, or only for certain courses, then you would have to find another option instead.
In general, you could choose a different university that offers a similar degree program or, if that university accepts Embassy-Recommended MEXT Scholarship students, you could wait for that application cycle.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hey travis, thank you for the reply what I meant was in the university website it is written special priority is given to the following courses for mext scholarship from certain field like from dentistry there’s one course selected, from engineering one course is selected and so on . But the one course I was planning to do is not in the special priority list does this mean I won’t be considered for mext scholarship from university??
Hi Rosy,
Thank you for the clarification!
I don’t thing I’ve come across anything like that before where the university specifically says which courses have priority (unless those are PGP courses).
If they are prioritizing specific courses and yours is not on the list, then I think that makes it very unlikely that you would be selected unless there were no suitable candidates at all in the prioritized courses. (If the prioritized courses are PGP programs, though, that does not apply! PGP Programs are counted separately.)
If the prioritized programs are not PGP programs, then I think you would have a better chance applying somewhere else instead.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello Travis, thank you for providing us with such an extensive blog regarding the MEXT scholarship, I do have a bit of questions though.
1.) Im in my Senior High school years and once I finish how do I really do the academic transcripts part, my country uses report cards per year so do I just compile them as one. Also Im confused on who can issue or make these transcripts
2.) I have been in only two schools for the whole duration of my secondary education. school A for junior and school B for senior. Do i seperate the two according to schools or keep them as one
(pls excuse the lack of question marks, the button does not work for me. i didnt want to seem rude)
i hope you can help me with this since i really want to prepare in advance and not screw up my application form. many thanks again. :))
Hi Annielise,
1. If your high school does not issue a single record of all of your academic performance over the course of four years, then submitting your report cards should be an acceptable alternative. Have you asked your schools about providing grade records? I would assume that they need to provide those records to any student applying to university in any country. If your school has an office that helps prepare students for university, I recommend you consult with them. Usually, schools are the ones that issue their own transcripts, but they should be able to tell you if that is not the case for you.
2. Assuming a system where you spend 3 years each in junior high and senior high (or 2 and 4, etc.), only senior high school education should be relevant, so you would not need to submit records from junior high school.
Good Luck!
– Travis S.
Hi, I’m in the year 11 of my senior High school years and have a few years to prepare before applying to the MEXT embassy scholarship for undergraduate. I have a few questions and if you could find some time to answer, it would help me and I will greatly appreciate it!
A.) Are there some limited slots per field and which ones are more competitive in general? (I’m aiming for the undergraduate course in Sociology.)
B.) I’ve just started, but the current theme I have in mind for me right now is that I wanted to use my studies in Japan to live, take part and be fully immersed in the culture of Japan, and I greatly appreciate its several advances in life such as tech stuff,education, arts, music and the like. Throughout my years of studying there, I aimed to bring my knowledge from Japan to strengthen my own country and be a bridge in the relationship between Japan and my home country. Would that be a too general of a respone and what else do I need to consider?
I really hope you read this and answer, thank you!
Hi Ren,
My area of expertise is the graduate scholarship, but I will try to address your question as best I can.
1) There is no official limit of slots per field within MEXT’s guidelines, but MEXT and your country’s government may choose to allocate slots to certain fields. I know that this has happened in some countries with the scholarship for graduate students. Unfortunately, unless the embassy comes out and states that there is a limit, there is no way to know for sure.
2) Yes, this is a perfect of example of being way too general and meaningless. Any other applicant could say the same exact thing, so you need to think of something that is unique and makes you stand out. Your theme should be something specific that you will contribute to the world in the future. It should be something that you will become able to do after your studies in Japan, and it needs to be related to your field of study. So, think about the situation in your home country, its relationship with Japan, and your own skills and background then come up with a unique and meaningful contribution that you will be able to make to society as a Sociologist trained in Japan. (Of course, it needs to be something that is meaningful to you, too!)
I have an article about maximizing your MEXT Scholarship chances that describes how to develop your theme that should help!
Good Luck!
– Travis S.
Thanks a lot for the quick and honest reply! Honestly speaking I wanted to just use the mext scholarship as a great base for when I work as a CIR(coordinator of international relations) under the JET programme in Japan too. Should I just roll with that then?
Hi Ren,
Thank you for your reply. I don’t mean to be cruel, but this is an area where I often see MEXT applicants fall short, so I want to emphasize how important it is to make a unique statement here.
Working for the JET program as a CIR also isn’t significant enough, either. No statement about getting a job or working for someone would be. You need to go further and describe how you will use that job to make a unique, specific difference in society. It should be related to your field of studies, too. The job should just be a stepping stone to something meaningful that you intend to accomplish.
I hope that makes it a little more clear.
Good Luck!
– Travis S.
Hi, Travis
This year, I plan to apply for the MEXT university recommendation from the Nara Institute of Science and Technology. However, I am currently a bit stuck on the application form. Could I ask you about the publication section? Should I include my thesis even though I did not publish it?
Thank you very much for your help
Hi Fajrul,
In my article about how to fill in the University-Recommended MEXT Scholarship application form, I cover that exact question with an example of how to cite an unpublished thesis.
Please see the link above for details.
Good Luck!
– Travis S.
Hi, I’m new here.
Please, what are the basic requirements for the undergraduate category of the scholarship and can a secondary school graduate apply too?
Hi Fikayo,
My area of expertise is the scholarship for graduate students, but you can find the eligibility requirements for the undergraduate scholarship and other information about the application in the official guidelines on the Study in Japan website.
Good Luck!
– Travis S.
Hello…..
I am a MEXT Ph.D student from this October and I am making plan to bring my wife and son here in Japan. I heard there are government day care facilities for children in Japan and parent should pay the fees of day care according to their monthly salary. If I admit my son in day care of Japan government, should I pay monthly fees of child care according to my MEXT scholarship allowances?
Thank you in advance.
Hi Anonymous,
As far as I understand it, the fees for those institutions are based on the amount of Residence Tax (juminzei 住民税) you pay, not directly on your income. So, you would need to know the amount of Residence Tax to calculate your costs.
I should also note that, depending on where you live, it might not be possible to find a place in a day care (Hoikuen). In my city, we were not able place any of my children in the day care category (age 0-2) because there weren’t places open in any of the ones near us and we were low priority because my spouse was not employed at the time.
Good Luck!
– Travis S.
Hello,
First of all, I would like to thank you for your guidance and replies to questions for MEXT applicants! The helpful information on your website (new name/URL now!) really contributed to my passing of the primary screening of the MEXT embassy track 2024/2025!
Unfortunately, as for my request for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance(s) from 2 universities, I was recently rejected from both. And now the period of requesting LoPA from universities is already over for the MEXT Embassy track (2024/2025). So I would like to ask whether is it possible and a good idea for me to:
1. List out a different graduate school (in the SAME university)? As I found another professor who her special field really matches my research plan, in a different graduate school but same university (I did not choose to request LoPA from her at first because another professor from the other graduate school also matches my study plan, however, he might be close to his retirement. Therefore, that may be the reason why I got rejected).
2. If it is possible, should I contact that professor in a different graduate school, the same university, to ask whether she can accept me? (and sending her my research plan and other documents, if requested).
3. If 1. and 2. is not possible or highly discouraged to do so. Should I still contact other universities (ones that I had not contacted for LoPA nor rejected me) to ask whether they can accept me? Or this should not be done as the period for “contacting” university (whether it is for LoAP or not) is already over?
Thank you so much for your hard work and your time for answering,
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
Thank you for your kind feedback. I wanted to move to a new URL that made more sense and was easier to remember. 🙂 I’m glad I could help with the Primary Screening advice, at least, though I am sorry to hear that your LoPA application process didn’t go as well.
1. Whether or not you can reach out to another professor at the same university depends on where you were in the application process when your application got rejected. If you were applying to a university where you reach out directly to the professor for approval (either first, or as the only step), and the professor rejected your application, then you might be able to list another professor from the same university. But, if you submitted your application officially to the university and they rejected it, then you should not list that same university again.
Honestly, I have almost never seen a case where two different professors in different graduate schools at the same university could both be potential supervisors for the same research, though. The only examples I know of is where the two schools are very similar in content, but one has an academic focus (e.g. Life Sciences) and one has a practical focus (e.g. Medicine). So, in any case, really make sure you understand the professor’s research and the degree program in the school you intend to apply to!
2. You cannot get any official acceptance at this point and trying when it is already a month past the deadline may actually hurt your case with that professor (or any professor that you reach out to), since you will look like someone who ignores the rules when they are inconvenient. (I know what you’re trying to do and I’m not accusing you, I’m just trying to picture how we would have responded at my university if we received such a message.)
3. In general, you should just list the universities and professors on your Placement Preference Form and submit it without contacting them. That’s the MEXT expectation and, as I described in 2, I don’t think that asking if universities can accept you at this point will make a good impression. You could contact the professors directly as a courtesy, to let them know that you have applied to the MEXT Scholarship and have expressed in your application that you would like to study under them, but that you were not able to reach out to them before the deadline to request Letters of Provisional Acceptance. You could ask for their kind consideration if MEXT contacts them to formally request them to accept you, but I would not recommend that you request them to give you any formal or informal confirmation of acceptance now.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Thank you for your comprehensive answer to my questions! To elaborate on my question 1. I submitted my application officially through the university, and they forwarded it to the graduate school. Here is the rephrased of their message to me:
“Your application has been forwarded to your desired graduate school, and has been carefully reviewed by the faculty members. However, We regret to inform you that the university is not able to issue you the Letter of Acceptance”.
So, I am not sure whether the university itself rejects me and therefore, I should not list (as you said) the same university on the Placement Preference Form despite being a different graduate school. OR the professor/graduate school rejects me, so I still can put another professor/graduate school within that SAME university on my Placement Preference Form?
I may ask for your opinion/suggestion further on this matter.
Thank you so much again for your throughout and quick reply!
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
Thank you for the update.
Unfortunately, your application would fall into the category of rejected by the university, since you had submitted the application to formally request a LoPA. So, I cannot recommend listing the same university again with a different graduate school.
The only exception, I suppose, would be if you had originally chosen a graduate school that teaches only in Japanese (which would have likely been the reason for your rejection) and you wanted to change to another one that teaches in English, but that’s a pretty rare situation, so it’s almost certain that you’ll have to find an alternative university.
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello again Travis,
Thank you for your clarification, it is just unfortunate to hear that you cannot put a different graduate school in a same university that rejected to provide LOPA for you.
My main concern is that my research plan is a comparative study of Tokyo and my country’s city. So, I am not sure if it is a good idea for me to put universities outside of Tokyo in my Placement or not? Or that I should put only universities that are in Tokyo or the Kanto area?
I may once again ask for your suggestion on this matter and thank you very much.
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
After our last exchange, I double-checked the Japanese guidelines about Letters of Provisional Acceptance. While the English guidelines say that you “should not” request an acceptance letter from another faculty member or graduate school at a university that rejected your application, the Japanese application guidelines actually say that you “must not.” So I think we can establish that it is not allowed.
As for considering universities outside Tokyo, it depends on how much time you need to spend on fieldwork inside Tokyo and how far away you go. If you are studying Tokyo but don’t need to physically be there for your research activities, then you could be outside the city. If you choose a university with easy access to Tokyo, that should be fine, too. If being physically present for field research is an issue, check the transportation distances from other universities into your destination in Tokyo.
Of course, the most important factor is whether or not the university has a program and professor specialized in your particular research area!
Good Luck!
– Travis
Hello again Mr. Travis!
I just want to update you that I received a positive result! I just got into my first choice of university!
I just want to thank you so much for what you have done and contributed on helping and advising MEXT applicants as me and others to try to win the scholarship. Your website is greatly helpful!
By the way, I have one question in mind whether should I contact my advisor or not via email (I am October 2025 intake so it’s still a long period of time). As on my Embassy Acceptance form, my professor states an Education Affairs email instead of his own. However, I knew his email from the university website.
I really want to thank him for taking me as his advisee and apologize for not ever contacting him beforehand (in my case, I did not possess any LoPA, so I did not have the chance to contact him).
Thank you again for your hard work!
Pookan
Hi Pookan,
Congratulations, and thank you for sharing your results! I am sure that your story will be an inspiration and a relief to future applicants who find themselves in similar situations.
I think that contacting your advisor sounds like a good idea and would be the polite thing to do. Even though it will be a while until you arrive in October, it should still give the professor a positive impression and it may (though this depends entirely on the professor) lead to some ongoing communication and preparation for you in the meantime, if the professor suggests starting on some reading or new ideas for your research topic.
I recommend keeping the initial email short and easy to read. If the professor does not get back to you right away, don’t read too much into it. This is a busy time of year for Japanese universities (for example, my university has its graduation ceremony this week and will have new students arriving just 10 days after that!)
Good Luck!
– Travis
Roger that, Mr. Travis.
Again thank you so much for always being there for us!
Wish you the best,
Pookan
Hello,
Research preference placcement form.
As the form is submitted twice and LOPAs are delivered by the universities but the field you put on the research proposal form is not well clarified as specied by the japanese service of promotion of sciences chart,
Question:
1. If for example during the first screening someone marked ”public Management and policies studies”( it must be in social sciences) as field of what He/She wants to study and during the period of seeking lopas from Universities He/She finds that among the list of Universities in MEXT program of that academic year none has specifically the same field but related ones. despite getting the LOPA in related field for example ” Global business and management studies” , could someone fill the placement form with what marked on the form of research proposal ” in the blank line” of field of study in Japan and detailed field one or put what stated on the Lopa received?
2. If so, is there any negative impact for the last screening?
Regards!
Hi NIJIMBERE Emmanuel,
You only need to submit your question once. I am not an AI and cannot answer instantly, so please don’t keep submitting it if you don’t see an answer right away.
I think you’re overthinking and worrying a bit too much about this form! After you’ve passed the Primary Screening and received your LoPAs, the important part of the Placement Preference Form is the list of universities. What you write in your field of study isn’t that important, as long as it’s close.
1. I’m actually not sure if you can change the field of study when you resubmit the form, so you should check with the embassy to be sure. I know that you can change the list of universities and professors (sometimes it’s necessary!) but your field of study should not have changed significantly. Your field of study should be based on your Field of Study and Research Program Plan, not necessarily on the name of the graduate school or department where you will study in Japan. Unless your LoPA specified a completely different research field than what you originally proposed, then I don’t think you should change this section.
2. I cannot say for sure. If your research field changed, then it might affect the embassy’s willingness to nominate you to MEXT for the secondary screening. They selected you in the primary screening based on your original field, so if that has changed significantly, that could be a problem. For the actual secondary screening at MEXT, though, it shouldn’t be a problem, since they won’t know that it’s a change!
Good Luck!
– Travis S.