Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship for Research Students 2028

The Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship for Research Students pays international graduates to study and research at Japanese universities. It is funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and covers tuition, a monthly allowance and return flights. “Research student” is MEXT’s umbrella term: it includes people enrolled in master’s and doctoral courses, and people doing research as non-regular students before they sit a graduate entrance exam. This page is written for applicants whose goal is a doctorate.

Most applicants come through the embassy recommendation route, where the Japanese embassy or consulate in your country runs the first stage. A smaller university recommendation route also exists, in which certain Japanese universities nominate students from partner institutions abroad. That route is run by the universities and is not covered here.

The round for students arriving in 2027 closed in spring 2026, with each embassy setting its own date. The 2028 round has not been announced (checked 9 October 2026 on Study in Japan). In the 2027 cycle, MEXT’s schedule had embassies calling for applications from around mid-April, with first screenings from early May to late July. Most embassy deadlines fell in May or early June, but some were earlier, so the date that matters is the one your own embassy publishes.

What it pays

MEXT warns that the amounts can change each fiscal year with the government budget. The flight to Japan is paid only if you arrive within the set window, and the return ticket only if you go home by the end of the scholarship period. You pay your own way to the departure airport, airport taxes and travel insurance. The allowance is suspended for long absences from the university.

The road to a doctorate

How long MEXT pays depends on how you enter.

• Directly into a doctoral course. If a university gives you a provisional acceptance as a regular doctoral student, MEXT pays for the standard length of the course: three years after a master’s, or four years in medicine, dentistry, veterinary science and some pharmacy fields. This needs a master’s degree, or a bachelor’s plus at least two years of research at a university or research centre that the graduate school accepts as equivalent.
• As a master’s student first. You are funded for the master’s, then apply to MEXT for an extension to continue into the doctoral course. Extensions are granted only to students with strong results who have passed the doctoral entrance exam.
• As a non-regular research student. You spend up to about two years (until March 2029 for the 2027 intake) researching in a lab, often after six months of Japanese language study, and must pass an entrance exam and win an extension to move into a degree course. Non-regular status alone never leads to a degree.

If you hold a master’s already, aim for direct entry. Universities need a clear research plan to accept you at doctoral level, and it removes one extension decision from the chain.

Who can apply

You need the nationality of a country that has diplomatic relations with Japan, and you apply through the Japanese mission in that country. Japanese nationals cannot apply, and dual nationals must give up Japanese nationality by the time they arrive. For the 2027 round you had to be born on or after 2 April 1992, with exceptions only for national circumstances such as military service or war, never personal ones. You must be willing to learn Japanese, pass a health check, and be able to arrive in Japan in April or in September or October.

Some people are ruled out: serving military personnel, former MEXT scholars who have not had three years of study or work since, people applying to another MEXT programme at the same time, and people already studying in Japan as privately funded students, with narrow exceptions.

How selection works

The first screening is run by the embassy and has three parts: a review of your documents, written exams in Japanese and English, and an interview. Everyone sits the Japanese exam, even beginners, because it is used to decide whether you need six months of language study. The English exam may be waived where English is an official language. The interview checks that you know why you want to study in Japan, have looked into Japanese universities, and can talk to a supervisor in English or Japanese.

If you pass, you contact universities yourself to ask for a letter of provisional acceptance. In the 2027 cycle this had to happen by 1 September 2026, through each university’s international student office, with no more than two universities approached at a time. You then list up to three universities on a placement preference form. MEXT runs the second screening and placement, and results come through the embassy between January and early March.

The research plan

The field of study and research plan is the document that follows you through every stage: the embassy reads it, universities use it to decide whether to accept you, and MEXT uses it for placement. It should be concrete enough that a Japanese professor can tell within a page whether their lab fits.

The stronger version names a method, a setting and a reason this lab matters. Our guide on how to write a research proposal goes into structure, and the one on emailing a potential PhD supervisor is useful once you reach the provisional acceptance stage, though MEXT asks you to go through the university’s international office first.

How to apply for 2028

Watch the Study in Japan research student page and the website of the Japanese embassy in your country from early 2027. The 2027 pack had an application form, a placement preference form, the field of study and research plan, a medical certificate, transcripts for every year of university, a degree certificate or proof of expected graduation, and a recommendation letter from your university. Thesis abstracts, language certificates and an employer’s letter are added where they apply. Use only the forms for the year you apply for. Put the expected opening in the deadline planner now, and use the winter to order transcripts and shortlist labs.