You’ve passed through several gates and challenges to get this far – the Letter of Provisional Acceptance is the last real test on your way to the MEXT Scholarship
Please Read the Updated Version!
Update! I have written an updated article for the 2021/2022 application cycle, and much of the information below is no longer valid. Please read the updated version at this link.
Congratulations on Passing the Embassy’s Primary Screening!
If you are reading this article, I assume you have passed the primary screening (or are preparing to pass in the near future). That’s a tremendous step!
In fact, once you have passed the Primary Screening, all you need is one Letter of Acceptance from one university in Japan and you will be practically guaranteed to receive the MEXT Scholarship! The good news is that the screening to get a Letter of Acceptance is significantly less severe than the Embassy’s Primary Screening and, as long as you avoid the major causes for rejection that I discuss below, you should have no problems at this stage.
(If you are not yet at that stage, you can find my guides to applying for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship, the Embassy Interview, and identifying professors and universities in Japan on the MEXT Scholarship Information Page!)
So, what do you need to know about getting that letter of acceptance? Let’s get started.
Three Ways to FAIL to Get a Letter of Provisional Acceptance
Let’s get this out of the way first. There are three, completely avoidable ways to get rejected by a university. Almost every LoA rejection I ever processed was for one of these three causes:
- Missing the Deadline: As of the 2020 Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship Application Cycle (which occurs in 2019), the deadline to apply to universities for an LoA is Friday, August 23, 2019 (Japan time). If you do not have your application completely submitted by that time, you’re out. Be aware of time differences and don’t wait until the last minute. An application that hits the Japanese university’s inbox at 1:00 am on August 24 is not going to be accepted, even if it was still August 23 where you are.
- Not Having the Language Ability: For some reason, every year I saw applicants to programs that were taught only in Japanese who had no Japanese language ability. Of course, they were all rejected. You need to have the requisite language ability as of the time you apply for the LoA or you don’t have a chance. (No, the one semester of Japanese language training that is offered will not improve your language ability that much. It’s not even intended to be academic Japanese in the first place, it is to help you develop enough ability for day-to-day interactions, only.)
This is an easily avoidable problem if you followed my advice in my article about how to find universities and professors in Japan. - Applying to a University Where No Professor Can Supervise Your Research: This was probably the single-most common reason for rejections at my former university. The letters would go, “Great student, great research plan, but we don’t have any doing research in that field that can supervise you.”
This is mostly avoidable if you follow the advice in the article I listed above. The only part that is beyond your control is retirements and personnel changes. That’s one of the strongest arguments for trying to get in touch with prospective professors in advance.
If you can avoid those three pitfalls, you should have no problems securing three Letters of Provisional Acceptance. Here is the process you need to follow to make sure you get everything done.
Choosing Your Universities
By this point, you should already have selected up to three universities and professors that you want to apply to. If not, I have another guide to help you locate universities and professors in your field of study.
If you have already been in contact with the professors for networking, that is to your advantage, but even if you have tried to contact the professors and gotten no response, do not let that hold you back. Many universities will not give you the time of day until after you have passed the Primary Screening – it’s nothing personal. In fact, it might just be university policy!
If you have a list of universities and professors but want to change it from the information you entered on the Placement Preference Form, that should still be possible. You should contact the Japanese embassy or consulate in Japan for more details on their policies. In every case I am aware of, you will have to submit the Placement Preference Form again after acquiring the Letters of Provisional Acceptance and, at that time, you will have to make sure that the universities on that list are all universities that have offered you a Letter of Acceptance (or are still processing your request, but have not rejected your request outright). So, most applicants have to change the list on their form.
Deadlines
Applying to Universities for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance
After you have passed the primary screening and received your documents back, as well as the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening from the Japanese Embassy or Consulate, you should contact the universities in Japan that you want to apply to immediately!
The deadline to contact universities to request a Letter of Provisional Acceptance for the 2020 scholarship application cycle is Friday, August 23, 2019 Japan Time. MEXT has instructed all universities in Japan that they are to refuse any applicant that contacts them on or after August 24. Keep in mind that Japan is ahead of most countries in terms of time zones. Do not wait until the last day! An email sent on the 23rd in your time zone that arrives after midnight in Japan will not be accepted.
MEXT has instructed universities to reply to applicants with the final results within approximately one month of receiving the request. This is not an immediate process and you shuld not expect instant results. August is summer vacation at Japanese universities and most faculty members will be away (though staff will still be present), so there is going to be a delay in almost all cases. However, if a month has passed since you contacted the university and you have not heard back from them, then it is OK to contact them and politely ask about the status.
I mentioned above that August is summer vacation. In most cases, staff will still be present in the International Offices of all universities, but there are summer holidays where the entire university may be closed, with nobody present. In 2019, expect universities to be closed from August 12-15, at a minimum for the O-Bon holidays. Check the academic calendar of the universities you plan to apply to for their specific dates.
Of course, you can email the university even when they are closed, but do not expect a reply. Universities will also be extremely busy fielding applications right around the deadline, so expect delays in replies at that time, too.
Submitting Letters of Provisional Acceptance to Your Embassy/Consulate
Each embassy or consulate will set the deadline for you to submit your Letters of Acceptance and final Placement Preference Form, so please refer to the embassy or consulate where you have applied for their submission deadlines.
How Many Universities to Contact
According to the application guidelines, you may contact a maximum of three universities at one time to request a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. If one of the three universities you contact rejects your application and it is still before the deadline, then you can contact an alternate, but you should never have more than three active applications and confirmed letters at any time.
Even though there are only three places on the Placement Preference Form that you may have already submitted to the embassy, ultimately, you are only able to write the names of universities that have not refused your request for a Letter of Acceptance on that form, so there is a good chance that you will need to contact more than three universities in order to obtain three letters of acceptance.
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: Who To Contact
Per MEXT’s instructions, you should reach out to the International Office at the university where you intend to apply, not directly to a faculty member. (Though if you are already in touch with a faculty member, you can let them know that you are submitting the application at the same time.)
Your embassy or consulate should have a list of staff members responsible for accepting MEXT scholarship applications at various Japanese universities. If you already know which universities you want to contact (see my article on how to identify the best Japanese universities and professors for your field of study, then the embassy staff may be able to help you.
If you cannot get the information from the embassy or consulate, you will need to find it on the universities’ websites. The best way I have found to do this is to search Google for your university name and the words “embassy mext”. For example “University of Tokyo Embassy MEXT.”
You may find that the universities do ask you to contact a faculty member as part of your application. In that case follow the university’s instructions.
I tried this researching the application process at 7 different universities using the Google method above and in every case, besides Keio (because Keio has the be the exception to everything), the top result was the page with the instructions on how to apply for a letter of acceptance.
Despite MEXT’s instructions that applicants should contact the international offices at their target universities, you can see from the list below that the actual practice can vary significantly from university to university.
Just for reference, the universities I tried and their results were as follows:
- University of Tokyo: Contact the administrative office of the graduate school where you want to enroll
- Tohoku University: Contact the professor, directly
- Kyoto University: Contact the professor, directly
- Osaka University: Contact the professor to get their approval, but apply to the international office
- Waseda University: Contact the international office
- Keio University: Obtain approval from your desired professor then apply to the International Center for the Letter of Acceptance.
- Ritsumeikan University: Contact the international office
Applying for a Letter of Acceptance: What to Send
If you found the website with the Letter of Acceptance application procedures for your university, you should have seen a list of required documents there. Follow those guidelines over the instructions below, as they may contain additional requirements that you do not want to miss. The information I have provided below is from the MEXT guidelines, so it is more general.
You will be sending all of your application documents by email attachment to the university.
I recommend that you do not attach them all in your first email. Your application document scans may have a very large file size and many university email accounts in Japan have size limits. If your attachments exceed the limit, your mail will not be delivered. So, you want to contact the university first to let them know to expect your application. A text-only email should not have any problems with size limit filters!
Before sending your documents, you should reach out to the office or professor you have identified, let them know that you plan to apply and that you will send your application documents in a subsequent email. If you got the name and contact information from one of the sources I mentioned above, then there is nothing rude about sending your application documents to that person without waiting for their reply.
I recommend that you scan all of your documents together in a single pdf file. This is easy enough to do if you have a scanner available and you can even scan documents as a pdf from a smartphone using the free Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Scan apps. (Download Adobe Acrobat Reader and it will guide you through setting up the Adobe Scan app). There is no excuse for sending your documents as individual jpeg files for each page. Don’t do it!
In order to request a Letter of Acceptance from a university, you are required to send the university the following documents. These should be the documents that you submitted to the embassy and had returned to you after the primary screening
- Application Form
- Field of Study and Research Program Plan
- Certified grade transcript for each academic year
- Graduation certificate or degree certificate of the last university attended
- Recommendation letter from the president/dean or the advisor of the last university attended or the university currently attending
- Abstracts of theses (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Certificate of language proficiency (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Recommendation letter from the present employer (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Photograph(s) showing applicant’s own works of art or a digitally recorded media of musical performance (only if submitted to the diplomatic mission)
- Copy of a passing Certificate of the First Screening issued by the diplomatic mission
Notice that the Placement Preference Form and Medical Certificate are not on that list! Per the application guidelines, you are not to send those documents to the universities. Furthermore, universities have been instructed that they cannot request those documents from you.
If a university requests that you send either of those documents, politely tell them that your instructions from MEXT were that you are not allowed to submit them to universities. You can send them a link to the application guidelines in Japanese saying so as well. Here is that link:
The university may also ask you to submit additional documentation. As long as it is not the Placement Preference Form or Medical Certificate, then you are required to submit it. That includes submitting language proficiency certificates, other test scores, etc., regardless of whether you had previously submitted them to the embassy or consulate.
Caution: Arrival Date in Japan and Status in the Letter of Acceptance
There are a few things you will want to pay particular attention to in your Letter of Acceptance. The first is your arrival date in Japan. Regardless of what you wrote in your application form for your desired arrival date in Japan, the date specified in your Letter of Acceptance is going to be final. In general, it cannot be changed once you have been placed at that university.
Another thing to check is your status. In your application form, you had the opportunity to fill in whether you wanted to arrive as a research student or a degree-seeking student (in the master’s doctoral, or professional program).
In order for the university to issue you a letter of acceptance as a degree-seeking student, you would have had to have passed their entrance examination prior to them issuing the letter. Unless the university considers a screening of your application documents to be a sufficient entrance exam, the chances are high that you would not have passed it yet. In that case, the university would issue you a letter of an acceptance as a research student.
This can change!
The university will have 2 opportunities later to “upgrade” you to a degree-seeking student before your arrival:
- During the placement phase: After you submit your letters of acceptance and final placement preference form to the Embassy, MEXT will conduct a secondary screening of your application. Essentially, it is just a double-check, not a competitive screening. After that secondary screening, MEXT will contact the universities on your Placement Preference Form one-by-one to ask them to accept you. If you have passed the university’s entrance exam in the meantime, then when the university replies to MEXT to confirm that they will accept you, they can change your category at that time to degree-seeking student.
- Upon arrival in Japan: If the university agrees to accept your placement as a research student, but you then pass their entrance exam prior to arriving in Japan, then the university can send a notice of change of status and change of scholarship payment period to MEXT and you would be able to start as a degree-seeking student immediately on arrival in Japan.
If you do end up arriving in Japan and starting as a research student, there is no problem with that course of action, either. You will have the opportunity to take the entrance exam while in Japan and apply for an extension of your scholarship to cover the full degree program.
Submitting Your Letters of Provisional Acceptance and Placement Preference Form to the Embassy
MEXT requires that you turn in every Letter of Provisional Acceptance that you receive to the Embassy and that you list those universities in your placement preference form. It used to not be mandatory, so you might see comments from past students that they applied for more Letters than they turned in at the end. That is no longer allowed. Submitting fewer letters would constitute lying on your application and could result in your being rejected.
Each embassy or consulate controls its own deadline for when you should submit Letters of Provisional Acceptance, so be sure to consult with them. MEXT has asked universities to return letters of acceptance within one month of the application, so the embassies’ deadlines should not be earlier than that, but there are always miscommunications between the two. There is no substitute for checking directly on your own!
*Last year, MEXT required universities to produce Letters of Acceptance within a month. This is no longer a requirement, but your local Embassy might think that it is and set their deadline accordingly. If your embassy has given you a deadline, it is not rude to provide that information to the university, provided you are not demanding when you address them.
When you submit your Letters of Provisional Acceptance, you will also likely have to submit an updated Placement Preference Form. You are not allowed to list universities on your final Placement Preference Form that refused to issue you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. You are, however, allowed to list universities that have not yet replied to you as well as those that have issued you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance (even if the hardcopy of that document has not yet arrived). You should also be able to re-order your university preferences at this point, but that is also something you should confirm with the embassy.
As of the 2020 Scholarship application process, it is now mandatory to list all universities that have issued you a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. The old tactic of acquiring emergency back-up Letters of Acceptance but only submitting the one letter from your first-choice school is no longer allowed.
Secondary Screening and University Placement
Once you have submitted the Letters of Provisional Acceptance and the final Placement Preference Form, the application process is essentially over for you. All you have left to do is wait for your placement assignment, sometime between November to February.
At this point, the competitive screening is over. As long as you have passed the Primary Screening and obtained at least one Letter of Acceptance, your scholarship award is practically guaranteed. I have never heard of an applicant getting rejected after this stage of the application!
It will take a long time to the embassies to confirm that you have passed the Secondary Screening and to announce your university placement, but do not let that bother you. That is just normal, slow bureaucracy, not a reflection on your application.
In some cases, you may end up hearing from the universities even before the embassy gives you the final approval. If you hear from your professor or housing office at one of the universities on your list, you can consider that an unofficial confirmation.
Once you have your final confirmation, you should reach out to the other universities that issued you letters of acceptance to let them know that you were placed in another university and thank them for their support. You never know when you might end up interacting with them after arriving in Japan!
For more about what to expect from the secondary screening and placement, I have another article entirely about that process.
Questions?
Let me know in the comments below!
Special Thanks
Special thanks to the TranSenz supporters on Patreon, who help keep this site running through their generous contributions, especially to Daimyo Supporter Marck Rodas. Patreon supporters get early access to articles, discounts on coaching services/books, and priority responses to questions.
You can show your support for TranSenz on Patreon for as little as $1 (0.08% of a MEXT monthly stipend) per month. If TranSenz has helped you in your application process and you want to “pay it forward” to keep this site running to help future applicants, every contribution helps!
If you want to show your support but Patreon is out of reach, I’d appreciate it if you say hi on social media or in the comments below to let me know if you appreciate these posts. You can find me on facebook at @TranSenz or on Twitter at @tagsenzaki. I look forward to saying hi!
Ads by Google:
is the letter of provisional acceptance is the same as A Certificate of Eligibility (COE) which is an official document issued by the Ministry of Justice?
Hi Shihab,
No, those are completely different things.
A Letter of Provisional Acceptance is a letter from the university saying that they will accept you if you are awarded the MEXT Scholarship. It has nothing to do with immigration or the Ministry of Justice.
Actually, MEXT Scholars never get CoEs, since your sponsor in Japan is the Japanese government (MEXT) there is a special process to approve MEXT Scholars’ visas.
By the way, this article is out of date and from a year when the application schedule was completely thrown off by the pandemic. I will publish an update for this year soon, but in the meantime, I recommend that you refer to the article from 2021, which is much closer to the process and timeline for this year.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello! Thank you so much for all the insights!
While searching on some answers about MEXT scholarship I have stumbled upon you website.
I would like to ask for help.
I have managed to succeed in the First Screening . I was applying to the scholarship knowing to which university I want to go and already with a massive support from prospective supervisor. I knew exactly which university I want to chose and that was my only choice on the preference list.
I thought that I will easily obtain the Letter of Acceptance.
However the University I applied to for Letter of Acceptance , although I had already confirmed that the professor will supervise me , declined me request and said that they are not accepting students with MEXT scholarship.
Is it possible? I thought that with MEXT you can apply to any University in Japan. This University has never had a MEXT scholarship student, I’m wondering whether they made a mistake or actually not all the schools are available for MEXT scholarship.
I wouldn’t like to go to another University, but if I don’t apply to other Uni and don’t get any LoA what would happen? Can I reapply next year? Wouldn’t it disqualify me?
Thank you for your help in advance!
Hi Elżbieta,
I am sorry to hear that the university declined your request. That seems surprising to me. Every university in Japan is eligible to accept MEXT scholars, but not every university is required to do so.
Were they aware that you are applying for a Letter of Acceptance for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship? (There is also a university recommended MEXT scholarship and that requires a lot more effort on the part of universities, so I think it is reasonable that they wouldn’t want to handle that, but for the Embassy, it should not be that much work).
I would suggest getting in touch with your prospective adviser again, explaining the situation to that professor and seeing if they are willing to find out more information for you at the university, or perhaps persuade them to consider accepting you.
It sounds like you had your heart set on this one university and it must be a shock that they initially refused to accept you, but I would encourage you to try to think of an alternative. Perhaps another university close to the one you were interested in, where you would still be able to stay in touch with that professor and perhaps even consult with them. (Maybe that professor will even be able to recommend an alternative to you if they are not successful in convincing their own university to accept you).
You have already come so far in the application process – passing the Primary Screening is no easy task – and it would be a shame to give up on it now. Besides, even if you were to withdraw and try to apply again next year, you would likely be facing the same decision you are now about having to choose another university. Instead, I would encourage you to try to (politely) push again at the university you want to attend (after all, if they’ve already rejected your request, what do you have to lose by being persistent?) and if that fails, consult with that professor about an alternative. He or she will certainly have a network with other professors in the same field.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you so much for the reply.
Professor said that he got an information that in order to accept me the school should have known about the fact that somebody wants to apply on advance, and the school should’ve submitted some forms to the 文部科学省。 They said that each year they can a letter form 文部科学省 asking the school of the want to have a cooperation with them, and always they so No, nobody is going to come to our University, we don’t need that. And this year they did the same.
The school knew I’m applying with Embassy recommendation, in the mail they said that congrats but right now they cannot accept exchange students with MEXT Embassy recommendation and they cannot fulfil my request.
I couldn’t find any information whether that’s true. With the MEXT regulations we are supposed to contact the school only after the successful first screening, So it’s very confusing.
The Embassy gave as a lists of schools, with contacts and programmes open in those schools. My school wasn’t there. But I assumed that it’s just a list for the most popular ones to make it easier for people.
I always assumed you can apply to any school in Japan. There’s no list like that available before passing the first screening, no info about having to inform the school in advance in the guideline….
I don’t know who is wrong me or the Uni, I couldn’t find any confirmation.
Thank you so very much for help and support!
Hi Elżbieta,
Thank you for your reply and follow-up information.
I am aware that MEXT asks universities each year to submit the contact information of the person that applicants should contact for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship, but I did not think that failing to submit that information would make the university ineligible to host students. (It could be the case, I just wasn’t aware of it.)
One thing concerned me in your post – it might have been a typo, so in that case ignore this – but you mentioned that the university said that they cannot accept you as an “exchange student.” There is a separate MEXT scholarship for exchange students and for that one there is a very limited number of schools that can accept applicants. However, I assume you are applying as a Research Student. If the university thinks that you are applying as an undergraduate exchange student, that might be part of the problem.
However, if the university is aware that you are applying as a grad student, and they still are not willing to help you, or even to contact MEXT to see if there is anything that can be done at this point, then I do not know what else you can do there. You might have to consider another university.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
I am sorry for the unclear statement, I meant the research student. 研究留学生. I’m am applying as a post-graduate student willingly to start PhD. With the terminology the school is using it appears they know what I am asking for. However the fact that they never had any student from MEXT might mean that they actually don’t. I’m waiting for the reply from the University.
Thank you very much for your time and consideration!
Hello,
I have cleared the First Screening of the embassy-recommended MEXT scholarship in India. Now, in the placement preference form, I have mentioned three university names (Osaka, Tsukuba, Hiroshima).
I have already contacted the first two. The deadline to request is Nov 20.
Now, in the guideline of MEXT scholarship, it is said that I should have a maximum of 2 LoAs and I should contact only two universities at a time. In case, there is a rejection from one of the requests, then, I contact the third option (or, the other university) in the list.
But, the question is that there is no guarantee that universities will provide feedback by Nov 20.
So, should I contact additionally at leat two more universities in advance to increase my chances?
Also, is it true, that higher the ranking of universities greater are the chances of receiving scholarship?
Eventually, suppose, if I receive three-four letters of acceptance, then in the final placement form, I should mention only two universities name and their LoAs, right? Will it impact my chances if I have more LoA than what I am supposed to have?
Also, I would like to know whether the value of English-language Doctoral program in Japanese universities is any less or not accredited in the public universities in Japan or are such degrees of equal value as that of Japanese-language doctoral programs?
Is it required to provide more than one Letter of Recommendation from previous universities?
And, in my case, the study plan has been around 4 pages , excluding the 5-page appendices, although the recommended length was around 2 pages. So, does it matter if the main content of research plan was around 4 pages excluding the appendices?
Hi Sami,
You are not allowed to contact more than 2 universities at any time, which means that you are not allowed to contact back-up universities in case you get rejected after Nov 20.
Hopefully that won’t happen if you have researched the universities and programs well and have applied early.
If you contact more universities, and especially if you obtain more LoAs than allowed, and are discovered to have not complied with the rules, there could be a chance that your scholarship application would be rejected for that. I highly recommend that you follow MEXT’s rules and only apply to two universities at any time.
The ranking of universities does not have any impact on your chances of receiving the scholarship for the Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship.
There is no difference in accreditation of degree programs based on the language of instruction.
You are only required to provide the documents that you submitted to the embassy, unless the university specifically asks for more. If you have already passed the primary screening, you should not need to make any changes to your letters of recommendation, FSRPP, etc.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thanks for your reply.
The reason I asked to request for Letter of Acceptances to more universities, than what has been asked for is because I found in the following article (link mentioned below) where it says that the author/applicant has received LoAs from 4 universities, even though he/she submitted only 3 universities eventually to the concerned embassy. This has been done by the applicant/author of the article in order to increase the chances of the receipt of the scholarship.
Please refer to “When Choosing a University” section in the following link of the article.
https://schoolynk.com/media/articles/5fc0e3fe-ee56-44f5-9f03-4830a2b914a7
https://www.mext.go.jp/content/1415359_02.pdf
So, I would like to know whether there has been any change in the guidelines of the Embassy-recommended MEXT Scholarship for 2021 as compared to previous years or is the limit on the number of LoAs specific to certain countries?
I had applied for the embassy-recommended MEXT from India.
Secondly, as mentioned in the article in the above link, is there any quota among the universities to accept certain propotion of overseas students under the embassy-recommended MEXT scholarship scheme? If so, is there any such public information available with respect to the universities in Japan?
In your previous reply, you have mentioned that if someone receives more LoAs than what is asked for, then, there may be an issue in the receipt of the scholarship. So, how does the MEXT team in Japan comes to know about the total number of LoAs the applicant has requested for? Does MEXT Team in Japan enquire with every Japanese University whether an applicant has requested for LoA or does the concerned university intimates the MEXT Team in Japan about the LoA request made by the applicant?
The reason I am asking this is because from the applicant’s perspective, the applicant can choose which universitiy names to mention in scholarship placement form based on the positive LoAs from the concerned universities.
My point is that, even if an applicant has received more LoAs than what is asked for, and if he/she mentions finally only two university names in the final placement form, then will it matter regarding the outcome of the scholarship, if the applicant had requested for more number of LoAs than what was asked for?
As of now, I have requested for LoAs from Osaka University and Tsukuba University on 4th Nov’20, although I have mentioned Hiroshima University’s name as well. I intend to pursue full-time Ph.D. program in the area of Software engineering in English language.
I am still waiting for a response from the two universities. So, should I contact them once before 20th Nov to enquire about the status of my LoA request?
In the worst case scenario, there may be a possibility that I get two rejections and this information is intimated to me after 20th Nov, in which case I cannot proceed further with MEXT, right?
The issue with regards to more number of LoAs happen when there is a positive feedback. So, it is not the number of requests but the number of positive feedbacks, that count, am I right?
The reason I am worried about increasing my chances by getting more LoAs is because of the ranking of the universities in which I have applied for. Even though, Osaka University ranks within Top 100 in the world, how good is Tsukuba university? Is it also good in world university rankings?
I was planning to request for a LoA from Kyushu University(and probably also from Kyoto University) as a backup, instead of Hiroshima University, as because I have been in contact with a concerned professor of the university. But, because of the limitations on the number of LoAs in the guideline, I am still rethinking whether I should go ahead with the third request, just in case, or not.
Is Kyushu University better in academic reputation than Tsukuba University?
So, as of now, for requesting LoAs, I have sent emails to the concerned international student offices as well as that of graduate school offices and I have attached separate pdf files in multiple emails, instead of a single pdf file, since the file size was exceeding the size limit. As a backup, I have also provided a google drive link of all the required documents needed for LoA. So, was that the correct procedure for requesting LoA?
Now, in Dec’20, when I am supposed to submit the final placement form along with the LoAs to the embassy, the form should comprise of the names of a maximum of only two universities from which the LoAs have been received for the 2021 Oct session, am I right?
Even though, before the First Screening Interview, I had submitted the placement preference form to the embassy having three universities’ names, what matters is the number of university names in the final placement preference form, am I right?
Regarding the MEXT scholarship selection procedure, there are two parts – scholarship selection phase and university selection phase, am I right?
After the completion of scholarship selection phase, the university selection phase commence around March/April’21 or does it vary from one university to another?
In the case of doctoral programs, are overseas applicants initially categorized as non-regular/research students?
Does the universities conduct their entrance exam/interview for overseas applicants while the applicants are outside Japan or while they are already in Japan itself?
If for some reason, the applicant doesn’t qualify in the admissions entrance exam/interview of the concerned university, then the scholarship application gets denied, then and there, itself, am I right?
If the applicant qualifies in the university entrance exam/interview, then the status of the applicant changes from a non-regular/research student to regular student, irrespective of the fact that whether the applicant is in Japan or outside Japan, am I right?
Finally, since I am intending to pursue English-medium docotoral programs, will the MEXT scholarship covers the expenses for learning basic/ conversational level Japanese from the concerned university, itself? Or, is it recommended that overseas applicants should learn basic level of Japanese language before entering Japan?
Hi Sami,
There is no way I can answer all of your questions, and some of them you should be able to answer yourself by reading the other articles on this site (or this year’s updated version of this article).
For now, I will just readdress your question about the number of LoAs: The rules changed this year. For this year, you are only allowed to be in contact with two universities at any time about an LoA, including receiving positive results. If you have contacted two universities, then you must wait for the results before contacting a third.
In the past, you were allowed/requested to submit 3 LoAs. You were also allowed to contact 4 or more universities at a time in past years. That is no longer the case. The limit is 2 and that is new this year, so do not rely on articles from previous years.
When you submit your LoAs, you are declaring that you are submitting all of them. Hiding LoAs would constitute lying on your application. Maybe it will never be found out, but even if it isn’t, it is dishonest. Frankly, I want nothing to do with offering advice to someone who is planning to lie on their application.
Like I mentioned, you should be able to find the answers to some of your other questions in my other articles, but if you cannot, please leave your questions individually in the appropriate articles and I will try to address them there, one by one.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis
Firstly I wanted to thank you for the detailed information and the effort you put to answer all of the question and doubts from the readers. The document is very complete and it has been very helpful to me.
I am approaching the universities to ask to them the Letter of Acceptance and most of them are asking me or at least encouraging me to approach the professors first, to let them know I am applying to enroll to the university. At the same time, all universities ask on their application procedures to include at least one reference of an academic supervisor that I am interested in.
My question here is, given your experience, should I get in contact with the teachers to briefly explain them about my field of study and inquire if they’d be interested on being my academic supervisor?
What if most of them are already full or will not be taking students next year?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Juan Tomas Rodriguez,
Thank you for your kind words. I am glad that the articles have been helpful!
If the universities are encouraging you to contact professors, then I would suggest that you do so, especially if you need a reference. (I have never heard of a university asking for a written reference from your prospective advisor before, so that is news to me – thank you for sharing.)
Since the universities are recommending that you get in touch with the professors as part of the official application process, I would recommend that you be up front with them about your application, your desire to study under them, and include your FSRPP. Still be polite and focused on why you want to study with them, but it’s OK to discuss the scholarship application in your initial email in this case.
You should not find yourself in a situation where many of the professors are already “full” for next year, since at many universities, the regular application process for next year will still be ongoing, as well. There may be some that cannot accept you, but if you keep searching, you should be able to find one.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSez
Hello Travis, thanks for the prompt response.
(I actually wrote another post on the other entry but please dismiss it).
Ritsumeikan, for instance, does not actually indicate me to contact any teacher in advance, but I still have to include their names on the application sheet.
Do you believe it would be good to contact them anyway?
Thanks!
Hi Juan Tomas,
I’m really not sure if it will help or not. It depends on the professor. If the professor is familiar with the MEXT Scholarship, then they might reply, or might just refer you to the International Office. But if they’re not, you might end up confusing them. If you do contact them, I would suggest keeping the email short, telling them that they should be getting your application materials soon from the International Office, and saying that you appreciate their time and consideration of your application.
If you have already sent in your documents to Ritsumeikan, then you can assume that they will be in the hands of the professors, soon.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, hope you are safe and well. Thanks for this informative article.
In our request for LOA, is there an opportunity to communicate with the professor how much I like to join his laboratory? I was thinking for the email text, I will include a message of my willingness or research background or interest in his research work. Or perhaps the professor will schedule a quick interview or consultation, for us to get to know each other more? Are things like these possible?
Just ideas on top of my head on how to increase my chances of getting a LOA. I’m not sure if these are against the practices/policies of Japanese universities or generally frowned upon. Many thanks for your time!
Hi Leila,
It depends on the university and whether or not you are supposed to contact the professor directly or not. In some cases, you won’t have any direct interaction with the professor.
If you do write a message to the professor, then I would recommend that you keep it short, since that is more polite and respectful of their time, and make sure it is tailored to that professor and their lab or research. I also would not expect a response or for the professor to go out of their way to make time for an interview, etc.
At this point, the university and professor know that you have already passed an intensive screening, so they are really going to be looking at whether or not your research (your FSRPP) fits in with what they are able to supervise or not. It isn’t really a competitive evaluation, more of just a basic assessment as to whether your research fits or not.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis! Hope you are doing well.
I have passed the first screening (a thank you to you and your blog!) and now applying for a LoA.
So there is this, after i got the certificate i immediately to 2 universities (there are only 2 in my list). One directly to the professor and the other to the grad school as per their rules. And after a week, things are looking a bit problematic and i’m worried:
1-) For the former, I did not send the documents to the professor in my first email, but only told him about passing first screening, that i want to apply to his lab and will send the documents after. The professor responded after 2 hours! But unfortunately it was a very short rejection. A thank you and a direct quote: “we cannot host your studies”. I didn’t even send my documents yet. I started wondering if he didn’t understand that i have passed the first screening, his lab is full or there is something else because he provided no information at all. Now, i’m kind of stuck. I feel like asking for a clarification or sending another mail with the documents might be rude. I even thought of sending the documents to the grad school admin office this time. Yeah, that might be rude too. What do you think i should do?
2-) For the latter, I’ve sent my documents to the grad school, and sent a short email to the professor just to inform him about my application. I got no response back from neighter for a week so I don’t even know if they received my email or if my documents are correct. I’m thinking about sending a follow up email, maybe even attach the documents again as well.
Since I did not contact any professors before all of this, I am in a panicked state right now. I regret it so much, I took unis not wanting you to contact professors for LoA a little bit too seriously maybe. I might have ruined my chances.
Hi Semi,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
It has been a while since your question, so I hope the situation has progressed favorably since then.
1. I can’t really suggest what to do without having seen the emails in question, but how to move forward really depends on how determined you are to study with this particular professor (and how the professor’s curt treatment affects your desire to study with him). If your message was unclear about having passed the Primary Screening and what you needed for the application, it could be worth trying to clarify, but if you made your point clearly, then I would suggest that you consider contacting another professor, including potentially contacting a professor at a different university altogether. (You are allowed to change the universities and professors that you reach out to from your original Placement Preference Form, as long as you are only applying to two at any time).
2. It is not surprising that the university did not email you back. Often times Japanese universities will not send an acknowledgement email and will only reply when they have a result. In the past, I have heard of applicants who didn’t hear anything at all from the university until a Letter of Acceptance appeared in their mailbox one day a month later. Of course, I understand that is disconcerting.
If your original email included all of the documents attached, then you can send a polite follow-up message to the university to confirm whether or not they received it. If you say that you were concerned that it might not have been delivered because of the size of the attachments, that should encourage them to reply.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi, Travis.
I applied to three universities but got rejected by two of them.
For those two uni I applied to, I didn’t contact my desired professor in advance because they said there is no need to contact them.
And for this one uni that haven’t give me any news, I contacted my desired professor before I submit the documents to the International Office. The professor said he would accept me, so I was confident that I would get the LoA from this uni, but until now I haven’t got any updates…
(I asked a friend in America who applied to the same department and same graduate school with me, and last week she said she got an e-mail from the uni saying that they have sent the result to her address, so I expected that I would get the same e-mail too, but still no news until now…)
They said that ‘it sometimes takes until September to release the result,’ and it’s already October… Do you think I should contact the International Office or just patiently wait?
And from your point of view what is the likelihood of me getting rejected by this one uni?
The deadline to submit LoA to the embassy in my country is October 11th and this one uni is my only hope so I’m really anxious now haha.
Sorry for the long story but your advice would help me so much!
Hi Ayu,
I’m sorry to hear about your struggles with communicating with the universities. I would certainly recommend that you contact the university in Japan at this point – but first, make sure to check your spam mail box! It is not uncommon for Letter of Provisional Acceptance emails to look like spam and get filtered.
When you contact them, politely let them know that your embassy’s deadline for submitting letters is October 11 and ask if the processing will be done by then. If they have not already sent your Letter of Acceptance, then there’s a good chance that it will not arrive by post in time for the deadline, so the university may ask you to consult with the embassy to see if they will accept a scan of the letter in the meantime, while the original is in transit.
If the university is not able to get you a reply one way or another by October 11, then you would still be allowed to list that university and professor’s name on your Placement Preference Form and submit it to the embassy. In that case you could tell them what you said above, that the professor agreed to accept you, but you are still waiting on the university to issue the letter of acceptance.
If the professor said that he would accept you, then I do not foresee any problems with your application. The most common reasons for rejection are 1) not having the required language ability for the program you are applying to, or 2) there not being a professor willing and able to supervise you. Since you have cleared those hurdles, there should be no problem.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi, Travis.
Thank you for the reply.
I’ve checked my spam box and there is nothing, so I’ll try to contact the university.
Is it possible that the university rejects an application because the graduate school is over-subscribed?
And I was wondering if you happen to know did MEXT appoint a deadline for the universities to issue the LoA?
Hi Ayu,
I have never heard of a university refusing to issue a letter of acceptance because they are oversubscribed, and the professor who agreed to accept you should have known about that situation if it existed.
Issuing the Letter of Acceptance is not a final promise that they will admit you, so their student numbers should not make that big of a difference at this point. Based on the comments I’ve been seeing from other people on here, they are most likely just taking time to process applications.
I know where I worked, we did not issue Letters of Acceptance until the faculty in question had held their regular staff meeting and approved the acceptances. Since faculty don’t return to campus until late September in most cases, the first faculty meeting might not have been until the end of September or beginning of October.
MEXT did ask universities to try to issue letters of acceptance within 1 month of the application deadline, but they did not make that a strict deadline.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I hope you are doing fine. I wanted to ask if I need to submit the hardcopy of the LOA when submitting the Preference Form, or can we submit the scanned version of the LOA that is emailed to us if the hardcopy of the letter does not reach us on time?
Thank You.
Hi Harish,
As far as I know, you need to submit the hardcopy. However, if the hardcopy has not yet arrived by the deadline that you have to submit it to the embassy because it is still in the mail, etc., they may accept the scanned copy provisionally, to be replaced as soon as the hard copy arrives.
Since this is a matter of discretion by the individual embassy, I would recommend that you check with them directly if you find yourself in that situation.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
Thank you so much for your work and all the information on this website – it helped me a lot! I have one question about my situation, Yesterday I received 2 LoA from national unis from post office and currently waiting for the situation to come clear with my third uni. Meanwhile I was waiting for the MEXT results, in July I applied to the Grad school at the uni I graduated from in my home country and got in. Recently I also applied for a spring semester exchange in South Korea and just got the notice that I was approved to go by my university. I decided to apply for this exchange as a backup plan in case if I didn’t get MEXT – at least I would get to spend one semester abroad. Of course if I get the notice that I passed the second screening I will cancel this exchange and drop out of my Grad school (I’m not interested in it, just needed the dorm to live in for this half a year while we’re waiting for the results). But now I started to worry that me applying for the exchange is breaking the guidelines or something like this. Do you think there’s gonna be a problem because of this? And when do you think they’re gonna announce the results this year since all the deadlines got late? Thank you in advance!
Hi Anna,
Thank you very much for your feedback!
Applying for the exchange or grad school in your home country should not be a problem at all as far as MEXT is concerned. The only problem would be if you applied for a degree program in Japan or if the exchange program extended your graduation from your undergrad program so that you would no longer be graduating in time to start your grad degree in Japan.
In either case, withdrawing from both of them should remove any potential conflicts!
As far as the results go, I wouldn’t be surprised if they ended up being a week or so late, but they really can’t be much later than that. Already the timeline has very little room for flexibility, especially for students who will start their studies in Japan in April. The results should still be close to what I wrote about in the article about the Secondary Screening.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I’m really thankful with your blog website since it really helped me to prepare myself properly and passed the primary screening.
Currently I’m waiting for LoA from 2 universities. I would like to ask if you know how long usually needed for the university to prepare my LoA after they gave their approval? It’s been two weeks since the last email with my first university choice, which said they will process my LoA and confirming my address. I understand they must be very busy considering the postponed acceptance deadline, but I’m just a bit nervous.
Thank you very much in advance.
Hi Maygreen,
I’m happy that I was able to help!
Processing time is going to depend on each university and how bureaucratic they are. Often, they need the signature or seal of a particular person to issue a letter and if that one person is away from the office, etc., for a few days, it can hold things up by quite a bit.
After that, you need to account for mailing time from Japan to your country, as well.
If they said it was approved and processing, then you should not have anything to worry about! If you’re getting close to your embassy’s submission deadline and haven’t heard anything though, you might want to contact them again, let them know about the deadline (politely) and ask about its status.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I will try to contact the university again around two weeks before embassy deadline if there’s still no response.
Thank you so much for your response and suggestion.
Hello Travis,
I utilized your website as a guideline to apply for MEXT. I would like to thank you for all the time and effort you have put into this website to make it so accessible for applicants. I recently submitted my Placement Preference Form at the embassy after I received LOAs from professors at 2 national universities. I wanted to ask you what my chances going to Japan are hereafter? Is it possible for universities to reject you even if you have a LOA from the professor?
Thank You.
Regards,
SarahP
HI SarahP,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening and getting your LoAs!
At this point, based on my experience, you should be essentially guaranteed to receive the scholarship. I have never heard of an applicant who passed the Primary Screening and got at least one LoA that ended up getting turned down.
It is possible for a university to decline to accept you after issuing a Letter of Acceptance, but it is very rare and since you have two letters, there should be no problem, whatsoever. I think even if both universities were to decline to accept you, MEXT would still negotiate with them to get them to change their minds.
You should have nothing at all to worry about. . . just a long wait for the final results!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I would like to study at the Hitotsubashi University and pursue a MBA degree in English. But School of International Corporate Strategy which provides the only MBA in English doesn’t accept a research student.
So I am planning to send my MEXT documents to School of Economics as a research student. If accepted, while studying as a research student, I would apply for the regular admission of MBA program in the ICS school.
The thing is that should I fill the application form as a research student or degree seeking student? If I choose a degree seeking student, since only some of the classes are in English, they would reject me. In that case, it might be better to explain my plan about MBA program from the beginning but I am not sure how they would react to this.
It would be great if you could share your suggestions. Thanks a lot.
Hi Danny,
Is there a reason that you do not want to apply directly to the MBA program, without going through the research student phase first?
In general, I recommend applying as a research student first, but if there is a good reason to go straight for the degree (and this is a perfect example), the I would suggest that you do it.
If possible, I would suggest that you consider applying directly as a Master’s degree student in the MBA program.
If there is a reason that does not work, then you can try the plan as a research student in the School of Economics. Since you are ultimately only seeking approval for the first step (as a research student), it should not impact their decision that the school in question does not have a degree program for you to matriculate to that is taught in English. If they do ask you to explain, you can explain that your plan is to continue the same research, but in an English-taught degree program in the business school. That should not be a problem and the official approval process would come later when you apply to extend your scholarship from research student to degree student.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis.
The reason which I cannot apply directly to the MBA program is that ICS school does not receive MEXT documents and does not issue a LoPA.
Furthermore, my bachelor degree is Business Administration majoring in Financial Management. Is it acceptable to shift from Business Administration to Economics as a research student, if my field of study is kind of similar to one of the professor’s research area? Also sometimes I think what do research students do regularly? Do I have to completely finish and present the proposed study? Also, is there any minimum credits that I have to earn per semester? Sorry for many questions. I really appreciate all your help which has brought me to this level.
Hi Danny,
I understand your situation better now. I wasn’t aware of that grad school not taking direct applicants, but there is a particular graduate school at the University of Tokyo that is notorious for the same thing, and I have talked with a number of applicants who have done the same thing there in the past: They applied as a research student in another, related, graduate school then moved to that school for the degree program. (That’s why I know that it’s possible procedurally for MEXT).
Moving from Finacial Management to Economics as a graduate student should not be a problem at all. The point is that your research topic should be connected to what you studied before. I would presume that economics coursework was a part of your BBA to some extent and that you could find a way to link the two. Besides, since you’ve already passed the Primary Screening, you should be fine at this point, as long as the university will issue you a letter of acceptance. The primary entities you need to convince are the Embassy and the University. MEXT does not often go against what they have to say.
There is no clear definition of what a research student does, and it is up to each university and advisor to determine with you how you will spend your time. You might be taking credits in addition to doing research in a lab (and you may later be able to transfer those credits to count toward your degree). You might just be focused on research. . . there is room for flexibility. Unfortunately, that means that I cannot give you a straight answer. But you should have an idea of what you want to do during that time (research, coursework, studeying for the entrance exam). That way, you can propose your idea to your advisor, rather than waiting for him or her to decide something for you. Contrary to how that sounds, that’s actually something the advisor should appreciate, since it shows that you are taking initiative and requiring less input/supervision/time from them.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis, I’ve been following your blog posts for the MEXT scholarship and thanks to your advice, I successfully passed the first screening! I’ve been in contact with a Todai professor since pre-interview whom I would like to be my academic advisor when I get the scholarship. After passing the first screening, he told me he wants to waive off the 6 months preparatory course and to matriculate me as a Master’s student straightaway in Fall 2020. However, after discussion with the foreign student office, he told me that they can’t do that and will have to admit me in as a research student first, 6 months later I will take the exam to be a Master’s student. I would like to ask if it would be possible for me to take the special entrance exam early and start on the Masters’ course in Fall 2020 if I can arrive in Japan earlier(after graduation at the end of May). Or if it is compulsory for me to spend the first 6 months there as a research student.
Hi Dai,
Congratulations on passing the primary screening and thank you very much for your feedback!
The problem you seem to be facing now is not a MEXT scholarship problem, it is a Todai problem, as far as I can see.
I would recommend telling your advisor that the Foreign Student Office is saying that it is not possible to start directly as a degree student, and asking him if there is any alternative – such as the one you suggested (or if he can work with that office). He should be able to tell you what you can do.
Even if Todai issues you a letter of acceptance now as a research student, they will have two opportunities later to upgrade you to degree student. One is when MEXT formally reaches out to them to ask them to host you. The second is when you arrive and start your studies. If you have passed the entrance exam in the meantime or otherwise satisfied the university’s requirement to start as a degree-seeking student, then they should be able to process that, at least as far as the scholarship is concerned. The rest is up to Todai’s processes.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis!
I am really thankful to you for writing this blog, you helped me a lot through my application procedure for MEXT.
Now I am about to get two LoPA from two national universities. One of them is Kyoto University and the other one is less popular.
Before I applied for the Scholarship, I haven’t got much time to further discuss with the professors, I just sent them e-mails. So, by that time I sent my Placement Preference to the Embassy I couldn’t really decide the order. I put that University at the first place, which answered me faster (less popular one).
But after I passed the screening and the exam, I had detailed interview with the professors. Now I strongly want to learn at Kyoto University and I am less interested in the other one, which I have put on the first place before.
I am planning to put Kyoto University on the first place, but I am afraid that by putting a less famous university at the second place will increase the chance that I will be placed there instead of Kyoto, which is often chosen by MEXT students. I am not sure how much will they care about my preference in this case.
Do you have any idea or information about this? Do you think it is a good idea to cancel the request for LoPA from the other University to make sure Kyoto?
Thank you in advance!
Hi Nitta,
Thank you very much for your kind words!
When you resubmit your Placement Preference Form after receiving the Letters of Acceptance, you should have the opportunity to re-order your list of universities at that time (or even replace universities entirely, depending on whether or not you got LoAs from them).
In general, MEXT will contact your target universities in the order they appear on the form to ask them to accept you. The only exception I know of is if your first choice university is a private university and you have a national university somewhere further down the list. In that case, MEXT may contact your first-choice national university first. I have never heard of MEXT skipping over one national university entirely to contact another, though. So, the only reason you would end up at the second national university would be if Kyoto decided not to accept you after all when MEXT contacted them (for example, if the professor who was supposed to supervise you suddenly retired or became unavailable – which I have never heard of happening).
I do not think that you have anything to worry about by placing both universities on your form, as long as Kyoto comes first.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi,
I have received one LoA from a university. However, I am not entirely willing to attend this university, and I am anxious about acquiring an LoA from the other two.
Is it possible to apply to more than three universities, and just not mention all of them in the placement preference form?
Also, if I receive three LoAs, but only send one or two of them to the embassy, is that okay?
Thank you
Hi Ash,
I’m curious why you would go through the trouble of applying to a university that you do not want to attend.
The rules this year specify that you should seek LoAs from no more than 3 universities, so you should not reach out to another now. You are also required to submit to the embassy all LoAs that you receive. I’m not entirely sure how they would catch you if you didn’t, but if they did catch you on it, you might lose the scholarship.
If one of your other two universities that you have applied to is a National University and you place that higher in your Placement Preference Form than the one that you are not interested in, then the chances are very good that you won’t have to worry about it. Typically, from what I have seen, applicants tend to be placed no lower than their highest-ranked National University in their placement preference form (rank = order in that form, not university ranking).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Something similar happened to me, let me explain. I applied for Saitama University (as my 3rd option, I have the other 2 already confirmed) and in the interview they said the University doesn’t provide Japanese lessons unless you are enrolled in the MA. I was hoping to take 1 or 2 semesters of Japanese as a research student, since I really need it, and this threw me off. It wasn’t anywhere in the University’s website, they told me so when I said I had not known this beforehand -otherwise I wouldn’t have applied!
This was yesterday, so they haven’t confirmed or denied the Letter yet. Since it’s absolutely necessary for me to take Japanese lessons, I was wondering if I could write the University before they make the decision, explain the situation and politely remove my application, so I can try a different university. Or is this not acceptable?
Thank you very much for all your help so far!
Salomé
Hi Salome,
The university might not offer Japanese lessons while you’re there, but does that also mean that they refuse to allow you to participate in the semester of intensive Japanese that most MEXT scholars take before they start their degrees? (By the way, sometimes that happens at another university). For incoming MEXT scholars who are enrolling in English-taught degrees and do not have Japanese language ability, almost all attend that language program before they start their studies as even a research student at their target university.
But regardless of where you end up studying, I would not expect that any university would allow you two spend a semester or two focused on Japanese while you were a research student there. And it would be very uncommon for a grad-level student to be able to enroll in Japanese lessons targeted for short-term international students, for example, because of the conflicting time demands. So, the situation at Saitama really does not sound unusual to me. (But their way of explaining it also sounds pretty bad…)
If you want to withdraw your request for a Letter of Acceptance, you can do that, but I think you should clarify the situation first.
And if any of your universities above Saitama on your priority list are also National Universities, the chances of you ending up there are pretty slim in the first place.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I initially emailed 3 universities for the LOA, 2 of them replied and I have sent them the documents for their evaluation, but I got no reply from the 3rd one for more than a week; I then approached the 4th University and got a reply from them. However, at the same time, the 3rd University replied as well. So as things stand, I have 4 active universities that I am talking to. I wanted to ask about the consequences if all 4 of them sent me the LOA? Or should I ask one of the University to not send me the LOA explaining the scenario honestly?
Thank You.
Hi Sagar,
According to the instructions, you are not supposed to be in contact with more than 3 universities to request letters of acceptance at a time, and I’m assuming that’s the rule you think that you might get in trouble for?
The best course of action according to the rules of the application would be to withdraw one of your applications. But if you do that at this point, you would not be able to contact that university again, even if one of the others did turn down your application.
I think if you present your case honestly to the embassy – that you had had no reply from the 3rd university and interpreted that to mean that they were not considering your application, they should not punish you for it, even if you do end up with four LoPAs. Obviously, one of the four is not going to fit on your list, so if you do get all four, then you’ll have to leave one off in the end.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis, I hope you’re fine and I wanna thank you for your blog and this entry because it has been very helpful for everyone.
I read the 3 reasons why a student can’t get the LoPA and, to be honest, I’m kind of afraid of not getting one. I have already sent my documents to the prospective academic advisor from 2 different Universities and I haven’t had any reply. I sent them one week ago but I’m not sure if I have to send them again or maybe they are still on vacation, or they didn’t accept me but they don’t want to say it to me directly.
Like I read in other comments, the deadline is September 13, and I’m not allowed to contact more Universities unless one rejects my proposal. I have other Universities I would like to contact but I’m not sure.
Do you think I can contact the advisor and ask him/her for his/her provisional acceptance and, if they accept, I send the documents and start the process officially?
And, what would happen if I contact more Universities and, at the end, I get more than 3 LoPA. Can I choose just 3 Universities and fill the Placement Form with these Schools and, obviously, only deliver to the Japanese Embassy these 3 LoPA?
Thanks in advance and I hope you can reply.
Hi Angel,
Many professors are still on summer vacation at this point, so the slow response does not necessarily indicate a lack of interest. Even if they are checking their email on the road, they may not be able to make the time commitment to sit down and read through an entire application where they are.
They should not leave you hanging without an answer. Actually, the way the Placement Preference Form works, you are allowed to list that university on your form when you resubmit it to the embassy, even if you do not get an answer from them. If they don’t want you listing them, then they do have to inform you directly that you have been rejected.
Since it has been a week, I would recommend that you send a polite reminder to the professor and also contact the administrative office of the graduate school where the professor works. Let them know that you have contacted the professor to request a letter of acceptance, but have not heard back. You can tell them that you are concerned that your email might not have been delivered, so you would like them to double-check if possible. That can help encourage a response one way or another.
It would be best to find out if the professor is at least willing to consider your request or not before contacting somewhere else. But if those efforts above do not result in a reply, then I think you would be safe contacting an alternate university and writing the current one off. (In that case, I would also recommend that you contact the university to tell them that you have interpreted the silence as a rejection and will be applying elsewhere. That way, you can avoid getting too many LoPAs).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
I can only say THANK YOU for the time you took to answer me and for clearing things up.
Maybe because you´ve already had this experience you can understand us and know what to say so we keep calm and not get frustrated very easily.
I’m gonna send the e-mail again and I will include the Student’s Affair Office, hoping that I get a reply ASAP.
I also want to ask you something: I read that the decision about the status as students may be different according to the University, but most of the Schools states that first, the MEXT students are non-degree students (research students) and they need to take the examinations in order to become Graduate Students. Related to this, I’m a little bit confused about this: In this moment, I’m not sure if I’m gonna get the scholarship, that’s why I haven’t applied for the Master’s Degree, but the application for next semester (fall 2020) is going to be published soon, so, regardless the result of the MEXT scholarship, I should apply for this Call so I can become a degree student next year? Or I should wait for the MEXT result and, once I’m in Japan, I will start the process to become a degree student? If that’s the correct way, I will start as a research students and, at the same time, I will have to prepare for the examinations?
Once again, thank you for everything and I hope I can share with you a good result in the near future.
(:
Hi Ángel,
I’m glad I could help!
I would recommend that you do not go through the standard application process for admission to the Master’s degree without the university telling you to do so.
Some universities will screen you for admission to the Master’s degree solely based on the documents that you submit, requiring no additional entrance exam procedures. Others will make you sit an exam (in person in Japan) just like any private applicant. But since it depends on each university, I would highly recommend that you check with them first.
Plus, at this point, you do not know what university you will be placed in, so it does not seem to make sense to follow the entrance exam procedures at three schools. I would suggest that you wait until your placement is confirmed.
In the worst case scenario, you may have to arrive in Japan as a research student for the first semester and take the entrance exam then. Actually, most Embassy MEXT scholars do spend their first semester taking an intensive Japanese language course, so you would be able to take the entrance exam while you were in that course so that you could start with the degree as soon as it ends and not lose any time.
Good Luck. I look forward to hearing positive results from you in the future!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis:
I followed your previous advices about the LoPA and, fortunately, I got 2 of 3. The third University never responded and the Embassy of my country suggested that I should leave this University out of my Placement Preference Form. So Ii did that and mi final Plaecement Form had only two choices.
I submitted the documents last week because the deadline was on those days. I hope I can get the scholarship because I got 2 LoPA.
I want to ask you one more thing: in your experiencie, what’s the most common date for MEXT students to arrive to Japan? It’s just, in one of my LoPA, the proposed date of arrival it’s either April or October, and the other University specified that I should arrive in April. My first choice was the University that proposed my arrival either April or October. And also, in both LoPA the Japanese preparation course was not necessary (in one it says that it’s not necessary and the other checked the box :to be determined later).
In the Application Form I selected that I prefer to arrive in April, but now, I’m not sure about this topic.
What do you think of this?
Thank you again for all your support and I really hope I can sahre good news with you in some months.
Best wishes!
Hi Ángel,
Congratulations on securing 2 LoPAs! With those, your final scholarship award is essentially a certainty. The only mystery left if which university you will end up studying at.
When MEXT contacts one of the universities after your secondary screening to ask them for your formal placement, the university will have to make the final selection at that point, indicating whether you should arrive in April or October and whether or not you will have to take the Japanese language course. So, if you have a strong preference one way or another and are in contact with your advisor there, you may have a chance to express your preference through him or her.
Otherwise, it depends on the university, how their academic program is structured, and whether or not they plan to accept you as a research or degree-seeking student. Some degree programs only start in one semester or another (usually April for Japanese-taught programs and October for English-taught programs) or, even if they do start in both, the university probably has a preference. They would likely try to line up your arrival so that you can start the degree in that semester, so they would have you arrive one or two semesters ahead of that start date, depending on the necessity of the Japanese language program and/or a semester as a research student.
I would suggest that you check the university’s website to see when they usually admit students in your degree program (or, if they admit in both semesters, when they admit more students). That might give you a hint.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear TranSenz,
Thank you so much for your website. Thank to you, I am able to pass the First Selection of the MEXT scholarship. Now I am applying for the Letter of Provisional Acceptance from the Universities. However, I am encountering the obstacle which you mentioned as beyond my control
4 months ago, I contacted a Professor from Kyoto University, asking to be under his supervision. I also sent him my research plan and he accepted me as a research student at his Department. When I get the Passing Certificate, I contacted him again and he instructed me to come to his Secretary and Associate Professor to get the Letter of Provisional Acceptance. I followed his instructions and sent all the required documents to them. However, the Associate Professor told me that the Professor will retire in 3 and a half years ( I apply for the doctoral course which takes 5 years) and he told me to apply for other universities. The strange thing is he asked me to keep his email in secret. I tried to contact the Secretary and she said she agreed with the Associate Professor. I contacted the Professor again, asking if he still accepts me or not. He was quite annoyed and said that he still accepted me if I could get the scholarship and told me to contact 2 people above again. Now I am very confused and dont know what to do. Studying at Kyodai has always been my dream and I have worked really hard for it. With your experience, could you please tell me what should I do next? The deadline is near so I really hope to get your kind advice quickly.
Hi Nguyen Linh,
Thank you for your kind words and congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
As far as I know, the MEXT Scholarship never gives out a 5-year award at once. Even if you are enrolling in a Doctoral Program that does not award an interim master’s degree, you would start with a two year MEXT scholarship award for the length corresponding to a Master’s degree and then apply to extend your scholarship for three years to cover the part corresponding to a doctoral degree.
When you apply to extend your scholarship, you would be able to switch universities, too.
So, if you really want to work with this professor and this university, I would recommend that you go back to them and say that since your first scholarship award is likely only going to be for the first two years, you really want to study under this professor during that time and will consider studying under his successor or changing universities if necessary when you move on to your PhD, but that in the meantime repeat (respectfully) that you would appreciate their consideration of giving you the opportunity to study under this professor at least for a short while before he retires.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear TranSenz,
Thank you so much for the quick reply. My first intention is applying for a master’s course. But the Associate Prof. sent me an email practically saying: sr we don’t have master’s course, please go away and don’t mention this to the Prof. I was extremely confused so I emailed him explained that if they don’t have master’s course, the Japanese Embassy in my country allows me to change to a doctoral course. The Associate Prof. said if I choose the 5 years doctoral course the professor will retire during my course and no one would be at my graduation presentation, please go ask Prof. from other Departments. I explained that I’m willing to look for a co-supervisor by myself when I the time come but the Associate Professor told me to wait for them to check if I could have a Master’s course (I seriously doubt that). I contacted the Secretary but she gave me no response. I sense that for some reasons they don’t want to help me at all but I cannot go directly to the Professor. Now I am scared thinking about going to that hostile place to study =((((
I am wondering if I could apply for another Professor at the same graduate school. Does that hurt my chance of getting the scholarship?
Hi Nguyen Linh,
Given the way they’ve treated you so far, my conclusion was similar to what you mentioned toward the bottom your comment: If I were you, I would also be rethinking whether or not that was the environment that you wanted to study in.
I do think your idea of contacting another professor in the same department is a good one and will not hurt your chances. That is more or less the default option when your first choice professor cannot supervise you and it happens all of the time. That way, you would be able to get into the program and still work with your first-choice professor during the years before he retires.
However, I would recommend that you contact him and let him know that you followed his directions to contact his assistant professor for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance, but that that professor refused and directed you to contact someone else instead. Tell him that you are still hoping to work with him when you arrive there, but that you will be following the instructions to ask another professor to be your supervisor. Even if the assistant and secretary asked you to keep their emails confidential, I think you have to tell him that they refused you a letter, even if you don’t say the reason.
You could even ask that professor if he has any advice for someone else to contact as an alternative advisor.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Firstly, a tremendous thank you for putting so much selfless effort into helping so many people become successful MEXT scholars. I am in an uncommon position regarding language ability and would like to hear your perspective. To contextualize, I am aiming to become a psychotherapist in the future. Due to the nature of the career, I feel that the ability to empathize culturally with clientele is very important. Thus, my intention is to complete a research project (conducted in English, but by interviewing Japanese people in Japanese) through MEXT and return to my home country to seek a Clinical Psychology degree and there. I explained this rationale in my interview when I was asked why I checked off “non-degree” student in my application. At the time, I could not find information anywhere about whether non-degree students typically take courses in addition to their research (my consulate did not know either), so assumed that they typically didn’t, and that if a school did not have an English-taught program in psychology, it would be fine as I currently do not intend to seek a degree. I am currently in correspondence with my universities to acquire LoAs, but it’s seeming more clear that non-degree students still likely enroll in courses. I don’t have a JLPT certification, but I feel that my Japanese proficiency is at a point where I would be able to take courses if I put in the effort, and definitely more than well enough for daily life in Japan. I’m worried that because I don’t have a JLPT certification, they’ll instantly reject me if they deem the language proficiency to be an issue. And without a certification, I’m also worried that there won’t be a chance for me to convey my Japanese language ability before they do so. For further context, I have communicated to universities that I have intent to extend the scholarship period upon the end of the research period. Sorry if this is ultra specific! Your thoughts are really appreciated!
Alex
Hi Alex,
Thank you for your kind words.
In my experience, non-degree students do take courses, or at least audit them, even if they do not intend to earn credit. But well over 90% of the non-degree students I have worked with have been students that intended to take the entrance exam and matriculate to the degree program, later, so they would eventually transfer those course credits to the degree.
The only other pattern I have seen with non-degree students has been a sandwich program, where the students are already enrolled in a degree program in the US, such as a psychotherapy program, in your case, and are taking a year or so in Japan to pursue their research for their dissertation. In some cases, those students also take a few classes in addition to working on their research.
I bring up that context, because I think you may find that universities are not used to working with your situation.
Do you have a JLPT certification at all? If so, you could try to leverage that and ongoing studies to appeal to the universities.
Another option could be shifting your application to a related program at the same university that is taught in English, so you would officially belong to that program and your supervisor would be a professor there, but with the understanding that you would continue to collaborate with the researchers in the Japanese-taught program and possibly take some courses there.
As for expressing your intent to the university to extend your scholarship, that might actually be confusing the matter more. The only way to extend your scholarship at the end of your research student period is to matriculate into a degree program. So, if you tell them that you want to extend, you risk them looking harder at your Japanese language ability (unless you meant to write “no intent to extend” in your comment. . .)
I don’t have an easy solution for you, I’m afraid, but I hope the ideas above give you a springboard for a plan.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for this guide. It has helped me a lot!
I have now contacted a total of five potential supervisors from Tokyo Institute of Technology. Unfortunately, two of them had to refuse me early on due to the lack of vacancy in their labs. They recently had their entrance examination, and its results showed that their lab has to accept double the number of graduate students.
Both of them are doing research closely related to my research proposal. The other three labs are not so closely related to my proposal, but they have a lot of overlap with my proposal and/or their research is closely related to my past field of study.
I am worrying that they will reject me because of this, or because they have no vacancy also. Furthermore, I haven’t received a reply yet from these three professors (its been over a week ago since i sent my documents). Is it normal to receive no reply before the deadline for submission of the documents (September 13)? Or should I just wait a bit longer?
Thank you so much in advance!
Liang
Hi Liang,
Thank you for your kind words!
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone contacting so many advisors at one single university before. It’s unfortunate to hear that two of the labs are already at capacity and cannot accept you.
With the other labs that haven’t responded, this is summer vacation at Japanese universities and a lot of professors are away from the campus for leave (especially last week, which was the O-Bon holiday), research, etc., so it’s a more difficult time to get in touch with faculty in general. That could be a reason that you’re not getting a response.
I would say that, in general, if you have asked for a reply, then it is normal to receive one, especially from professors (admin offices can be less responsive). Normally, I would recommend waiting a week before sending a polite reminder to the professors, but in this case, since last week was a vacation week, I would recommend that you wait until later this week to send it. It is always possible that one or more of them will reject you in the end, but in this case, silence so far is not rejection.
In the meantime, keep working on your other two universities!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
The question that I have is peculiar, but this has been nagging me. The copies of the document I got back from the embassy with their stamp is a bit unclear (with some numbers and words along with university stamps on the transcript missing). Do you reckon I ask for those copies to be photocopied again by the embassy or should the little bit of missing clarity does not hold an extreme consequence if submitted to the universities? Thank You Travis. You are helping whole lot of applicants here.
Hi Aayush,
The stamps being unclear should not be a problem and, in any case, it is not your fault and there is nothing the university can hold against you. As long as you have the Passing Certificate of the Primary Screening, that should be enough to satisfy the universities, even if the other copies are a little unclear. If you have one clear set, or the originals, you can supply a scan of those if the university asks for a clearer version later.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
Finally my country’s Embassy of Japan announce the primary screening result. Luckily, I am among the chosen and it is thanks to your website. It really helped me to get to this point.
The thing that troubles me is how should i write my placement preference. I have built great chemistry with my prospective professor who also helped me proofread the research proposal that I submitted to the embassy. However, I just noticed that his university is a private one.
On one hand, the embassy urge me to at least submit one LoA from National University. On the other hand, I really want to work with my current prospective professor and I afraid if I submit LoA from a National uni as a 2nd choice, mext will choose it instead.
Is it better for me to just put one private uni on the list? Or should I follow the embassy’s instruction to put at least one national uni on the list?
Regards,
Chriss
Hi Chriss,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening! Thank you for your kind words, as well.
The embassies will always encourage you to put at least one National university on your list, but this is just a request, not a requirement. Most applicants are not in your position, where they have already developed a relationship with a professor that they want to work with. Many find themselves seriously thinking about contacting universities for the first time after passing the Primary Screening, so they aren’t invested in one university or another at this point. And those applicants certainly ought to consider national universities.
But your situation is different. In fact, in your case, you might want to consider only requesting one Letter of Acceptance, since you have that relationship already and there is no question about your ability to receive an LoA there. If you do apply for multiple LoAs, I would not recommend that you include a national university on your list. Having your 2nd and 3rd choices also be private (or blank) would increase the chances of being placed in your first choice!
Carefully consider with each university you do contact whether or not you would be satisfied being placed there.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis!
I passed the primary screening and now I am waiting for getting LOA(s). The Embassy in my country informed me that the deadline for asking LOAs is september 13. I have a question to you, I need your advice. I know my first choice professor for a long while, our research interests are perfectly matching and he agreed to supervise me. In this case it would be rude (towards the embassy or to anyones else idk) to not ask for LOAs to other universities I listed before? Is that optional or mandatory?
Thank you a lot!
Hi Ania Y.,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
I have heard, too, that the deadline for applying for LoAs was extended to Sept 13 this year.
If you are confident that you can receive a Letter of Acceptance from your first-choice professor, then it is perfectly acceptable to not reach out to other universities. You would not be being rude to anyone (the other universities, after all, do not even know that you listed them, unless you’ve already been in contact with them directly).
By only listing one university in your Placement Preference Form and only applying for one Letter of Provisional Acceptance, you are taking a risk that you might not get it, but it sounds like that would not be a problem in your case, so it wouldn’t be a significant risk at all.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
First of all, thank you for this awesome guide. It is one of the reasons which helped me get through the Preliminary Screening of MEXT.
I have a similar issue as the above. I already have a Letter of Acceptance from a supervisor of a National University with whom I have been in contact since the beginning of this year. I do not want to contact any other university as I want to work under this supervisor. Will putting the name of only one university in the Placement Preference form be risky?
Hi Jikmik,
Since you already have the Letter of Provisional Acceptance from that university, no, I do not think it will be risky to list only that one university. (It is risky if you don’t have the letter yet but you have passed that point).
I have heard plenty of stories of applicants in the past who submitted the Placement Preference Form with only one university on it and only one Letter of Provisional Acceptance. As far as I heard, all of them received the scholarship in the end.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello,
One of the universities that I am applying to has sent me the following link for reference. The university does not have its own set of guidelines for application documents, etc and they asked me to refer to this link.
http://www.mext.go.jp/a_menu/koutou/ryugaku/boshu/1415352.htm
If you check the link on this page titled “University acceptance form”, it is not at all clear whether it is for the applicant to be filled out and sent, or is it the form that will be given by the university if we are accepted. None of the other universities have such a form given in their guidelines. Do you have any idea about this. I am unable to ask this question to the university now as they are on vacation.
Another query that I have is – how much is the rate of acceptance by a university for applicants who have cleared the first screening (Considering that all the documents are in order, transcripts show a good academic background). I am a Psychology student, and Waseda is one of my preferences.
Hi Aashlesha,
There is no link on that page titled “University Acceptance Form”. If you mean the 大学受入れ内諾書様式, that is for the university to fill in (as should be evident from the contents). The university should have the format, but you should send a blank one with your other application documents, just in case.
There is no “rate of acceptance” by universities that matters. In general, the only reasons I ever saw applicants get refused for a Letter of Acceptance was if they were applying for a program where they didn’t meet the language requirements, or there was no professor there that could supervise the research they proposed. In most cases, this is completely avoidable. (The only exception is if you target a professor that isn’t authorized to supervise or is about to retire, etc., which you can’t tell in advance unless you’re already in contact – but that’s why you have back-ups!)
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
I have already sent my MEXT application to Kyoto and Waseda University for a business administration program and haven’t got any responses whether they received it or not. Maybe it is because of summer vacation period among Japanese universities. My point is that if one university rejects me, I will be possible to apply for another one. But if don’t receive any rejection mail before end of August, it will be too late to apply for another university since almost all universities have a deadline around 23rd of August. Therefore, I am kind of nervous before choosing my third university. I will be really glad if you could share your opinion. Thanks again for your all invaluable posts and comments.
Hi Danny,
All Japanese universities were closed from Aug 10-15, some for longer, and a lot of staff end up taking a day or more off at the beginning or end to extend the vacation, so this is a particularly slow time for responses.
You may also find that universities do not confirm receipt at all in some cases. There are some that are notorious for not saying anything to applicants at all until the Letter of Provisional Acceptance suddenly arrives in the mail. I recall some applicants saying that happened with Waseda in the past.
In any case, you should not anticipate a result by the end of August. (The original deadline to apply for LoAs was Aug 23, but it appears that MEXT extended it to Sep 10 this year, because they had a delay in communicating the number of applicants to be accepted to the various embassies). In some cases, it will take a committee meeting to approve LoAs, and those won’t happen until faculty return for the fall semester.
If you can get in touch with a professor and get the feeling that that faculty member is interested in accepting you, then that would be the best way forward. Then, even if it takes a little while for the official result to come out, you’ll at least have that assurance going for you in the mean time. But in any case, the most common reasons for rejection in applying for an LoA is not meeting the eligibility requirements (e.g. applying to a program taught in Japanese with sufficient Japanese ability) or there not being a professor there that can supervise your research. You should be able to research both of those factors in advance to avoid them and, in that case, should not have any difficulty!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis:
The information on this website has been invaluable to me throughout this process, so thank you!
Quick question – while I’m currently waiting to hear about my letters of acceptance, I was wondering how heavily the order of your placement preferences matter?
Are cheaper/national universities more often selected by MEXT? Have you heard of people listing more expensive private universities as their first and second picks and having a “safe” school as their third, but still getting into their top picks?
Thanks!
Hi Ashley,
Thank you for your kind feedback.
MEXT will generally follow the order on your placement preference form in reaching out to universities, unless your top university is private or public (not national). In that case, they might skip that school and reach out first to the highest placed national university in your form. MEXT prefers national universities and does not hide that.
If you are targeting a private university, my advice would be to apply only to other private universities. It is possible that with a Private 1st and 2nd choice that you might end up in your first choice, even if your third choice is national, but by having a national university on your list at all, you are decreasing your chances at your first choice.
Unfortunately, I do not have enough data to know what the chances are one way or another. I have heard of both scenarios above happening in the past, though.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi, traviz!
Im from mexico and we are still waiting for the official results of the first screen. I replied a coment few days ago.
After the interview, the embassy of mexico selected around 11 studients, me included, as every year, but after that, we were told that we have to wait for the japanes goverment to say to the embassy how many students they must to send this year. The embassy sealed my expedient just in case, but i havent recived the certiafication for passing the first screen yet.
My question is, should i start to make contact with the universities? Idk, maybe im on time to apply trough the university.
Excuse my bad english, im working on it. And thanks.
i Just recived my confirmation mail. today, please ignore the previous comment.
Hi Chapa,
I saw that you left another comment saying that you’d gotten your reply from the embassy before I got to this message. Congratulations!
But I did want to address it because I think it could help other applicants, especially since this year was unique.
In the position you were in before getting your final confirmation from the embassy, I would not have recommended contacting professors yet. At the time, there was a real question and concern about the number of applicants that would be selected. But now that the situation has cleared up, go get them!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you very much Travis!
I dont know exactly what happened with mexico this year, I could met another 3 of the pre chosen 11 candidates, and all them were rejected at the end. Also i already got one of the at least one provisional acceptance letter (From Waseda University). Im still waiting for the acceptance letter of my first option, but im felling really happy and relaxed right now
Hi Chapa,
It seems like this year there was a cut in the number of slots, so that’s probably what happened to unfortunate other candidates that you met.
Congratulations on obtaining one LoPA! I wish you good luck in securing the remaining letter, as well.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I just passed the First Screening and cannot thank you enough for all the details and information you provide in your blog. Keep it going!. I applied through the Embassy Recommendation as a Research Student. I am now onto the next step of getting the LOAs and I have a few questions:
1) With my signed documents the Embassy sent me a list of all Universities/Departments that accepts international students and most likely have graduate programs in English. Is it mandatory to apply only to the Universities/Graduate Schools on the list or is it possible to apply for LoA from professors that are on other programs or schools?.
2) Many universities have Research Centers specialized in particular topics with available professors, but I think they are not part of a specific Graduate Program or even mentioned in the list sent by the Embassy. In my case, I have found two Research Centers on different universities with ongoing research same as a my field of study, and the professors in charged even appear through the university’s websites in the Monbukagakusho section as available options, or I am not sure if they include the whole directory of professors just to make it easier. My question is if it is possible to apply to Research Centers or it is mandatory to apply to a Graduate School?
Thank you again!.
Hi Dave,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening! And thank you very much for your kind words, too. Feedback like that is why I keep this up :).
1) You can apply to any university in Japan, provided that you meet the eligibility criteria. The list the embassy gave you is based on which universities responded to MEXT when they asked for the submission of MEXT application points of contact, so those might be the most eager, but any university and graduate school can host a MEXT scholar.
2) Typically, research centers cannot be your primary affiliation within the graduate school, as they are not structured to be degree-granting administrative units. However, the professors that work in the research center are often affiliated with a larger graduate school and may teach courses there, too. If you can figure out what graduate school the professor is affiliated with, I would recommend that you apply to the graduate school and specify that professor as your target advisor. Ultimately, you’re trying to appeal to the individual professor, not the school as a whole, anyway.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
I am Longrio from the Philippines. I have passed our embassy’s initial screening. I intended to study in a Japanese university and already contacted a professor who agreed to supervise me for my degree. However, I also have to go to that same university this October to be a research student and was granted a small university scholarship. I thought that there wouldn’t be any complications since I will have be enrolled as a research student from October to March and the MEXT scholarship will start from April next year. Is there a problem with this?
Hi Longrio,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
If you are studying in Japan from October this year but on a short term program that will end before your MEXT scholarship (i.e. you will complete your program and return to the Philippines) and your scholarship will also end before then (i.e. the last month you will receive a scholarship payment will be March 2020 or earlier), then that should not pose a problem, as far as I know!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis,
First of all, I want to thank you for all the work you put in this blog and the mailing list. I relied heavily on your guides for my application, and passed the primary screening in Argentina!
I didn’t contact any professor in the process so I’m just beggining to get in touch with universities and professors. I wonder if you knew anything about the change in dates: we now have time to ask for Letters until the 13th of September.
Everyone says the hardest part is passing the Embassy selection, but I am so nervous about the LoPA to be honest! I hope I can get one.
Thanks again!
Hi Salomé,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening! I am glad you found the information on this site helpful.
The official guidelines on MEXT’s webpage still say that the deadline is August 23rd, but you are the second person to ask about it here. (The last person said that they were told that the deadline to contact universities was September 10th, so the inconsistency worries me a little). I also checked a few university websites and the only one that specifically mentioned a deadline at all had updated that deadline to September 13th, as you said.
So, even though I have yet to see anything official from MEXT, it sounds like there is indeed an extension. That said, I would still recommended contacting universities as soon as possible!
Like you said, passing the Embassy Screening is the hardest part of the application. As long as you have chosen your universities well and there are professors there able to supervise your research, then you should not have a problem acquiring your Letters of Provisional Acceptance!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you for your answer! I have already received confirmation for my first Letter so I feel a lot better. Now to try and get two more.
Finally the deadlines seem to be all over the place, with some schools from Tokyo University accepting until August and others confirming the September date.
Well, I just wanted to say thanks again for everything!
Salomé
Hi Salome,
Thank you very much for your feedback and congratulations on securing confirmation already on your first Letter of Provisional Acceptance! That’s great!
As far as I know, September 13 is the new official deadline to contact universities this year to apply for a Letter of Provisional Acceptance. MEXT has not updated the guidelines on its website to say so, but I have heard it from enough different embassies and consulates and even seen it updated on at least one university website, so I am confident that there was some official notice sent out. It’s possible that some universities simply haven’t updated their websites yet.
Still, if you can send your requests by August 23, that would be better. (Earlier is always better).
I wish you the best with the rest of the application process!
Good Luck!,
Travis from TranSenz
Hello Travis! First of all thank you very much for the detailed information. I have passed the first screening and soon I will apply to the universities in Japan. I have studied Psychology, and I currently study Japanese Language and Literature in my home country. I have applied to MEXT this year and want to continue my Psychology masters in Japan. The problem is that I have not taken the JLPT, yet but the masters programs that I’m going to apply are all in Japanese. I’ve been told by my professor who were one of the interviewers of the embassy’s first screening that it won’t be a problem but I am still anxious about it. I recently finished my second year studies of Japanese Language and Literature department so I have an intermediate Japanese ability but it’s a problem that I don’t have the certification, yet. What do you think? Is it likely for me to not get accepted?
Hi Sema,
Have you been in touch with any of the target professors at the universities that you want to apply to? In the end, it is there opinions that would matter the most. If they say that they are willing to accept your application, then you should have no problem.
I hope that your universities will give you the chance to establish your Japanese language ability by means other than official proficiency scores. I would certainly recommend that all of your emails and contacts to them be in Japanese and that, if your Field of Study and Research Program Plan was originally in English, that you create a Japanese translation to send them – those two steps should help to establish your ability. Between that, and explaining your study background, you may be able to convince you to give you a chance to prove your ability by other means, like a skype interview, etc.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Dear Travis,
My name is Tulga and I am from Mongolia.
I just passed the primary screening of Embassy last week and I am looking for three universities which have business administration programs in English.
I found out that not many business management graduate programs are taught in English, but I have created my wish list including Waseda University, Kyoto University, Tohoku or Kobe University.
Since Waseda is a private university and MBA tuition is higher than other programs, I am afraid that this selection might be rejected during the second screening.
Regarding Kyoto University, it is one of the most prestigious Unis in Japan and so many students want to study there. So I am afraid about being rejected or not getting my Letter of Provisional acceptance on time.
Therefore could you advise me on my university selection and what should I do in order to secure one or two LoPA?
Many thanks,
Tulga
Hi Tulga,
Congratulations on passing the Primary Screening!
In my experience, the Primary Screening is a much stricter evaluation than applying for a LoPA. So, in your condition, you should not have much of a problem applying for a letter.
I would encourage you to apply to the universities that you have selected. Even though Waseda has a high tuition, that will not affect whether or not the university gives you an LoPA. It might affect MEXT’s decision to place you there if Waseda is your first choice and one of the three national universities that you mentioned is your second choice, but you would still end up being placed somewhere in that case, so it should not be a problem. I have never heard of MEXT rejecting an applicant that had at least one LoPA, even if that one letter was from an expensive, private university.
For the national universities that you mentioned, even though they are prestigious, do not let that worry you. If your application is strong (and it must be, since you passed the Primary Screening), then they should want to accept you. In general, the most common reason I saw for applicants being refused a LoPA was when there was no faculty member at the university that could supervise their specific research. But in an MBA program, that should be less of a concern and as long as your research your target professors carefully, you should be fine.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Thank you Travis,
I am really grateful for all your help and support. Your page is the the only source that helped me to start from the very beginning such as field of study and research plan. I hope I will share a good news to you very soon.
Another question I have is – if I have clearly mentioned my month of arrival in Japan as October, is it still possible that the university might say I need to go in April. Because, going in April is not possible for me.
If that happens, can I explain my circumstances and request the university to change the month of arrival?
Hi Aashlesha,
That should not happen. They should honor the month of arrival preference that you stated, unless they make an administrative error. Be sure to double-check your Letter of Provisional Acceptance when you receive it to make sure that it is accurate. You can request a change and for the letter to be reissued, but once you turn in the Letter of Provisional Acceptance to the Embassy, then you would be committed to following what it says.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Okay thank you!
Hi,
The embassy in India told us to tick “Masters’ degree” and not “Non-degree student” as the first course we wish to take in Japan.
But, after reading your blof I am confused. If I am not eligible for Masters’ immediately, does the university reject our application, or take us as a non-degree student (even though the form says Masters’) and then let us apply for Masters’ after studying there for a while?
Hi Aashlesha,
If you are eligible to apply as a Master’s level research student, you should also be eligible to apply directly as a Master’s degree student.
The university ultimately has the decision as to whether they will accept you as a degree student, research student, or not at all. I remember at the university where I handled applications, we would sometimes contact applicants who wrote that they wanted to start as degree students to ask if they would be willing to start as research students (or simply issue letters of acceptance that stated “Research Student.”) Usually, though, this was not a question of eligibility, it was a problem of logistics, such as students arriving in Japan during a semester when they could not join the degree program.
So, I think the university has some control over this and it is ultimately what is written in the Letter of Provisional Acceptance from the university, not what you checked in your application form, that matters the most.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Oh okay. Thank you so much. Your blog has been really helpful throughout this process.
Hello, i just found out your blog and thought about asking a couple of things, maybe you can help me (again). I have passed the interviews and now have to get an letter of provisional acceptance. Problem is i don’t exactly know what (or how, if you prefer) to write it. How should i interact with the institutions, what should i ask? Like “Hello, I’d like to carry out my reasrech in X University cuz is freaking good and all” doesn’t seem the right foot to start with. I am truly sorry if that is a stupid question but this kind of things always pose me troubles.
Hi Sportsaddicted,
Congratulations on passing the primary screening! That’s the most significant step in the application process and once you acquire your Letter of Provisional Acceptance, you should have nothing more to worry about.
I would suggest that you should target individual professors, not the universities. So, instead of saying that you want to carry out your research at X university because it’s good and all, try “I want to work with Professor X because he is one of the leading researchers in my field.” It’s also OK to mention the university as a whole if they have a related project going on, are known for the field, have unique facilities, etc. Talking about the coursework there that is related to your research is also fine.
At this point, though, since you’ve already passed the Primary Screening, you should not meet many obstacles. As long as the university has a professor in your field that can supervise your research, there is no reason why they would want to turn you down! You would have to work harder if you were trying to network before passing the Primary Screening, but at this point, it should be a slam dunk.
I hope that helps!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
PS, I decided not to post your second comment, because it is not necessary at all to apologize for anything 🙂 My answers aren’t always clear and organized either.
Hi TranSenz,
Thank you very much, you made my life A LOT easier
If you don’t mind there is another question that occurred to me in the meantime. While filling in the Application form i selected the option to stay in Japan “Upon completion of the doctoral program”. Now, if i am correct, the full doctoral program in Japan lasts 4 years, which i discovered just yesterday….
My intention was to stay for the canonical 2 years. Since you might think (for a good reason) that i am total retard, i’ll explain my reasoning and how this kind of misunderstanding was born. It all started with a confusion over the terminology, like Bachelor degree, Master degree and PhD/Doctoral., which i find tricky both in English and Japanese (as you may have guessed, i’m not an English native speaker). I already have a Master degree, so i thought going for PhD was only logical, not knowing it is supposed to last 4 years but planning to stay 2 years, carry out my research and go back smooth. Now, after all this premise, here is my question. As far as you know, is there any way to change my choice or is it decisive? It would not be a problem for me (probably) but I have some reasons that push me to stay only two years. I understand this is all on me (and to realize it after all this time…) so no problem if there is no way to change things.
Sorry to bother you again and thanks.
HI Sportsaddicted,
I’m glad I could help.
The standard duration of a doctoral program in Japan is 3 years, in almost all cases. The only four year programs are in medical related fields.
The only two-year degree in Japan is the Master’s (equivalent to a Laurea magistrale in Italy). The PhD/Doctorate (Dottorato di ricerca) is longer.
In any case, what you checked as your “how long you want to stay” response is not a binding question, it is more or less just a survey. The important question is “what program you want to start with.” You would be committed to finishing that program. So, if you said that you want to start with the Doctoral program, you would be expected to stay the three years. But if you were going to start as a research student (non-degree) or Master’s degree program student, you would only need to stay until the completion of that program. Indeed, in that case, you would have to apply for an extension of your scholarship to cover the Doctoral Program, anyway, and it would not be guaranteed.
I should also note that it is ultimately the Letter of Provisional Acceptance from the university that will state what level they will accept you at to start. So, be sure to carefully review those documents when you receive them.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thank you very much for the clear explanation, i got it. I’ll deal with it when (and if) the time comes anyway.
Regards
Hi Sportsaddicted!
I am just curious, which country are you from? I am suprised to know you already got thw primary screening result.
I’ve heard most of the applicants in many countries still wondering when they will got the primary screening result. Most of the country’s Japan embassy says that they need confirmation from mext and the result got delayed because of some internal audit (dont know the detail yet).
Regards.
Hi Krisnanda! In Argentina, the Embassy sent confirmation emails yesterday. I guess the other countries will also start sending the confirmations to their applicants. Best regards!
Hi Agusforg,
Thank you for the update!
I heard that results came out in Brazil earlier this week, too!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Im from mexico and am still waiting.
Me and other 2 friends
Hi Yair Yebra,
Thank you for letting me know. I have started hearing results come in from some countries, so I hope you will get your news soon!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis! Thanks so much for the updated information. Quick question about the documents to be submitted to universities: For some of the documents, e.g. letters of recommendation, the instructions for the embassy document screening phase asked for one original + two copies. Since we are supposed to obtain three letters of acceptance (i.e. apply to three universities), how does that work out in terms of the number of copies we have of each document? (Hope my question makes sense.) Of course, if it’s just something that we can make more copies of I suppose that wouldn’t be an issue, but I was wondering specifically about the things that are supposed to be sealed and/or original. Thanks!
Hi Joy,
The documents you will submit to the universities are the ones that you get back from the Embassy – and you would send only one copy of each document to the universities. They will have already opened the sealed letters of recommendation and verified the copies, so the universities will accept them with no problem. The embassy is also supposed to put a stamp on the documents indicating that they have verified them, but they don’t always do that, so if you don’t see that stamp, don’t worry.
Over the past two years, the directions have changed and you are now expected to send your documents to the universities electronically (scanned as a single pdf). You should only be sending them by post if the university requires it. So, that should help reduce the problem of having to make extra copies, as well.
I hope that helps.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Travis:
Thank you, thank you again. I really was not able to google up that information, and in the guidelines, they are not quite informative and explicative regarding this, as you have been with your reply.
One final question regarding this matter:
Is it possible, in principle, that I arrive in April, start the 6 months preparatory program, and then, since X university only offers courses in April, wait in Japan until April 2021 to begin the course. In such case, do I have access to research material in my university, or what I am expected to do until April 2021.
Or do I mandatory have to begging a course on 2020 as part of the 2020 application program.
Also, can a university, in principle, open up a course or possibilities for your studies on an October term, despite explicitly saying on theirs web site, that it only enrolls students on April. I know of one applicant whose university only opens courses in April, yet he began in October.
Thanks so much again, I think for the whole process, that’s my only remaining doubt.
Hi Ricardo,
I’m glad I could help.
In the situation you described, where you arrive in April and start with the Japanese language training program, but your university does not accept new students until the next April, you would spend the intervening time as a non-degree research student, like a pre-graduate student. You would still be affiliated with the university where you will enroll for your degree and you would still need to be spending at least 10 hours per week in class or research in order to justify your visa.
You would likely be working with your professor then on preliminary research preparation for your degree, studying for the entrance exam (if necessary), and possibly even taking some coursework.
I would say that most Embassy Recommended MEXT Scholarship recipients actually do begin with this research student status for a semester, and I recommend it. It gives you time to get used to the Japanese university and living in Japan before you go “on the clock” for your degree program.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, so third time is the charm, so, thanks again 🙂
With that final piece of information I truly believe I have all of the pieces of the puzzle (how does all this processes works) glued together. Yeah, like you said, I’m going for the April entrance, 6months prep Japanese, 6 months prep for exams and the likes, then upping my game for the MA course. Hopefully, it works that way. I’ll keep you and followers of this posts updated on my process, and once all is over (hopefully for good), I will compile my experience and some tips I found in the process.
On a quick note to applicants, I found that by linking the field of research to other themes not quite close to your profession (thinking outside the box, and outside the box of your profession), helps applicant get a sort of interdisciplinary approach, and thus, helps them looking for a wider range of universities. And in and indirect way also usually validates your project on social value stake, as interdisciplinary projects are more on the need each day.
And Travis, I’m like, sort of unable to contribute to you in any way (we don’t even have like credit cards on Cuba), but once I’m in Japan, I’m sooo donating on Patreon because this site really deserves it and I truly desires to do it.
Thanks again
Ricardo
Hi Ricardo,
Thank you for your feedback, especially your tip about taking an interdiciplinary approach to your research topic, and your offer to keep us all updated with your progress! I look forward to hearing more about it as you move on and would be happy to post your feedback as a guest post in the future, too, instead of just keeping it buried here in the comments. Let me know if that is something that you would be interested in doing!
I sincerely appreciate your offer to support the site, too! I realize that not everyone can do so or at least not at this time, but the desire to do it means a lot to me!
I look forward to continuing to hear from you in the future!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, I have some questions regarding the Japanese preparatory program:
Two question that are also driving me mad, as I have not been able to find any information on the internet.
Does the 6 months of prep. Japanese begin at the same time as you are studying (begin you MA,PhD or research course) in Japan or do they begin before you enroll in the course? And, if I arrive in April, and my course is in September, in the interim time, do I begin such course until September? Also, can I arrive in April, if my course is in October-September term?
Thanks so much in advance
Ricardo
Hi Ricardo,
The Japanese language course occurs before you start studying at your university. So, it would be before you start your MA or PhD. It does not count toward the two years that you have for a Master’s or three for a PhD. You would be taking only the Japanese language program during that time, not courses in your degree, but you would still be able to converse with your advisor and start your preparatory research.
The university will decide when you arrive in Japan, spring or fall, based on the selection you made in the application form. The university will also decide whether or not you should participate in the Japanese language program, so they will work out all of the timing.
I hope that helps.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hello,
Thanks for all this informations!
I’m Jordane a African student and I apply for the MEXT scholarship this year for the first time. I was refused ☹️☹️
I just found your blog it’s really interesting. But by which article can I start?
Hi Jordane Lee,
Thank you for your kind feedback!
I am sorry to hear that your application was unsuccessful this year.
I would recommend you start with my article introducing the basics of the MEXT Scholarship. It talks about the difference between the Embassy and University scholarship, so you can choose which way to apply. That will help you figure out which article to move on to next.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi , fist I would like to thank you for all of the information found within the blogs, it’s been really helpful for my application.You have been, literally, a blessing. My proposed major is in graphic design, and I have selected 3 universities with courses in Japanese, although they don’t ask for a language proficiency level (at least as stated in the website). I recently did the interview and I’m awaiting for confirmation for asking my LOA. I would like to make two questions :
1. I would like to change one of the universities to Keio, which offers a course in media design in English ( I have an ielts of 8.0 so it should be no problem in that regard). Is it ok to do this at this point in my application ? Btw, what’s wrong with Keio ?
2. Are you aware of any courses of graphic design major in English. I live in Cuba and I have major struggles with internet, and it’s been really hard to find information about courses so far. That English course in Keio was sort of a lucky stumble upon searching other kind of information.
Hi Ricardo,
Thank you for your kind words and feedback!
It sounds like despite your challenges, you have done pretty well with your program research so far!
1. Yes, at this point, you should still be able to change one of your universities to Keio. The universities that you submitted during the Primary Screening was preliminary. You will have to submit it again after acquiring your Letters of Provisional Acceptance and, at that point, you can only list universities that have given you a Letter, or at least are still considering your request and have not denied it yet. That means that in a great many cases, your list has to change.
I rag on Keio a little bit because they seem full of themselves and consistently stand out in being less applicant-friendly in terms of providing information or paperwork processes. But it’s not a bad university by any means and since you’ve already found the information you were looking for, you have passed by one of my major complaints.
2. Unfortunately, that is not my area of expertise. I do have another article that introduces a few lists and sites that aggregate degree programs taught in English, so I would recommend searching via one of those. I think I remember hearing that Tamabi (Tama Art University) was not picky about language requirements, but I can’t be sure, so I would recommend double-checking.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
I appreciate your start up guidance in the process of achieving my academy dream.
Hi Travis! Thank you for this updated article – so helpful! I received notification on the 27th of June of my invite to interview at the Embassy in London this Thursday the 11th of July. I’m extremely nervous but trying to prepare myself as best I can. I’m worried that my Japanese language level is not as high as I would like it to be as wonder if they will put my forward for the 6-month preparatory language course if I get chosen (if this is how it works?) Do you know if these 6 months will be included in the 2 years of a master’s course or will it extend the duration of my time in Japan to 2 and a half years in total? Thank you in advance!
Hi Hannah,
Ultimately, it is the university’s choice as to whether or not to put you in the Japanese language course, not the embassy’s.
If you’re applying for a degree taught in Japanese, then your Japanese language ability is a significant factor, of course, but it is less critical if you are applying for a degree taught in English. (Incidentally, if your Japanese level is high enough that you are able to apply for degrees taught in Japanese, then you are significantly less likely to be placed in the Japanese language preparatory course).
The six months of Japanese preparatory language does not count toward the two years of your degree, but it would count against your maximum number of years as a research (non-degree) student. In your case, your time in Japan will be at least 2.5 years if you are placed in the language program (and possibly longer, if the university decides to accept you as a non-degree student in your first semester).
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis, thank you for getting back to me!
Ultimately, if I wanted to keep my time in Japan under 3 years, it would make the most sense to try and gain acceptance as a Masters student (rather than a non-degree seeking research student) BEFORE arrival in Japan so that if I am placed in the Japanese language preparatory course I will begin my 2 year Masters course straight after the 6 months of language school. Is this correct, to the best of your knowledge?
Many thanks,
Hannah.
Hi Hannah,
Yes, if you want to keep your time in Japan to under 3 years, that would be the best approach!
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz
Hi Travis,
Thanks again for your reply. I have an additional question about being a research student which I would really appreciate your insight into. Do you know of many MEXT scholars staying in Japan only as a non-degree research student for 1 to 1.5 years and then returning to their home country instead of continuing onto a degree seeking masters or phd course? Is this the norm? Would it be frowned upon if I had selected to start as a research student ‘up until completion of a masters’ on any forms and then decided to leave after the research year without doing a masters? Since I believe you have to apply for an extension of the MEXT scholarship to continue as a masters student I wasn’t sure if this would be a problem. (Hopefully I’m making sense!)
Many thanks,
Hannah
Hi Hannah,
I do not know of many students who come to Japan as a non-degree student and leave without enrolling in a degree program. But it’s not necessarily something that universities frown on. It’s a matter of it not being a useful course of action to most applicants. Most MEXT scholars want to get a degree out of their studies.
The only applicants I have known that did not want to enroll in a degree program were those who were already enrolled in a degree in their home country and just wanted to do research for that degree in Japan, then go home to finish it. That’s a pretty rare situation, though.
So, even though it’s a rare situation, it is not because the universities disapprove or anything, it would be the applicant’s choice based on the benefits for his or her goals.
It would not be a problem if you chose to leave after the research student phase without moving on to a degree. As you said, you would need to apply for an extension, anyway, to move on to the degree. Neither you, nor MEXT, are committed to your staying any longer than your initial award period, regardless of what you checked in the question about how long you want to stay.
Good Luck!
– Travis from TranSenz