Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship for Undergraduate Students 2028

The Japanese Government (MEXT) Scholarship for undergraduate students pays for a full bachelor’s degree at a Japanese national university, plus a year of intensive Japanese before it. Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology funds it, and in the embassy recommendation route described here, the Japanese embassy or consulate general in your country runs the first round of selection. Most scholars spend five years in Japan: one preparatory year and four years of degree study, or seven years in total for medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and six-year pharmacy.

The round for scholars arriving in April 2027 is closed. Embassies set their own deadlines, and most fell in May or early June 2026. Guidelines for the next round, for April 2028 arrivals, are not out yet (checked 9 October 2026). The Study in Japan portal, run by JASSO for the Japanese government, says embassies recruit in April and May and hold the first screening between May and August. Everything below comes from the guidelines for the 2027 round, which are the latest published. Expect the next set to look similar, with dates moved forward a year.

What MEXT pays

Item	Under the 2027 guidelines (checked 9 October 2026)
Monthly allowance	117,000 yen, plus 2,000 or 3,000 yen in some designated regions
Tuition	Entrance examination, matriculation and tuition fees at the university are waived
Flight to Japan	An economy ticket from the international airport nearest your home, if you arrive in the set window
Flight home	An economy ticket at the end of the scholarship, if you graduate and return by the final month
Length	Five years from April, or seven years for six-year degrees

The allowance can change with Japan’s budget each year. MEXT does not pay rent. Scholars can live in the preparatory school’s residence or a university hall where rooms allow, but they pay for it themselves, and the guidelines warn that families with children may struggle to find housing. The first payment arrives one to one and a half months after you land, so MEXT suggests bringing about US$2,000 to cover the gap. You also pay for travel to your own country’s airport, airport taxes and travel insurance.

How the five years run

Unless you are placed directly, the first year is a preparatory course designated by MEXT. Social sciences and humanities students go to ABK College and natural sciences students to Osaka University. The course is mostly Japanese, with mathematics, English and social studies or physics, chemistry and biology depending on your field. At the end you sit the entrance examination of the university MEXT has picked for you.

That university is decided by MEXT, the university and the preparatory school together. They look at your results in the embassy’s written exams, your record in the preparatory year, your intended major, and how many places the university has. If you fail the preparatory course, or complete it but are not admitted, the scholarship ends and you go home. Classes at university are in Japanese unless you have been directly placed on a course that does not require it.

There is a way to skip the preparatory year. Applicants in social sciences and humanities with enough Japanese, or any applicant whose Japanese is strong enough, can ask for direct placement. So can applicants to an undergraduate course that does not need Japanese at entry. Each embassy has a list of courses that accept direct placement. You fill in a separate preference form only after passing the first screening, and if no university agrees to take you by mid-February, you go to the preparatory school instead.

Who can apply

• A national of a country with diplomatic relations with Japan. Dual Japanese nationals living abroad may apply only if they give up Japanese nationality by the time they arrive.
• For the 2027 round, born on or after 2 April 2002. MEXT allows exceptions only for national circumstances such as compulsory military service or war, never for personal ones.
• Twelve years of schooling outside Japan, a school-leaving qualification equivalent to a Japanese upper secondary school, or an equivalent examination, completed by March of the arrival year.
• Willing to learn Japanese, take an interest in Japan, and, as a rule, study in Japanese.
• In good health, confirmed by a doctor on MEXT's own form.
• Able to arrive in Japan between 1 and 7 April, or in the window a university sets for autumn direct placement.

Some people are ruled out whatever their grades. Serving military personnel and military civilian employees cannot take up the award. Nor can previous MEXT scholars, people applying for another MEXT programme in the same cycle, or anyone already enrolled at a Japanese institution as a privately funded student, unless they will finish before the scholarship starts. You must also enter Japan on a new Student visa, even if you already hold another Japanese residence status.

Some embassies add rules of their own. The Japanese embassy in Kuwait, for example, only takes applications from Kuwaiti citizens. Read your own embassy’s notice as carefully as the MEXT guidelines.

The two screenings

The first screening happens in your own country. The embassy or consulate general reviews your documents, sets written examinations and interviews the strongest candidates. Every applicant takes the exams, and the subjects depend on your course:

• Social Sciences and Humanities A and B: Japanese, English and mathematics (A).
• Natural Sciences A: Japanese, English, mathematics (B), chemistry and physics.
• Natural Sciences B and C: Japanese, English, mathematics (B), chemistry and biology.

The exam results also feed into where MEXT places you later. Calculators are not allowed. Each embassy sets its own exam dates and does not give reasons for its results.

Candidates who pass are recommended to MEXT, which runs a second screening and makes the final choice course by course. Passing the embassy round does not guarantee an award. Final results come through the embassy after February of the arrival year, so in the last round, from February 2027.

Applying in practice

You apply to the Japanese embassy or consulate general in your country of nationality, never to MEXT in Japan. The documents for the 2027 round were:

1. The MEXT application form for the year, with a recent passport-style photograph.
2. Transcripts covering every year of upper secondary school, and of university if you have attended one.
3. A graduation certificate, or a certificate of expected graduation if you are still at school.
4. A recommendation letter from your class teacher or head teacher. Any format is accepted.
5. MEXT’s medical certificate, completed by a doctor.
6. Copies of any Japanese or English test certificates issued in the last two years, if you have them.

Applicants send two sets: one of originals and one of copies, with each document numbered in the top right-hand corner. Documents not in Japanese or English need a translation into one of the two.

Before the next round opens

The 2028 round has no published dates yet, so the useful work now is preparation. Get your school transcripts in order. Watch the website of the Japanese embassy in your country from early in the year. If you are not sure the embassy route suits you, compare it with other funded undergraduate awards using our eligibility checker, and put the expected window into the deadline planner once your embassy announces it. Our guide on asking for a recommendation letter covers the one document you need from someone else.

Check every rule against the official Study in Japan undergraduate page and your embassy’s notice before you apply. Where the English and Japanese guidelines differ, MEXT says the Japanese text applies.