How to Apply Japanese MEXT Scholarships 2021/22

We have more specific information for application below.

If you successfully qualify for the MEXT Scholarship, you’ll receive:

¥120,000 yen per month for undergraduate students.

¥146,000 yen per month for Japanese Intensive Course students and research students.

¥147,000 yen per month for master’s program students.

¥148,000 yen per month for doctoral program students.

An economy class air ticket to Narita or Haneda International Airport in Japan. (Currently, the MEXT Scholarship doesn’t cover additional travel costs from the airport.)

Waived or refunded application feesfor the university.

Waived admission fees for the university.

Waived tuition fees for the university.

Roughly, you’ll receive around a minimum of $1,000 USD per month to live, eat and travel in Japan and have all your tuition costs covered. That’s a pretty decent gig, we think!

But still, if you’re not convinced…

Why Should I Apply for the MEXT Scholarship?

If any (or all!) of the following apply to you, then it’s worth trying out for this golden opportunity:

You’re interested in studying abroad in Japan.

You want to improve your Japanese language skills through an immersive experience at a Japanese school.

You want to attend school for free.

You’d like to have money to live in Japan while studying in school.

You want to travel but want to have a larger purpose or objective while doing so.

You want to learn more about Japanese modern culture and meet Japanese people.

Types of MEXT Scholarships

There are multiple types of MEXT Scholarships one could look into and each of them have unique requirements that must be met. In addition to meeting the following requirements, you’ll also need to pass one or a few examinations in order to receive a recommendation from an embassy.

Research Student Scholarship

This scholarship is for those who are enrolled or want to be enrolled in a master’s, doctoral or professional graduate course and want to conduct research in a particular field in Japan. Typically, these students are linguistic or cultural studies majors.

Requirements:

Be under 35 years old.

Be a college graduate or have completed 16 years of schooling.

If you haven’t graduated yet, apply for this MEXT Scholarship before the expected day of departure as a scholarship holder.

Undergraduate Student Scholarship

This type of scholarship is for fresh high school graduates who want to start college in Japan.

Requirements:

Be between 17 and 22 years old.

Have completed 12 years of education or have a high school diploma.

If you haven’t graduated yet, wait to apply until the year you’re expected to graduate.

Specialized Training College Student Scholarship

This scholarship is for foreign students who wish to spend up to three years at a Japanese technical or vocational college.

Requirements:

Be between 17 and 22 years old.

Have completed 12 years of education or have a high school diploma.

If you haven’t graduated yet, wait to apply until the year you’re expected to graduate.

Japanese Studies Scholarship

This is essentially the “exchange student” scholarship. You’ll go to Japan for a certain amount of time to study, then return to your home institution.

Requirements:

Be between 18 and 30 years old.

Have completed 12 years of education or have a high school diploma.

Be enrolled as an undergraduate student in a country outside of Japan before applying and be able to return to that institution upon your return from Japan.

Major in Japanese language or Japanese culture.

How Do I Apply for the MEXT Scholarship?

Here’s a simple 10-step plan to follow in order to apply for the scholarship, which takes into account the requirements and other aspects of the application process:

Have or acquire a passport.Depending on your home country, there are many different ways to go about this.

Acquire a Japanese student visa.

Be between 17 and 35 years of age,depending on which scholarship you decide to apply for.

Be a citizen of the country you reside in and be sure that the country has diplomatic relations with Japan.

Be aware of important dates related to applying.

Select a university in Japan that you want to attend and submit an application to that school ahead of time. It’d be wise to apply to multiple schools of interest.

Study past examination questions to improve your chances of getting the scholarship.

Fill out an application online by the designated deadline.

Submit all application materials to an Embassy or Consulate General of Japan near your area.

Have at least an elementary level of Japanese before applying—you will need to pass a Japanese exam in most cases to receive an embassy recommendation.

You might not be able to change your age or citizenship in order to apply, but you can definitely pull off the final step at super-speed with FluentU.

FluentU takes real-world videos—like music videos, movie trailers, news and inspiring talks—and turns them into personalized language learning lessons.

The authentic experience will also be a great way to prepare for hearing real Japanese speakers once you make the move to Japan. Choose FluentU if your goal is to cover everything and stimulate every skill, fast. Sounds ambitious, but the immersive FluentU approach really gets the job done at every skill level.

What to Do if You Don’t Receive the MEXT Scholarship

Maybe you’re afraid of applying for the MEXT Scholarship and failing. Maybe you’ve received a letter telling you that you, unfortunately, don’t qualify.

Don’t fret. Students apply for scholarships of all sorts and don’t qualify for them on a daily basis. Sometimes it isn’t meant to be and you should look into other scholarship opportunities. Sometimes it isn’t meant to be right now and you can always apply for the MEXT Scholarship next year.

It’s also important to remember that you can learn Japanese without going to Japan quite easily, so if that’s a major reason that you want to apply for this scholarship, you’re in luck. In-person and online Japanese classes, courses and lessons are abundant all over the world. Many are affordable and some are even completely free!

Are you interested in applying for the MEXT Scholarship now that you know more about it? You’d be surprised how many opportunities there are out there for Japanese language learners who want to travel to the Land of the Rising Sun.

Maybe you’ll score this scholarship next year. Who knows? It doesn’t hurt to try and apply!