MEXT Scholarship (Japanese Government)

For research students in the 2027 intake, the monthly allowance is 143,000 yen during Japanese preparatory education and as a non-degree student, 144,000 yen in a master's or professional degree course, and 145,000 yen in a doctoral course. A regional supplement of 2,000 or 3,000 yen a month is added in designated areas. Teacher training students receive 117,000 yen a month. MEXT warns that amounts can change each financial year with the government budget.

The entrance examination, matriculation and tuition fees are waived. MEXT books an economy-class flight from the international airport nearest your home to Japan, provided you arrive within the set window. It does not pay domestic travel to the airport, airport taxes, travel insurance or excess baggage, and housing is at the scholar's own expense, whether in a university residence hall or a private flat. Because the first payment arrives one to one and a half months after arrival, the guidelines advise bringing about 2,000 US dollars to cover the first weeks.

Under embassy recommendation, you apply to the Japanese embassy or consulate in the country of your nationality. It runs the first screening, and MEXT runs the second screening and places successful candidates at universities. This is the route the published MEXT guidelines describe in detail. Deadlines and exam dates vary by country, so the embassy's own page is the authority on dates.

Under university recommendation, one of a limited number of Japanese universities approved by MEXT recruits and screens candidates, often through its student exchange agreements with universities abroad, and recommends them to MEXT. Eligibility, procedure and the length of the award are set by each university, and candidates on this route usually arrive in September or October, though some arrive in late March or early April. The university route covers research students, undergraduates, Japanese studies students and college of technology students. Applications cannot run in parallel: anyone currently applying to another programme under the MEXT scholarship system is ineligible.

Research students on the embassy route arrive either as non-regular students, whose scholarship runs to the end of March two years later, or directly as regular students in a master's or doctoral course, whose scholarship covers the standard length of the course. Anyone who needs Japanese first spends the first six months in preparatory language education. Master's courses normally last two years and doctoral courses three, or four in medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and some pharmacy fields.

Moving up, from non-regular to regular student or from a master's to a doctorate, requires passing the graduate school's entrance examination and applying to MEXT for an extension, which is granted only for outstanding academic results. A student who moves up without an approved extension loses the scholarship for the new course.

Scholars must enter Japan on a newly issued Student visa and keep Student status for the whole award, even if they already hold another residence status. Payment can be suspended or reclaimed for false statements on the application, disciplinary action by the university, poor grades that make completion within the standard period impossible, a change of residence status, or accepting another scholarship not approved alongside MEXT. Scholars must join National Health Insurance on arrival, and the allowance is paid only into a Japan Post Bank account.